Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Some Lesser Known Facts About Montek Singh Ahluwalia

• Montek Singh Ahluwalia is an Indian economist and civil servant who is holding the position of a distinguished fellow at a New Delhi-based public policy think tank Centre for Social and Economic Progress since January 2021. He is the former Deputy Chairman of the now-defunct Planning Commission of India. He served the post from 6 July 2004 to 26 May 2014. Montek also served as the first director of the Independent Evaluation Office at the International Monetary Fund. In 2011, he was conferred with Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award in India, for his magnificent contribution to economic policy and public service.

• Montek spent his early years in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province, British India, and later got settled in Delhi with his family after the partition of India.

• He was a Rhodes scholar at the Magdalen College, University of Oxford, Oxford, England.

• He has received several honorary degrees like a Doctor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford and a Doctor of Philosophy from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He is also a Fellow of the Magdalen College, Oxford, England.

• Montek Singh Ahluwalia joined the World Bank as a young professional in 1968. After working there for around 3 years, he was appointed as Division Chief of the Income Distribution Division in the World Bank’s Development Research Centre; aged 28, Montek was the youngest in charge in the World Bank’s bureaucracy.

• He worked at the World Bank till 1979, after which he returned to India and settled in Delhi.

• While working at the World Bank, Montek Singh, in 1977, wrote a column titled ‘Rural poverty and agricultural performance in India.’

• In the same year, Montek Singh was appointed as the Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

• Subsequently, he served in various senior positions including Special Secretary to the Prime Minister, Commerce Secretary, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry, and Finance Secretary.

• He was then appointed as a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister.

• Montek was appointed as a member of the Planning Commission in 1988.

• In 2001, the Board of the International Monetary Fund appointed Montek Singh Ahluwalia as the first director of the Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund. He assumed office on 9 July 2001. During his tenure as the director of the IMF, Montek Singh oversaw several studies critical of various aspects of the functioning of the IMF. He quit the post in June 2004.

• Subsequently, he was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission (a position carrying the rank of a Cabinet Minister) under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi. As the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India, Montek Singh supervised the preparation of the Eleventh Five-year Plan (2008-2012) – “Towards Faster and More Inclusive Growth” and Twelfth Five-year Plan (2013-2017) – Faster, More Inclusive and Sustainable Growth. He held the position till 26 May 2014.

  

• Besides holding the position of Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia was also a Special Invitee to the Cabinet and several Cabinet Committees.

  

• A key figure in Indian economic policy, Montek Singh was a part of the high-level advisory group formed jointly by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to deal with the challenges of Climate Change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Montek Singh began working as a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, a New Delhi-based public policy think tank.

• Montek Singh has penned various articles on different aspects of the Indian economy in academic journals like Ensuring a prosperous future (published in August 1994) and India’s economic reforms: an appraisal (published on 6 October 2014). The articles have been published in prominent Indian and international journals and books.

• Montek Singh Ahluwalia has also written a few articles on economic reforms in India and India’s growth process.

• He has also contributed several chapters in books authored by many famous economists. Some of the chapters include Growth, distribution and Inclusiveness: reflections on India’s Experience and Arguments for a better world: essays in Honour of Amartya Sen.

• Montek Singh has also penned various papers in professional journals.

• He has co-authored the book Re-distribution with Growth: An Approach to Policy (1975), which was published by Oxford University Press. It is a path-breaking book on income distribution.

• Montek Singh Ahluwalia has also penned the book Backstage: The Story Behind India’s High Growth Years which was published in February 2020 by Rupa Publications. The book showcases an insider’s account of policymaking from 1985 to 2014. The book is a mix of personal reflections and national economic history and chronicles the ideas of Montex Ahluwalia on issues relating to contemporary significance including education, rural development, and energy.

  

• Following his appointment as the Finance Secretary on the recommendation of the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, there was a disappointment in a large section of IAS officers as they opposed the allotment of such post to a non-IAS officer. Many IAS officers protested against his appointment.

  

• Ahluwalia is a member of the Board of the Public Health Foundation of India.

• In an interview, while talking about his first meeting with Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Montek said that they met when he was working at the World Bank and Isher was doing a PhD from MIT. He said,
  

  A friend of mine was at MIT. He knew Isher. One day he called me and said that a good Indian girl is coming as a summer intern at the IMF, so you meet him. Then I talked to Isher and invited her for lunch. Such things kept growing and then after a year we got married too.”

• His wife was suffering from grade IV glioblastoma and died on 26 September 2020.