Artha Knowledge ConferenceRebuilding Bharat’s Economic Philosophy

December 17-19, 2021

Centre for Innovation in GovernanceRashtram School of Public LeadershipRishihood University, Sonipatwww.rashtram.org

Artha Knowledge Conference: Rebuilding Bharat’s Economic Philosophy

Bharat was historically a leading economic region of the world in the period before itscolonization. The erstwhile eminence was shaped by facets beyond the abundance ofnatural resources including its knowledge systems and its organizing principles. This alsoincluded Economic philosophies and its value-added adoption into the leitmotif of thecivilization of Bharat. The four principles Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha formed theframework of Purushartha, one of the primal concepts shaping lasting and widespreadeconomic prosperity in pre-medieval times.

The colonization of the region from the medieval period created schisms in Economicphilosophies in significant ways that have impacted development outcomes.Post-Independence, the initial framework for economic development in Independent Indiawas influenced by Fabian-Socialist thinking. The collapse of socialist economic modelscreated a constrained policy space in India which led to the adoption of post-colonial, globalmulti-lateral institutional frameworks. This phase, often termed as the Liberalization of theIndian Economy, succeeded in creating sectors of prosperity in areas aligned with globalpriorities. However, the critique has been that this has often served global needs and offeredincidental impact on the larger Indian economic priorities. The consequences of this wereaspects of rising inequality, non-inclusion of large segments of the population, anunderutilization of its demographic dividend to name a few areas of concern.

The re-emergence of India among the top three global economies by 2050 will need to besupported by re-visiting, re-formulating, rebuilding and re-engaging with a vibrant EconomicPhilosophy that is shaped by the advancements in modern knowledge systems and yet tapsinto the knowledge endowments of Bharat to develop innovative approaches for economicproblems impacted by human health, developmental aspirations, livelihoods, environmentaldegradation, inclusion and inequality.

The Artha Knowledge Conference, to be held from 17-19th ofDecember 2021, invites India’s leading thinkers in Economics, Policy,Social Development, Spirituality and Academia to converge andreformulate a contemporary Artha philosophy that addresses thedevelopmental aspirations and help solve some of the larger, endemicproblems.

The Artha Knowledge Conference is the first of a series of annual andfollow-on conferences on this theme. The conference is organized bythe Centre for Innovation in Governance at Rashtram School of PublicLeadership and will help create a community of thought leaders fromvarious fields to engage, collaborate and create a contemporary Arthadiscourse. The proceedings will serve a wide variety of needs while

addressing key challenges of Sustainability, Inclusive and Integral Development.

Artha Philosophy

The vast body of Dharma knowledge containsprofound, useful principles which may be used forcreating frameworks, engagements and expansionfor a contemporary and evolving philosophy of Artha.

For Bharat, and indeed most parts of the world, tobuild its economic philosophy and models ofdevelopment that resonates with its ethos isnecessary. This crucial step of aligning materialprosperity with one’s own larger embodiedknowledge is important. The case of China in recentdecades demonstrates the turnaround after itabandoned its earlier Cultural Revolution toincorporating a Chinese traditional knowledge baseto formulate a new paradigm for economic

development.

The Artha Knowledge Conference goals will help examine a variety of Indian KnowledgeSystem frameworks in the context of economic, social, technological, environmental andpolicy design. The Conference will have two types of sessions – the Plenary Sessions andTechnical Track which are detailed in the next sections.

The Plenary Sessions will focus on macro and institutional aspects as well as onenvironmental, policy, knowledge principles and guidance for Artha frameworks. Thespeaker list is tentative and shall be announced after contacting and obtaining consent of allspeakers.SN Title Speaker*Plenary Session 1: Friday, December 17, 2021 (3.00 pm to 6.30 pm, IST)1 Welcome Address & Conference Theme Rashtram School of Public Leadership

2 The Case for Artha in the 21st Centuryand beyond

Dr. Bibek Debroy Chairman, PM's Economic Council

3 Artha and the Political EconomyDr. Gautam Sen Formerly at LSE and Advisor to PMVajpayee

4 Artha: The Dharma Perspective Swami Sarvapriyananda Spiritual Leader, Vedanta Society of NewYork

5 Artha: Institutional Design Elements Shri S. GurumurthyColumnist, Analyst and former Director,RBI; Founder Vivekananda InternationalFoundation

Plenary Session 2: Saturday, December 18, 2021 (3.00 pm to 6.30 pm, IST)

6 Artha Version 1: What could it be? Shri Sanjeev Sanyal Principal Economic Adviser, FinanceMinistry

7Artha and International FinancialSystems: Challenges and Co-optionFrameworks

Dr. Anantha NageshwaranEconomist, Consultant, Teacher and Writer

8 Artha, Aarogya and the Global HealthBurden

Dr. Madan ThangaveluGenome Biologist at Cambridge University

9 Artha & Economics: Development fromEmic and Etic Perspectives To be Decided

10 Global Sustainability Challenges andArtha

Dr. Sachin Chaturvedi Director General, Research and InformationSystem for Developing Countries (RIS)

Plenary Session 3: Sunday, December 19, 2021 (3.00 pm to 6.30 pm, IST)

11 Artha in the era of AI and Technology Shri Rajiv MalhotraAuthor and founder of Infinity Foundation

12 Artha, Social Capital and HumanPotential

Prof. R. Vaidyanathan Former Professor, IIM-B, member NSAB;Cho S Ramaswamy Professor of PublicPolicy, SASTRA University

13 Culture, Language, Traditions and Artha Dr. Sampadananda Mishra Distinguished Sanskrit Scholar, Professor atRashtram

14 Artha & Environment Dr. Vandana Shiva Environmentalist, Author & FounderNavdanya Foundation

15 Valedictory AddressShri Suresh Prabhu Member of Rajya Sabha, Former Minister ofCivil Aviation, Railways, Commerce &Industry, Govt. of India

16 Vote of Thanks & Closing Invocation Rashtram

*Subject to confirmation

The Technical Sessions provide a platform for paper submissions from leading academicand intellectual leaders to share quality research, design principles and roadmaps. Some ofthe suggested themes for the technical conference are:

1. Economic Philosophy of Artha2. Artha and Indian Knowledge Systems3. Institutional Mechanisms for Artha4. Artha and Livelihoods5. Artha and Sustainability6. Artha and Health7. Artha and Technology8. Comparative Studies in Economic Philosophy and Artha

Technical Sessions ScheduleTechnical Session 1: Saturday, December 18, 2021 (10.00 am to 1.30 pm, IST)Technical Session 2: Sunday, December 19, 2021 (10.00 am to 1.30 pm, IST)

About Rashtram School of Public Leadership and the Centre for Innovation inGovernance

Rashtram School of Public Leadership nurtures ‘self-aware’ and ‘civilisationally-assured’public leaders who are nourished by Indic knowledge traditions and systems of thought. Thespecific focus of the school is to prepare leaders in three domains: Academia, Politics, andCivil Society.

Rashtram designs and conducts executive learning programs, engages in research to aligninstitutions with Indic thought, fosters an ecosystem of young leaders in India and abroad,and strategically partners with organisations across the world.

The Centre for Innovation in Governance (CIG) objectives are to help advance thinking onGovernance models that are aligned to enable citizens to more easily be righteous, allowthem to achieve prosperity, enjoy their experience of life and support the progress of all lifeforms. CIG is working on six themes which have deep Indic Knowledge Endowments andaround which innovative knowledge development frameworks are being developed. Thesesix themes are – Artha, Aarogya, Vidya, Kala, Bala and Nyaya.

For more information, please visit: www.rashtram.org/artha-conference and email:artha-conf@rashtram.org