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{{Infobox officeholder
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| name                = Sanjeev Sanyal
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| term_start          = February 2017
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'''Sanjeev Sanyal''' is an Indian economist and author. Currently, he is the Principal Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/sanjeev-sanyal-appointed-principal-economic-adviser-in-finance-ministry/articleshow/56957880.cms|title=Sanjeev Sanyal appointed principal economic adviser in Finance Ministry - Times of India}}</ref><ref name="intoday.in">{{cite web|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/how-i-made-it-sanjeev-sanyal/1/122014.html|title=How I made it: Sanjeev Sanyal|website=India Today}}</ref> A [[Rhodes Scholarship|Rhodes Scholar]] and [[Eisenhower Fellowships|Eisenhower Fellow]]<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://www.theglobalist.com/AuthorBiography.aspx?AuthorId=1284 |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2011-11-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402063911/http://www.theglobalist.com/AuthorBiography.aspx?AuthorId=1284 |archivedate=2 April 2012}}</ref><ref name="intoday.in"/> He was Deutsche Bank's Global Strategist and a Managing Director till 2015.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="newcitiessummit2016.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.newcitiessummit2016.org/speakers/sanjeev-sanyal/|title=Sanjeev Sanyal - New Cities Summit 2016}}</ref> He is also the author of several books including ''The Indian Renaissance: India's Rise after a Thousand Years of Decline'',<ref name="newstrackindia.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/32767|title=Friedman tops non-fiction bestseller list|website=www.newstrackindia.com}}</ref> ''Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography'', ''The Incredible History of India's Geography'', ''The Ocean of Churn: How human history was shaped by the Indian Ocean'' and ''Life Over Two Beers''.<ref name="jaipurliteraturefestival.org">{{Cite web |url=https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/speaker/sanjeev-sanyal |title=Sanjeev Sanyal |access-date=29 July 2020 }}</ref>
'''Sanjeev Sanyal''' is an Indian economist and [[Popular history|popular historian]].<ref name=":1" /> Currently, he is the Principal Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/sanjeev-sanyal-appointed-principal-economic-adviser-in-finance-ministry/articleshow/56957880.cms|title=Sanjeev Sanyal appointed principal economic adviser in Finance Ministry - Times of India}}</ref><ref name="intoday.in">{{cite web|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/how-i-made-it-sanjeev-sanyal/1/122014.html|title=How I made it: Sanjeev Sanyal|website=India Today}}</ref> A [[Rhodes Scholarship|Rhodes Scholar]] and [[Eisenhower Fellowships|Eisenhower Fellow]]<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://www.theglobalist.com/AuthorBiography.aspx?AuthorId=1284 |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2011-11-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402063911/http://www.theglobalist.com/AuthorBiography.aspx?AuthorId=1284 |archivedate=2 April 2012}}</ref><ref name="intoday.in"/> He was Deutsche Bank's Global Strategist and a Managing Director till 2015.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="newcitiessummit2016.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.newcitiessummit2016.org/speakers/sanjeev-sanyal/|title=Sanjeev Sanyal - New Cities Summit 2016}}</ref> He is the author of several books.


== Early life and background ==
== Early life ==
Sanjeev Sanyal comes from a family that played an important role in [[Indian independence movement|India's freedom struggle]] against [[British Empire in India|British colonial rule]]. His great grandfather [[Nalinaksha Sanyal]] was the Chief Whip of the Congress Party in the provincial assembly of undivided Bengal and a vocal opponent of colonial policies during the [[Bengal Famine of 1943]]. His granduncle was [[Sachindra Nath Sanyal]] who was one of the founders of the Hindustan Revolutionary Association and a mentor to revolutionaries such as [[Bhagat Singh]] and [[Chandrashekhar Azad]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://varanasi.nic.in/history/shahid.html#Freedom%20fighters%20of%20Varanasi|title=Shaheed from Varanasi|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906013823/http://varanasi.nic.in/history/shahid.html#Freedom%20fighters%20of%20Varanasi|archive-date=6 September 2013|access-date=13 October 2013}}</ref>
Sanjeev Sanyal was born in [[Kolkata]] to an aristocrat family, and studied at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School|St. Xavier's School]] and [[St. James' School (Kolkata)|St. James' School]]. Sanyal's great grandfather [[Nalinaksha Sanyal]] was the Chief Whip of the Congress Party in the provincial assembly of undivided Bengal. His granduncle [[Sachindra Nath Sanyal]] was one of the founders of [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association]].{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} He went on to attend [[Shri Ram College of Commerce]] followed by [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College]] (1992–1995), where he was a [[Rhodes Scholar]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Sanjeev-Sanyal/e/B001NV0VCW|title=Archived copy|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924115704/https://www.amazon.com/Sanjeev-Sanyal/e/B001NV0VCW|archive-date=24 September 2016|access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=October 2021}}
 
Sanjeev Sanyal was born in [[Kolkata]] and studied at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School|St. Xavier's School]] and [[St. James' School (Kolkata)|St. James' School]] in Kolkata. He attended [[Shri Ram College of Commerce]], [[Delhi University]] and [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College]], [[Oxford]] where he was a [[Rhodes Scholar]] representing India (1992–1995).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Sanjeev-Sanyal/e/B001NV0VCW|title=Archived copy|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924115704/https://www.amazon.com/Sanjeev-Sanyal/e/B001NV0VCW|archive-date=24 September 2016|access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
Sanjeev Sanyal is currently the Principal Economic Adviser to the Indian government.<ref>https://dea.gov.in/whos-who?field_whos_who_category_tid=All&title=Sanjeev&field_email_feedback_email=</ref> He also serves as the co-chair of the Framework Working Group of the G20 and represents India on a number of international forums.<ref name="icrier.org">http://icrier.org/G20/2018/assets/images/concept-note.pdf</ref>
Sanyal had worked in financial markets since the mid-nineties. He was Managing Director and Global Strategist at Deutsche Bank till 2015.<ref>{{cite web|last=Chakraborty|first=Shrim|date=25 February 2015|title=Modi's first full year Budget|url=http://asiahouse.org/events/will-modis-first-full-year-budget-meet-expectations/}}</ref><ref name="auto" /><ref name="intoday.in" /> In 2017, he was appointed Principal Economic Adviser to the Indian government by the [[Premiership of Narendra Modi|Modi administration]].<ref>https://dea.gov.in/whos-who?field_whos_who_category_tid=All&title=Sanjeev&field_email_feedback_email=</ref> He also serves as the co-chair of the Framework Working Group of the G20.<ref name="icrier.org">http://icrier.org/G20/2018/assets/images/concept-note.pdf</ref>


Till he joined the government, Sanyal had worked in financial markets since the mid-nineties. He was Managing Director and Global Strategist at Deutsche Bank till 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://asiahouse.org/events/will-modis-first-full-year-budget-meet-expectations/|title=Modi's first full year Budget|first=Shrim|last=Chakraborty|date=25 February 2015}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref name="intoday.in"/>
== Views ==
Sanyal has been a vocal critic of Nehruvian socialism,<!-- Don't link the article on Licence Raj. --> which he deems to have stemmed out of an "inward-looking cultural attitude".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Visvanathan|first=Meera|date=1 October 2021|title=Against History: Sanjeev Sanyal's attempts to rewrite India's past|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/books/history-sanjeev-sanyal-attempts-rewrite-india-past|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-03|website=The Caravan|language=en}}</ref> Nehru and [[Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis|P. C. Mahalanobis]] are criticized for treating the economy as a "mechanical toy", leaving little scopes for the flourish of private enterprises and ultimately throttling creativity.<ref name=":1" /> Sanyal praises of the [[Economic liberalisation in India|'91 neoliberal reforms]] as the harbinger of Indian Renaissance, and advocates for the application of [[Complex adaptive system|Complex Adaptive Systems]] framework to economic issues.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A contrarian looks at world affairs|url=https://www.fortuneindia.com/people/a-contrarian-looks-at-world-affairs/100371|access-date=2021-10-04|website=www.fortuneindia.com|language=en}}</ref>  


Sanyal is well known for applying chaos theory and the Complex Adaptive Systems framework to economic and urban issues.<ref>https://www.fortuneindia.com/people/a-contrarian-looks-at-world-affairs/100371</ref> He is seen as a strong advocate of using a codified insolvency and bankruptcy processes to allow creative destruction in an evolving economy. He has argued that conventional economists are wrong to demand perpetual "global balance". His view is that all periods of economic growth are characterized by some form of symbiotic imbalance and that the focus should be on managing the distortions caused by the imbalance rather than forcing a return to some preconceived equilibrium. Therefore, his view is that the next round of global growth will only be sustained if the rest of the world can find a way to absorb waves of cheap capital emanating from China. This implies a return to global imbalances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etf.deutscheawm.com/AUT/DEU/Download/Research-Global/c6762d18-6b36-4911-9a0a-c2f08a899705/The-Wide-Angle.pdf |title=Global research |website=etf.deutscheawm.com }}</ref> According to an analysis by Sanyal in 2013, the UN's widely used population forecasts were flawed. He claimed that population growth was likely to be much slower than the U.N.'s estimate.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/business/uns-forecast-of-population-growth-may-be-too-high.html|title=Population Growth Forecast From the U.N. May Be Too High|first=Floyd|last=Norris}}</ref>
He also believes the historiography of India to have been distorted with "Colonial, Nehruvian, and Marxist" biases — thus, requiring a rewriting of history by "revisiting" primary sources.<ref name=":1" /> In "The Ocean of Churn", historians are accused of double standards in their treatment of Ashoka and asked to "read local edicts": Sanyal claims that the primary sources used in painting a humane image of Ashoka can also be used to portray him as a genocidal tyrant.<ref name=":1" /> Ashoka did not convert to Buddhism, out of laments at the Kalinga War but due to political pressure exerted by the Jains.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|date=2016-08-20|title=At sea level|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/literary-review/At-sea-level/article14580409.ece|access-date=2021-10-09|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> A host of other sources are invoked to claim Ashoka as a "[[Charlie Hebdo shooting|modern day fundamentalist]]", whose [[Mahamatra|Dhaṃma Mahāmātās]] were "religious police"; the famed edicts about religious tolerance were all propaganda.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />


Sanjeev Sanyal is also an environmentalist and expert on the economics of cities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.qi-global.com/sanjeev-sanyal |title=Archived copy |access-date=6 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312182657/http://www.qi-global.com/sanjeev-sanyal |archive-date=12 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He has been a strong advocate of including "walkability" and organic evolution in the way we think of cities.<ref name="business-standard1">{{cite web|url=https://www.business-standard.com/columnists/search/name/sanjeev-sanyal-52|title=Sanjeev Sanyal|via=Business Standard}}</ref> He is the co-founder and Director of GIST - a think-tank that is a pioneer in the field of environmental accounting.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gistindia.org/monograph.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2011-11-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007024111/http://www.gistindia.org/monograph.html |archivedate=7 October 2011}}</ref> He has been closely involved with Aavishkaar MicroVenture Fund which won the UN's World Business Award for 2006.
That it was the Nehruvian project which had established Ashoka as a "great king", a post-socialist reading of history becomes need of the hour.<ref name=":1" /> In Sanyal's version of this reading, the central character is [[Chanakya]], a "professor of Political Economy at Takshila university" who helped [[Chandragupta Maurya]] to establish a pan-Indian empire and went on to write [[Arthashastra]] about a centralised Mauryan economy.<ref name=":1" /> Only when the Arthshastra is retrofitted to India's current political economy —by fixing the judicial system, investing in internal security, and simplifying taxation rules— among other things, we can return back to the "golden age" of India: a Hindu India, that had birthed “yoga, algebra, the concept of zero, chess, plastic surgery, metallurgy, Hinduism, [and] Buddhism” but has now spent "twelve hundred years" in "servitude" to "outsiders."<ref name=":1" /> Sanyal hypothesizes if the "[[Rishi|Rshis]]" had "deliberately set up ... Hinduism’s flexible, adaptive architecture."<ref name=":1" />  


== Membership and associations ==
He goes on to invoke Mahabharata and Puranic literature, to dismiss claims about Indian civilization being a modern construct.<ref name=":1" /> Mahabharata —"Greater India"— allegedly sketched the worlds of Iron Age India; Sanyal wonders if "Sudas’ [[Battle of the Ten Kings|victory against the ten tribes]]" was reflected in the epic and "create[d] a dream of civilizational nationhood."<ref name=":1" />
He has been member of the Steering Committee of [[Urban Age]] at [[LSE Cities]] and is also a Senior Fellow of the World Wildlife Fund. He has been an Adjunct Fellow of the [[Institute of Policy Studies (Singapore)|Institute of Policy Studies]] at the National University of Singapore, a [[Visiting Scholar]] at [[Oxford University]], Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (UK) and Senior Fellow of IDFC Institute (Mumbai).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-sanjeev-sanyal-appointed-as-principal-economic-adviser-all-you-need-to-know-about-him-2311053|title=Sanjeev Sanyal appointed as Principal Economic Adviser: All you need to know about him|last=Team|first=DNA Web|date=2017-02-03|website=DNA India|language=en|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref><ref name="icrier.org"/> In 2009, he joined the Board of Governors of AFPRO, one of India's largest organisations working on food security and has also advised the UK government, United Nations Environment Programme, and other international agencies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.idfcinstitute.org/about/people/alumni/sanjeev-sanyal/|title=Sanjeev Sanyal|website=IDFC Institute|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref>


Till 2016, he was a member of the Future City Committee of the Singapore government that was tasked with creating a long-term vision for the city-state.<ref name="jaipurliteraturefestival.org" />
=== Reception ===
Meera Visvnathan, a historian of ancient India, notes Sanyal to be ignorant of methodologies in historical research.<ref name=":1" /> In deconstructing the narrative of Ashoka, Sanyal fails to apply [[Source criticism|source-criticism]] —subjecting contemporary edicts, Buddhist hagiographies, and Sri Lankan legends to the same treatment— and imposes a host of anachronistic categories.<ref name=":1" /> While dealing with Arthashastra, Sanyal remains oblivious of Trautmann's scholarship which had conclusively proved the work to be drafted by multiple scholars or that of Fussman/Sugandhi, who had emphasized on the fuzziness of Mauryan economy — he went on to misrecognize a ''shastra'' of political economy, as it developed in Early Historic India, as a manual of Mauryan statecraft.<ref name=":1" />


He writes columns for the Hindustan Times,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/books/this-excerpt-from-a-new-book-demolishes-emperor-ashoka-reputation-as-a-pacifist/story-puxXlUpPsDy4TqELZ3UonN.html|title=This excerpt from a book demolishes Ashoka's reputation as pacifist|date=5 August 2016}}</ref> Project Syndicate, The Times of India,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/why-india-needs-to-no-longer-be-an-ashokan-republic-but-a-chanakyan-one/|title=Why India needs to no longer be an Ashokan republic, but a Chanakyan one}}</ref> Live Mint,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/BpBKNL0cr9Z7RAmCyMcMnJ/Our-history-books-need-rewriting.html|title=Our history books need rewriting|last=Sanyal|first=Sanjeev|date=15 June 2015}}</ref> Business Standard, and several other publications.<ref name="business-standard1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.project-syndicate.org/contributor/3935|title=Archived copy|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102052413/http://www.project-syndicate.org/contributor/3935|archive-date=2 November 2011|access-date=6 November 2011}}</ref>
[[Manu S. Pillai|Manu Pillai]], a popular historian, commends ''The Ocean of Churn'' for being a "delightful introduction to the world of the Indian Ocean" despite the possibility of professional scholars challenging his narrative and conclusions.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|date=2016-08-17|title=Rim of Life|url=https://openthemagazine.com/lounge/books/rim-of-life/|access-date=2021-10-09|website=Open The Magazine|language=en-GB}}</ref> He welcomed Sanyal's command over a layered and complex past, his "accessible" yet "captivating narrative", and especially the reevaluation of Ashoka.<ref name=":3" />


==Awards and recognition==
== Honors ==
He has also been an Adjunct Fellow of the [[Institute of Policy Studies (Singapore)|Institute of Policy Studies]] at the National University of Singapore, Fellow of  and Senior Fellow of IDFC Institute (Mumbai).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-sanjeev-sanyal-appointed-as-principal-economic-adviser-all-you-need-to-know-about-him-2311053|title=Sanjeev Sanyal appointed as Principal Economic Adviser: All you need to know about him|last=Team|first=DNA Web|date=2017-02-03|website=DNA India|language=en|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref><ref name="icrier.org"/> In 2009, he joined the Board of Governors of AFPRO.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.idfcinstitute.org/about/people/alumni/sanjeev-sanyal/|title=Sanjeev Sanyal|website=IDFC Institute|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref> Till 2016, he was a member of the Future City Committee of the Singapore government that was tasked with creating a long-term vision for the city-state.<ref name="jaipurliteraturefestival.org">{{Cite web|title=Sanjeev Sanyal|date=17 September 2013|url=https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/speaker/sanjeev-sanyal|access-date=29 July 2020}}</ref>


Sanjeev Sanyal was named Young Global Leader for 2010 by the World Economic Forum in [[Davos]], an honour given to select individuals below the age of 40 for outstanding contributions across disciplines including politics, academia, sports, business, and art. He is a Rhodes Scholar (1992–95) and was also awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship in 2007 for his work on urban systems.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weforum.org/young-global-leaders/sanjeev-sanyal/|title=Young Global Leaders|website=World Economic Forum}}</ref> In 2008, CNBC profiled him as a "Young Turk" in recognition to his contributions to Asia's financial markets.<ref>[http://www.iit-alumni.org.sg/asp/events/image/Professional%20Talk%20brochure.pdf Sanjeev Sanyal Vinayak Lohani - IIT Alumni Association Singapore]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The Singapore government honored him as a Young Leader 2014 at the World Cities Summit held in June 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldcitiessummit.com.sg/whos-coming/mr-sanjeev-sanyal|title=Mr Sanjeev Sanyal - World Cities Summit|website=www.worldcitiessummit.com.sg}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
 
He is married to Smita Barooah and live in New Delhi.<ref>{{cite tweet |last=Sanyal |first=Sanjeev |author-link=Sanjeev Sanyal |user=sanjeevsanyal |number=763587245072850945 |date=11 August 2016 |title=@NilanjanS My wife :D |language=en |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref>
In July 2014, Sanyal won the first International Indian Achiever's Award for his contributions to Literature at the inaugural gala event in Mumbai.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mid-day.com/articles/bollywood-celebs-at-international-indian-achievers-awards/15489189|title=Bollywood celebs at International Indian Achievers Awards|date=30 July 2014}}</ref> The award is given every year to Indians who have excelled in different fields on the international stage. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London and of IDFC Institute Mumbai.<ref name="newcitiessummit2016.org"/>


== Personal life ==
== Works ==
He is married to Smita Barooah, an [[Assamese people|Assamese]] who is a writer and a photographer. The couple live with their two children, Dhruv and Varun, in New Delhi, India. <ref>https://twitter.com/smitabarooah/status/983570840456450048?lang=en</ref><ref>https://twitter.com/sanjeevsanyal/status/763587245072850945?lang=en</ref>


== Books==
=== Books===
*''The Indian Renaissance: India's Rise After A Thousand Years of Decline'', World Scientific, 2008, 264 p.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanjeev|first=Sanyal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQbGCgAAQBAJ&q=The+Indian+Renaissance%3A+India%27s+Rise+After+A+Thousand+Years+of+Decline%2C+2008&pg=PP1|title=Indian Renaissance, The: India's Rise After A Thousand Years of Decline|date=2008-08-18|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-4470-76-6|language=en}}</ref>
*''The Indian Renaissance: India's Rise After A Thousand Years of Decline'', World Scientific, 2008, 264 p.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanjeev|first=Sanyal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQbGCgAAQBAJ&q=The+Indian+Renaissance%3A+India%27s+Rise+After+A+Thousand+Years+of+Decline%2C+2008&pg=PP1|title=Indian Renaissance, The: India's Rise After A Thousand Years of Decline|date=2008-08-18|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-4470-76-6|language=en}}</ref>
*''Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography'', Penguin, 2013, 192 p.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanjeev|first=Sanyal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uv_iDQAAQBAJ|title=Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography|date=2012-11-15|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited|isbn=9788184756715|language=en}}</ref>
*''Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography'', Penguin, 2013, 192 p.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanjeev|first=Sanyal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uv_iDQAAQBAJ|title=Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography|date=2012-11-15|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited|isbn=9788184756715|language=en}}</ref>
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*''Life over Two Beers and Other Stories'', Penguin, 2018, 232 p.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanyal|first=Sanjeev|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fKxZDwAAQBAJ&q=life+over+two+beers&pg=PP1|title=Life over Two Beers and other stories|date=2018-05-15|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited|isbn=978-93-5305-024-5|language=en}}</ref>
*''Life over Two Beers and Other Stories'', Penguin, 2018, 232 p.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanyal|first=Sanjeev|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fKxZDwAAQBAJ&q=life+over+two+beers&pg=PP1|title=Life over Two Beers and other stories|date=2018-05-15|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited|isbn=978-93-5305-024-5|language=en}}</ref>
*''India in the Age of Ideas: Select Writings, 2006-2018'', Westland, 2018, 318 p.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanyal|first=Sanjeev|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u5c_wAEACAAJ&q=India+in+the+Age+of+Ideas:+Select+Writings|title=India in the Age of Ideas: Select Writings, 2006-2018|date=2018|publisher=Westland|isbn=978-93-87894-57-0|language=en}}</ref>
*''India in the Age of Ideas: Select Writings, 2006-2018'', Westland, 2018, 318 p.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sanyal|first=Sanjeev|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u5c_wAEACAAJ&q=India+in+the+Age+of+Ideas:+Select+Writings|title=India in the Age of Ideas: Select Writings, 2006-2018|date=2018|publisher=Westland|isbn=978-93-87894-57-0|language=en}}</ref>
=== Columns ===
Sanyal is an occasional columnist for the Hindustan Times,<ref>{{cite web|date=5 August 2016|title=This excerpt from a book demolishes Ashoka's reputation as pacifist|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/books/this-excerpt-from-a-new-book-demolishes-emperor-ashoka-reputation-as-a-pacifist/story-puxXlUpPsDy4TqELZ3UonN.html}}</ref> Project Syndicate, The Times of India,<ref>{{cite web|date=26 January 2016|title=Why India needs to no longer be an Ashokan republic, but a Chanakyan one|url=http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/why-india-needs-to-no-longer-be-an-ashokan-republic-but-a-chanakyan-one/}}</ref> Live Mint,<ref>{{cite web|last=Sanyal|first=Sanjeev|date=15 June 2015|title=Our history books need rewriting|url=http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/BpBKNL0cr9Z7RAmCyMcMnJ/Our-history-books-need-rewriting.html}}</ref> Business Standard, and several other publications.<ref name="business-standard1">{{cite news|title=Sanjeev Sanyal|newspaper=Business Standard India|url=https://www.business-standard.com/columnists/search/name/sanjeev-sanyal-52|via=Business Standard}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Archived copy|url=http://www.project-syndicate.org/contributor/3935|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102052413/http://www.project-syndicate.org/contributor/3935|archive-date=2 November 2011|access-date=6 November 2011}}</ref>


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 00:13, 11 October 2021

Sanjeev Sanyal
Principal Economic Advisor, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance
Assumed office
February 2017
Preceded byIla Patnaik
Personal details
Born (1970-08-27) 27 August 1970 (age 55)
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materShri Ram College of Commerce
St John's College, Oxford
Occupation
  • Economist
  • Writer

Sanjeev Sanyal is an Indian economist and popular historian.[1] Currently, he is the Principal Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.[2][3] A Rhodes Scholar and Eisenhower Fellow[4][3] He was Deutsche Bank's Global Strategist and a Managing Director till 2015.[4][5] He is the author of several books.

Early life

Sanjeev Sanyal was born in Kolkata to an aristocrat family, and studied at St. Xavier's School and St. James' School. Sanyal's great grandfather Nalinaksha Sanyal was the Chief Whip of the Congress Party in the provincial assembly of undivided Bengal. His granduncle Sachindra Nath Sanyal was one of the founders of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.[citation needed] He went on to attend Shri Ram College of Commerce followed by St John's College (1992–1995), where he was a Rhodes Scholar.[6][non-primary source needed]

Career

Sanyal had worked in financial markets since the mid-nineties. He was Managing Director and Global Strategist at Deutsche Bank till 2015.[7][4][3] In 2017, he was appointed Principal Economic Adviser to the Indian government by the Modi administration.[8] He also serves as the co-chair of the Framework Working Group of the G20.[9]

Views

Sanyal has been a vocal critic of Nehruvian socialism, which he deems to have stemmed out of an "inward-looking cultural attitude".[1] Nehru and P. C. Mahalanobis are criticized for treating the economy as a "mechanical toy", leaving little scopes for the flourish of private enterprises and ultimately throttling creativity.[1] Sanyal praises of the '91 neoliberal reforms as the harbinger of Indian Renaissance, and advocates for the application of Complex Adaptive Systems framework to economic issues.[10]

He also believes the historiography of India to have been distorted with "Colonial, Nehruvian, and Marxist" biases — thus, requiring a rewriting of history by "revisiting" primary sources.[1] In "The Ocean of Churn", historians are accused of double standards in their treatment of Ashoka and asked to "read local edicts": Sanyal claims that the primary sources used in painting a humane image of Ashoka can also be used to portray him as a genocidal tyrant.[1] Ashoka did not convert to Buddhism, out of laments at the Kalinga War but due to political pressure exerted by the Jains.[11] A host of other sources are invoked to claim Ashoka as a "modern day fundamentalist", whose Dhaṃma Mahāmātās were "religious police"; the famed edicts about religious tolerance were all propaganda.[1][11]

That it was the Nehruvian project which had established Ashoka as a "great king", a post-socialist reading of history becomes need of the hour.[1] In Sanyal's version of this reading, the central character is Chanakya, a "professor of Political Economy at Takshila university" who helped Chandragupta Maurya to establish a pan-Indian empire and went on to write Arthashastra about a centralised Mauryan economy.[1] Only when the Arthshastra is retrofitted to India's current political economy —by fixing the judicial system, investing in internal security, and simplifying taxation rules— among other things, we can return back to the "golden age" of India: a Hindu India, that had birthed “yoga, algebra, the concept of zero, chess, plastic surgery, metallurgy, Hinduism, [and] Buddhism” but has now spent "twelve hundred years" in "servitude" to "outsiders."[1] Sanyal hypothesizes if the "Rshis" had "deliberately set up ... Hinduism’s flexible, adaptive architecture."[1]

He goes on to invoke Mahabharata and Puranic literature, to dismiss claims about Indian civilization being a modern construct.[1] Mahabharata —"Greater India"— allegedly sketched the worlds of Iron Age India; Sanyal wonders if "Sudas’ victory against the ten tribes" was reflected in the epic and "create[d] a dream of civilizational nationhood."[1]

Reception

Meera Visvnathan, a historian of ancient India, notes Sanyal to be ignorant of methodologies in historical research.[1] In deconstructing the narrative of Ashoka, Sanyal fails to apply source-criticism —subjecting contemporary edicts, Buddhist hagiographies, and Sri Lankan legends to the same treatment— and imposes a host of anachronistic categories.[1] While dealing with Arthashastra, Sanyal remains oblivious of Trautmann's scholarship which had conclusively proved the work to be drafted by multiple scholars or that of Fussman/Sugandhi, who had emphasized on the fuzziness of Mauryan economy — he went on to misrecognize a shastra of political economy, as it developed in Early Historic India, as a manual of Mauryan statecraft.[1]

Manu Pillai, a popular historian, commends The Ocean of Churn for being a "delightful introduction to the world of the Indian Ocean" despite the possibility of professional scholars challenging his narrative and conclusions.[12] He welcomed Sanyal's command over a layered and complex past, his "accessible" yet "captivating narrative", and especially the reevaluation of Ashoka.[12]

Honors

He has also been an Adjunct Fellow of the Institute of Policy Studies at the National University of Singapore, Fellow of and Senior Fellow of IDFC Institute (Mumbai).[13][9] In 2009, he joined the Board of Governors of AFPRO.[14] Till 2016, he was a member of the Future City Committee of the Singapore government that was tasked with creating a long-term vision for the city-state.[15]

Personal life

He is married to Smita Barooah and live in New Delhi.[16]

Works

Books

  • The Indian Renaissance: India's Rise After A Thousand Years of Decline, World Scientific, 2008, 264 p.[17]
  • Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography, Penguin, 2013, 192 p.[18]
  • The Incredible History of India's Geography, Penguin, 2015, 264 p.[19]
  • The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History, Penguin, 2017, 324 p.[20]
  • Life over Two Beers and Other Stories, Penguin, 2018, 232 p.[21]
  • India in the Age of Ideas: Select Writings, 2006-2018, Westland, 2018, 318 p.[22]

Columns

Sanyal is an occasional columnist for the Hindustan Times,[23] Project Syndicate, The Times of India,[24] Live Mint,[25] Business Standard, and several other publications.[26][27]

References

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Visvanathan, Meera (1 October 2021). "Against History: Sanjeev Sanyal's attempts to rewrite India's past". The Caravan. Retrieved 3 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. "Sanjeev Sanyal appointed principal economic adviser in Finance Ministry - Times of India".
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "How I made it: Sanjeev Sanyal". India Today.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Sanjeev Sanyal - New Cities Summit 2016".
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Chakraborty, Shrim (25 February 2015). "Modi's first full year Budget".
  8. https://dea.gov.in/whos-who?field_whos_who_category_tid=All&title=Sanjeev&field_email_feedback_email=
  9. 9.0 9.1 http://icrier.org/G20/2018/assets/images/concept-note.pdf
  10. "A contrarian looks at world affairs". www.fortuneindia.com. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  11. 11.0 11.1 "At sea level". The Hindu. 20 August 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  12. 12.0 12.1 "Rim of Life". Open The Magazine. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  13. Team, DNA Web (3 February 2017). "Sanjeev Sanyal appointed as Principal Economic Adviser: All you need to know about him". DNA India. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  14. "Sanjeev Sanyal". IDFC Institute. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  15. "Sanjeev Sanyal". 17 September 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  16. Sanyal, Sanjeev [@sanjeevsanyal] (11 August 2016). "@NilanjanS My wife :D" (Tweet). Retrieved 3 October 2021 – via Twitter.
  17. Sanjeev, Sanyal (18 August 2008). Indian Renaissance, The: India's Rise After A Thousand Years of Decline. World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-4470-76-6.
  18. Sanjeev, Sanyal (15 November 2012). Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 9788184756715.
  19. Sanyal, Sanjeev; Rajendran, Sowmya (28 November 2017). The Incredible History of India's Geography. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-93-5118-932-9.
  20. Sanyal, Sanjeev (10 August 2016). The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-93-86057-61-7.
  21. Sanyal, Sanjeev (15 May 2018). Life over Two Beers and other stories. Penguin Random House India Private Limited. ISBN 978-93-5305-024-5.
  22. Sanyal, Sanjeev (2018). India in the Age of Ideas: Select Writings, 2006-2018. Westland. ISBN 978-93-87894-57-0.
  23. "This excerpt from a book demolishes Ashoka's reputation as pacifist". 5 August 2016.
  24. "Why India needs to no longer be an Ashokan republic, but a Chanakyan one". 26 January 2016.
  25. Sanyal, Sanjeev (15 June 2015). "Our history books need rewriting".
  26. "Sanjeev Sanyal". Business Standard India – via Business Standard.
  27. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links