PRAGOTI

Prof. Utsa Patnaik, eminent Marxist economist, retired from CESP/JNU recently. She has inspired generations of students and researchers through her teaching and research spanning four decades. On the occasion of her farewell, students of CESP published an interview of Prof. Patnaik, which is reproduced here.

 Anand Patwardhan's documentary film "War and Peace (Jung aur Aman)" was screened at IIT Bombay on 30th August 2009. During and after the discussion session of the documentary film, our editorial team member Anirban Ghatak took a short interview of Anand. Anand answered the questions with equal determination and conviction which we are pretty used to see in his films. Here we present the interview. 

But what the [financial] crisis [in the world's capital markets] does is to undermine the ideology of neo-liberalism which gives the Left a chance to intensify its struggle against neo-liberalism. And in so far as the recession that is arising will hurt not just the workers and peasants but even sections of the middle classes which have hitherto been beneficiaries of neo-liberalism, the soil for this struggle will be more fertile now. So, the short answer to this question is that the Indian policy-makers left to themselves will not change course, but we have to make them change course. Eminent economist Prabhat Patnaik replies exclusively to a set of interview questions from Pragoti's Editorial Team. Prabhat Patnaik is a leading Marxist economist, and is a professor at Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is also the vice-chairman of the Planning Board in the state of Kerala.

Pragoti presents an exclusive interview with professor Vijay Prashad, George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Vijay Prashad has also written in and edited the book, "Dispatches from Latin America: The Frontline Against Neo-liberalism". Prashad answers questions related to the political situation in the United States and in Latin America.