(Sanghnomics is a weekly column that tracks down and demystifies the economic world view of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and organisations inspired by its ideology.)
The US first launched a tariff war against India by effectively doubling import duties on some products to 50% from late August 2025. Now, in another move, the Trump administration has announced a huge new H-1B charge (reported as a $100,000 fee for new petitions). This would sharply raise the cost of hiring foreign tech-skilled workers for companies or institutions operating in the US The policy creates significant disruption and uncertainty.
Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), an organisation inspired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as well as the RSS itself, has been a strong votary of ‘Swadeshi’ economics. In fact, the SJM had already cautioned the government earlier this year that it shouldn’t yield to the pressure tactics of the Trump government.
Nonetheless, the important question is: are we witnessing the reshaping of a new global economic order, and what does India need to do to protect its own interests? It is becoming increasingly clear that the current global economic model isn’t suitable for developing countries, and the era of globalisation that started in the 1990s is over. Now, there is an ideological vacuum on the global economic front, as the Marxist models have already proved to be a failure.
It appears that India needs to have its own economic model now. If we can work on our indigenous model of economic development, then—with a strong domestic market of 1.4 billion people—the latest challenges can be converted into opportunities. This indigenous model can be based on ‘Swadeshi’. When we talk about ‘Swadeshi’, it doesn’t imply only limited import of goods; ‘Swadeshi’ is a complete discipline in itself, and Swadeshi economics is a part of it.
However, the challenge is that the Indian bureaucracy is too obsessed with Western economic thought. The economists who advise and influence policy decisions are trained either in Western universities or have studied only Western economics in Indian institutions—which is alien to India’s requirements.
Interestingly, there are several leading, internationally renowned economists who have questioned the teaching of economics in the Western institutions that are so highly sought after in India. The curriculum of economics teaching in Indian institutions is also deeply influenced by the Western framework.
According to MG Bokare (Hindu Economics, preface, first edition), “The contents of teaching and books in Europe and America have been described by Professor Paul Samuelson in a crisp phrase—kept men."
Paul Samuelson (1915–2009) is known for leaving a lasting impact on both academic economics and policymaking. He is often hailed as the 'father of modern economics'. A Nobel laureate in Economics (1970), he was one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. In his seminal work Foundations of Economic Analysis (1947, p. 4), Samuelson said: Economists “are like highly trained athletes who never run a race”.
Way back in 1960, Professor Joan Robinson, one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, wrote a very interesting paper, Teaching Economics, that should be an eye-opener for us. She wrote:
“For many years I have been employed as a teacher of theoretical economics; I would like to believe that I earn my living honestly, but I often have doubts. I am concerned particularly for India and other developing countries whose economic doctrines come to them mainly from England and in English. Is what we are giving them helpful to their development?”
What she explained in 1960 has actually amplified over the years in the case of India, with a growing number of foreign-trained economists playing an important role in academics as well as policymaking. Robinson diagnosed the problem well:
“In Cambridge, one or two of our best men, in most years, come from the subcontinent. This is not at all surprising. … These good men who come to us to be taught (and the not-so-good ones also) go home often to teach in their turn, and their pupils, too, become teachers and influence thought through other channels. Moreover, the books and the subjects chosen for examinations bear the stamp of English teaching. We have a great responsibility on our shoulders. Are we doing more harm or good?"
In a gloomy mood, she reflected on the harm: “Most students, of course, approach their studies merely with the aim of passing an examination and acquiring a degree. The exam-passers learn the trick of saying what is expected; of not asking themselves what is meant by what they are saying (for that is disturbing and dangerous and may lead to losing marks), of repeating the particular formula which sounds as though it was relevant to each particular question.”
She then specifically talks about India: “In India especially, where the ancient belief in the power of words as such is still strong, this comes quite naturally. The exam-passer who does well becomes in due course an examiner and by then he has quite lost any doubts he may once have had to stifle. He has come to believe that this kind of thing really is education. And so the system feeds on itself.”
Earlier Sanghnomics columns can be read here.
(Arun Anand has authored two books on the RSS. His X handle is @ArunAnandLive.)
Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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