Rongili Biswas

RONGILI BISWAS

Associate Professor of Economics Maulana Azad College, Kolkata India and

Associate Researcher in Economics (Honorary) Department of Public Policy and Public Choice (POLIS) University of Eastern Piedmont Italy

Personal Details

19/7 Naktala Lane Kolkata-700 047 ADDRESS India

FATHER’S Hemango Biswas NAME

MOTHER’S NAME Ranu Biswas

TELEPHONE Phone : 00919903092249 [email protected] EMAIL [email protected] Associate Professor of Economics CURRENT Maulana Azad College POSITION Kolkata India PLACE OF Calcutta, India BIRTH NATIONALITY Indian

Areas of Research Interest

Public Economics and Political Economy

 Jurisdiction formation and wealth stratification  Lobbying within a federal structure and resource distribution  Fiscal federalism, politics of democracy, politics of redistribution  Tax evasion  Political bargaining  Law and economics  Classical political economy/economic history

Rural Poverty and Development Economics

 Trade openness and poverty at the sub-national level in India  Rural poverty alleviation programmes: implications for India

Education

Ph. D (Economics), Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India and Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India December, 2003.

M.Phil.(Economics), Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India, 1993.

M.A. (Economics), Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, 1990. Specialization: Econometrics and International Economics.

B.A. (Economics), Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, 1988.

Publications

Refereed Journals

 The segregative properties of endogenous formation of jurisdictions with a welfarist central government (with Nicolas Gravel, Rémy Oddou), Social Choice and Welfare (Wiley-Blackwell) vol. 41(2), 293-319, 2013.

 Tax Evasion and Self-Protection in a Model with Gatekeepers (with Carla Marchese and Fabio Privileggi), Journal of Economics (Springer), vol. 110, 125- 140, 2013.

 Fiscal Federalism, State Lobbying and Discretionary Finance: Evidence from India (with Sugata Marjit and Velayoudom Marimotou), Economics and Politics (Wiley-Blackwell), vol. 22(1), 68-91, 2010.

 Distributive Manipulations and Political Stability: A Theoretical Analysis, co- authored by Sugata Marjit, International Review of Economics and Finance, (Elsevier),vol.17(4), 618-628, 2008.

 Political Lobbying and Fiscal Federalism: Case of Industrial Licenses and Letters of Intent, co-authored by Sugata Marjit, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. XXXV11, No. 8, 716-725, February-March, 2002.

 IRDP, Poverty Alleviation and Development: A Comparative Study of West Bengal, India, co-authored by Ajitava Raychaudhuri, Journal of Rural Development, vol.15, No.3, 283-306, July-September, 1998.

 Inter-jurisdictional Migration and the Size of Government (with Michele G. Giuranno) sent for publication.

Book Chapters

 Political Lobbying and Discretionary Finance in India: An Aspect of Regional Political Influence in a Representative Democracy, co-authored by Sugata Marjit, in the book Development, Displacement and Disparity: India in the Last Quarter of the Century edited by Sugata Marjit and Nirmala Banerjee, Orient Longman Limited, Delhi, 2005.

Other Publications (occasional/working papers)

 ‘The Prostitution Debate’ in the book The Other Universe: An Anthology of Women's Studies, edited by Aparna Bandyopadhyay and Krishna Dasgupta, Brabourne College, Kolkata, 2015.

 MPRA, Munich Personal RePec Archive, Inter-jurisdictional migration and the size of government (with Michele M. Giuranno), October 29,2012.

 POLIS Working Paper No. 158, Tax Evasion in a Principal-Agent Model with Self-Protection, 2009 (with Carla Marchese and Fabio Privileggi).

 POLIS Working Paper No.21, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice, The segregative properties of endogenous jurisdictions formation with a welfarist central government, 2009 (with Nicolas Gravel and Remy Oddou).

 Centre de Sciences Humaines (N. Delhi) Occasional Paper, Fiscal Federalism, State Lobbying and Discretionary Finance in India, publication of the French Research Institutes in India, 2008 (with Sugata Marjit and Velayoudom Marimoutou).

 Editor and writer of introduction to the book Women’s Education and Politics of Gender, Bethune College, Basumati Corporation Limited, 2004 (co-authors: Jashodhara Bagchi and Uttara Chakraborty).

Conference/seminar Papers

 Trade Openness, Poverty and Inequality in India: Evidence at the sub-national level, Conference on ‘Indian Economy in the era of Financial Globalization’, Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris, France, 28-29 September, 2006.

 Human Rights Violation in West Bengal: Development and the Consensus Against Justice, Eastern India Social Science Conference on ‘Tradition, Development and Justice’, Indian Council of Social Science Research, Eastern Regional Centre and Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India, June 23-25,2003.

 What Bars Technology Adoption: A Comparative Study of Two villages in West Bengal, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India, November, 1998.

Papers at Conferences/seminars/workshops

 TAOYAKA Graduate Program Seminar, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Japan, 2015.  Conference on Resource Conflict, Democracy and Federalism: the South Asian Context, Department of Political Science, Calcutta University, April 24, 2015.  Zonal meet (Eastern Region) of Economists/Economic Administrators and Policy Experts for the 14th Finance Commission, Govt. of India at Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India, May 2, 2013.  Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India, October 10, 2012.  Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India, August,2011.  University of Reading, UK, May 11, 2011.  University of York, UK, June 9, 2011.  Courant Centre PEG, Georg August University of Goettingen, Germany, April 2010.  Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala, May, 2010.  IAREP Workshop on The Economic Psychology of Giving, Public Goods and Leadership at the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK, November 13—14, 2009.  University of Reading, UK January 12, 2009.  European Workshop in Law, Economics and Collective Decision Making, Department of Public Policy and Public Choice, University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy, June 4-5, 2009.  University of East Anglia, UK, January 15, 2009.  Brunel University, UK, January 21, 2009.  POLIS, University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy, October 24, 2008.  University of Birmingham, UK, November 25, 2008.  University of York, UK, November 26, 2008.  University of Caen, France, December 8, 2008.  Conference Journées d'Economie Publique Louis-André Gérard-Varet # 6, Marseille, France, June 14-15, 2007.  Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi, India, May 24, 2007.  First World Meeting of Public Choice Societies hosted by The Amsterdam School of Economics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 29 March - 1April, 2007.  Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris, France, September 28-29,2006.  European Public Choice Conference in Turku, Finland 20-23 April, 2006.  Centre for Research in Economics and Management, Université de Caen, France, January, 2006.  Jadavpur University Annual Conference, Calcutta, India, December, 2004.  Indian Council of Social Science Research, Eastern Regional Centre and Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India, June 23-25, 2003.  University of Melbourne, Australia, October, 2002.  University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia September, 2002  Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India, August, 2002.  Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India, June, 2002.  Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India, June,2000.  Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, India, November, 1998.

Professional Profile

Employment History

 2010 : Associate Professor of Economics, Maulana Azad College, Calcutta, India  2008-2010 : Post-doctoral Researcher, POLIS, University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy  2007-2008: Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Centre de Sciences Humaines (Embassy of France), New Delhi, India.  2006: Post-doctoral Research Fellow, University of Caen, France.  2002-2006: Senior Lecturer in Economics, Bethune College, Calcutta, India.  1997-2002: Lecturer, Bidhannagar College, Calcutta, India.

Research Positions

 2015: Visiting Researcher, TAOYAKA Graduate Program for Creating a Flexible, Enduring, Peaceful Society, Hiroshima University, Japan,  2012: Coordinator, Research Project on Political Economy of British Labour Movement in the second half of the nineteenth century, University Grants Commission, India.  2011: Visiting Researcher, Microeconomic Research Cluster, University of York, UK  2010: Visiting Fellow, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, July.  2009: Visiting Fellow, University of Birmingham, UK, September and Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, June.  1994-1997: Researcher, independent project on Credit, Technology Adoption, Tenurial Relations and Marketing in West Bengal Agriculture, Jadavpur University.  1992: Participant Observer, Beneficiary Assessment Project in Sericulture, sponsored by the World Bank, conducted by the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta.  1991: Research Assistant, Urban Management Programme sponsored by UNDP, UNHCRS and the World Bank, conducted by the University of Birmingham.

Research Grant

 2012: UGC Minor Resreach Project grant on ‘Nineteenth for Century British Labour Movement’, UGC, India (Rs. 1,30,000).

Teaching portfolio

Maulana Azad College (2010-)

 Macroeconomics: Basic Macro Theory, Consumption and Investment Theories, Theories of Economic Growth, Inflation, Unemployment, Adaptive and Rational Expectation.

 Public Finance: Basic theories, Principles of Taxation, Direct and indirect Tax, Public Debt.  Statistics: Central tendency, Measures of Dispersion, Moments, Skewness, Kurtosis, Theory of Probability, Sampling Distribution, Sampling Theory, Inference.

Bethune College (2002-2006)

 Macroeconomics: Consumption Theories, Theories of Economic Growth, Inflation, Unemployment, Adaptive and Rational Expectation.  Development Economics : Trade and Development, Alternative Development Models, Development Strategies in Labour-surplus Economies, Failure of the Market and the Government, Planning Models, Human Capital and Development, Poverty and Inequality.  Political Economy: Political Institutions, Evolution of the International Economy, IMF,UNCTAD, GATT, WTO.

Bidhannagar College (1997-2002)

 Microeconomics: Basic Micro Theory, Market Morphology, Uncertainty, Bargaining, Welfare Economics.  Public Finance: Basic theories, Principles of Taxation, Direct and indirect Tax, Public Debt.  Mathematical Economics: Game Theory, Asymmetric Information, General Equilibrium, Input-output Analysis, Linear Programming.

Other Activities

 Trained in Indian classical music. Received training in folk music from Hemango Biswas. Archivist, practitioner and performer of Indian folk songs.  Was a former member of the renowned theatre group Anya Theatre, Kolkata. Performed as a singer in the production Madhab Malanchi Koinya, 1988-1990.  Published author of novels and shorter fictions in Bengali. Publishes regularly in important Bengali magazines like Baromas, Anustup, Disha, Pratibesh, Antahsar.  First major publication (novel, Bengali): Hepajote Nikhoj Jahangir (That Jahangir who disappeared from Police Custody), Dey’s Publishing House, Kolkata, India, January, 2005.  Included in Aro nabin, aro sera: a collection of short stories by thirty four best young authors of Bengali literature edited by Ujjwalkumar Majumdar and Ramkumar Mukhopadhyay, Mitra o Ghosh Publishers Pvt. Ltd (Bengali). Kolkata, India, July, 2005.  Currently working on a novel based on nineteenth century French literature and Gustave Flaubert (English)  Visiting Fellow at Centre for Contemporary Studies (CCS, IISC), June, 2013. Gave a talk on ‘In quest of Flaubert: palimpsest as a narrative mode’, June 13, 2013, CCS, Bangalore.

 Edited (with Paranb Biswas) ‘Hemango Biswas Rachanasangraha, Vol. 1, the first volume of collected writings of Hemango Biswas, Dey’s Publishing, Kolkata, 2012  Knowledge of languages: English, French, Italian, Bengali, Hindi.

Awards and Fellowships

 2015: Bangla Academy Prize for a single book in a year (Shanti Saha Smarak Puroskar) for the novel ‘Hepajote Nikhoj Jahangir’  2007: Post-doctoral Research Fellowship, POLIS, University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy.  2006: Post-doctoral Research Fellowship, Centre de Sciences Humaines (Embassy of France), New Delhi, India.  2005:HERMES Post-doctoral Fellowship, Foundation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH), France.  2005 : Katha award for best fiction in a regional language in India in 2005 (for a short story titled The Ballad of the Palm Trees) (Bengali).  2001:Teacher Fellowship, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, India  1994: Junior Research Fellowship (NET), University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India.  1993: Lectureship Eligibility (NET), University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India.

Other Academic Information

 Worked as referee for Social Choice and Welfare, European Journal of Development Research, Public Finance Review.  Participated in the project titled Competition Among Nation States (2008-2010), funded by ANR (France) and DFG (Germany).  Professional and training courses taken: Winter School, Delhi School of Economics, 1995.University Teachers’ Orientation Course, Calcutta University, 2000.University Teachers’ Refresher Courses (Gender and Sexuality), Jadavpur University, 2004. University Teachers’ Refresher Course (Women in Politics: Family, Community and the State), Jadavpur University, 2011, University Teachers’ Refresher Course (Emerging Trends and Contemporary Debates in International Relaions, Jadavpur University, 2013).  Extensive Field Research Experience in several villages in the Southern and Western West Bengal, India, 1995-1997 for the project Credit, Technology Adoption, Tenurial Relations and Marketing in West Bengal Agriculture, Jadavpur University.  Experience in anthropological field research (as participant observer) in the villages in northern, western and central West Bengal, 1992 for Beneficiary Assessment Project in Sericulture, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta.  Resource person in the public hearing on starvation in West Bengal, India, 2005. Field experience regarding food insecurity in the Ayodhya Hills Tracts, Purulia, western West Bengal, 2005.

 Resource person in the Refresher Courses organized by the Department of Comparative Literature, ‘Literary Studies and Performance’, Jadavpur University, 2015 and Department of Women’s Studies, Women, Culture, Performance’ Jadavpur University, 2014. Resource person in the workshop ‘Intellectual Property and Folk Music’ Organized by West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, 2015.

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