"India and the United States: Caste, Race, and Economic Growth"
Narendra Jadhav, an IU alumnus, economist, writer and educator and a member of India's parliament, will present the sixth annual Patrick O'Meara International Lecture at Indiana University Bloomington.
Jadhav, who earned a doctorate in economics from IU in 1986, served the Reserve Bank of India for 31 years, retiring in 2008 from the position of principal advisor and chief economist. From 2006 to 2009, he was vice chancellor of the University of Pune, the largest traditional university in the world with 650,000 students. He also worked for four years at the International Monetary Fund.
A prolific writer with 100 research papers and more than three dozen books in English, Marathi and Hindi, he served from 2009 to 2014 as a member of the National Planning Commission, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and a member of the National Advisory Council. He serves in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's parliament.
In 2011, McRobbie presented Jadhav with its Thomas Hart Benton Medallion, which is given to individuals who have achieved a level of distinction in public office or service and have exemplified the values of IU.
Jadhav is known to millions of Indians, particularly many of its 165 million Dalits, for his 2003 book "Outcaste -- Life and Triumphs of an Untouchable Family in India" and a follow-up book in 2005, "Untouchables: My Family's Triumphant Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern India."
"Outcaste" was an expanded and rewritten English version of Jadhav's book in the Marathi language, "Amcha Baap Aan Amhi (Our Father and Us)," published 10 years earlier. Both books are based on family stories and diaries written by his father. It concludes with an epilogue contributed by his then 16-year-old daughter, Apoorva, who was born in Indiana.
An authority on B.R. Ambedkar, Jadhav has written 21 books about the social reformer and architect of the Indian constitution. He also has published a trilogy on Bengali poet, writer and artist Rabindranath Tagore and several books on economics and monetary policy.