Meghnad Desai

Some Lesser Known Words About Meghnad Desai

• Meghnad Desai was born in a middle-class family.

• He started secondary school at the age of seven and completed matriculation by the age of fourteen.

• In August 1960, he received a scholarship to study at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. He completed his PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963.

• As a child, he was once locked in a dark bathroom for 20–30 minutes by his maternal uncle. This incident later influenced his decision to move abroad.

• He worked as associate specialist in Agricultural Economics at University of California, Berkeley early in his academic career.

• He developed left-leaning political views during his time at the University of California, Berkeley. There, he met Amartya Sen and took part in protests against the Vietnam War.

• In 1965, he joined the London School of Economics (LSE) as a lecturer in economics. He became a professor of economics at LSE in the year 1983.

• He taught subjects like macroeconomics, econometrics, Marxian economics and development economics to students at LSE.

• He helped create the Human Development Index (HDI). He also founded the Centre for Study of Global Governance and the Development Studies programme at LSE.

• From 1990 to 1995, he served as the head of LSE’s Development Studies Institute. Between 1992 and 2003, he led LSE Global Governance and retired from LSE in 2003.

• In 1973, he published his first book titled Marxian Economic Theory. Later, he published Applied Econometrics in 1976 and Marxian Economics in 1979.

• In 1981, he published Testing Monetarism, a critique of monetarist economic theory. Between 1984 and 1991, he was co-editor of the Journal of Applied Econometrics.

• He wrote over 200 academic articles and columns for British and Indian newspapers during his career. In 1995, a selection of his academic work was published in two volumes titled The Selected Essays of Meghnad Desai.

• From 1985 to 1994, he wrote a column for the British weekly Tribune. From 1995 to 2001, he wrote for the Indian business newspaper Business Standard.

• In 2002, he published Marx’s Revenge: The Resurgence of Capitalism and the Death of Statist Socialism. In 2004, he wrote a biography titled Nehru’s Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India.

• In 2006, he published Rethinking Islamism: Ideology of the New Terror. In 2007, he published The Route to All Evil: The Political Economy of Ezra Pound.

• In 2009, he published a novel Dead on Time and another book The Rediscovery of India.

• He also served as chairman of the Advisory Board at Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF).

• He was chairman of City Roads, Training for Life, and a board member of Tribune magazine.

• He founded the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics (MDAE) in Mumbai. MDAE offers a one-year postgraduate diploma in economics with applied focus and international workshops.

• In 2007, he was examiner for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi’s PhD thesis at the University of London. The thesis was not accepted initially, and Gaddafi was asked to revise and resubmit after oral examination.

• The revised thesis was later approved by both examiners. He was not involved in the LSE’s financial dealings with the Gaddafi Foundation due to his retirement. He later publicly said the donation should be returned to the people of Libya.

• He once made remarks about the Church of England losing money in real estate and shifting focus to sex and money.

• In 1971, Desai joined the UK’s Labour Party. In June 1991, he was elevated to the House of Lords.

• From 1986 to 1992, Desai was chairman of the Islington South and Finsbury Constituency Labour Party in London.

• In 1991, he was made a life peer as Baron Desai of St Clement Danes in the City of Westminster. He was also associated with Labour Friends of Israel during his political career.

• In November 2020, he resigned from the Labour Party after 49 years of membership, over its failure to act against antisemitic racism. He criticised the party for tolerating abuse of Jewish MPs and women members.

• In India, he was known for making controversial statements. He said India was never an ancient nation. He criticised the Modi government on several issues, such as RBI governor resignations, use of RBI reserves, and farm loan waivers.

• In January 2012, during a lecture in Ahmedabad, Desai criticised Mahatma Gandhi for praising the Bhagavad Gita and admiring Hitler. He questioned Gandhi’s judgment on both.

• In 2014, he wrote a book called Who Wrote the Bhagavadgita: A Secular Enquiry into a Sacred Text. He said the Gita supported inequality and lacked compassion. He admitted he was not an expert on scriptures and called himself an atheist.

• Meghnad Desai got engaged to Kishwar Ahluwalia in 2004. She worked as a former Zee TV executive who edited his book Nehru’s Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India.

• Their relationship started after five business meetings in Delhi. After returning to London in January 2004, Desai and Ahluwalia stayed in touch over the phone.

• They had not physically met again or touched before he left India. Desai spent £2,500 in four weeks on phone calls, which led to his phone connections being cut off by multiple service providers.

• Desai, who was 64 years old at the time, was previously married to Gail, an Englishwoman. They had been separated for over eight years.

• Ahluwalia, who was 47, had two children from her previous marriage, Gaurav and Malika.

• Desai and Ahluwalia bonded over common interests in literature, films, and theatre. They discussed future collaborations, including projects on Nargis, Begum Sumroo, and Amir Khusrau.

• They compared their match to a fictional Bollywood pairing of a Gujju boy and a Punjabi girl, referring to Kal Ho Naa Ho characters.

• Desai commented that being in love at 63 felt like being 23, but with greater confidence and fewer anxieties. He acknowledged that both had learned from their previous marriages.

• Their children supported the relationship. Desai said he was not sure if their story would inspire younger people, but he believed it might encourage older people to be more open-minded.