Kolkata, : The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta organized the annual Arijit Mukherjee Memorial Lecture and 34th Lecture of Institute Lecture Series on 12th July. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Karthik Muralidharan, Tata Chancellor’s Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego. The topic of his lecture was “Accelerating India’s Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance”.

Dr. Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellor’s professor of economics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). His research spans public finance and development economics with a focus on improving education, health, welfare, and public service delivery; and has been published in several world-leading academic journals. Dr. Muralidharan is also the author of his recently published book titled 'Accelerating India’s Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance'.

This seminal book systematically analyses India’s governance challenges, especially in delivering essential public services, and highlights how these are limiting India’s development. Drawing on a wealth of research and practical insights, it provides actionable, evidence-based strategies, emphasizing state-level reforms as critical for India’s advancement. Every chapter of the book showcases the author’s dedication to bridging the gap between scholarly research, public understanding, and actionable governance.

This talk provided a high-level overview of the main argument of the book.

The event started off with the inaugural speech by Chairperson, MBA Programme, Proffesor Abhishek Goel, followed by Director-in-charge, Professor Saibal Chattopadhyay's speech on the subject. Both of them welcomed Professor Muralidharan for being accepted the invitation to deliver this year's AMML. The occasion also saw the presence of Dean of Academic Programmes, Professor Bhaskar Chakrabarti. A team comprising of family members and friends of Late Atrijit Mukherji was present as special invitees on the occasion.

An extension of Institute Lecture Series, the 34th ILS, was the Arijit Mukherji Memorial Lecture, which was attended compulsorily by the PGP, MBAEX and Doctoral students of the Institute along with faculty members, officers, staff of the Institute and distinguished alumni on invitation.

IIM Calcutta expresses its gratitude to the executors of the estate of Late Prasanta Kumar Mukherji for donating Rs. 55 lakhs to the institute in 2015 as per the wishes of the Late Prasanta Kumar Mukherji. The Late Prasanta Kumar Mukherji bequeathed the fund to IIM Calcutta in the cherished memory of his son the Late Prof. Arijit Mukherji, a distinguished and honoured faculty of Carlson School of Management, University of Minnessota. Prof. Arijit Mukherji had a life span of only 38 years that suddenly ended in October 2000 in Minneapolis. IIM Calcutta has agreed to the suggestion of Mrs. Anuradha Mukherji, wife of the Late Prasanta Kumar Mukherji, that the fund may be utilized by the institute to conduct annual lectures in the cherished memory of their son the Late Prof. Arijit Mukherji by inviting distinguished professionals from India and abroad to visit the Institute campus annually. The first edition of the lecture was held on August 5, 2016 at the Institute’s auditorium.

Arijit Mukherji was born in 1962.  He had done graduation in India and then went to USA for further studies.  He completed his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.  He then joined Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota in 1991 as an Assistant Professor in the Accounting Department and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1997 and had done extensive work on financial disclosures, audit and design incentives in different types of organizations.  He published a good number of papers in top tier journals, a book and a chapter in an edited volume. In 1997 he was chosen as an MBA professor of the year and in nine years that he taught at the University he was honoured as the outstanding Teacher of the decade. He owned several teaching awards and was honoured with life time teaching award in 2000.  Unfortunately, Prof. Mukherji had a life span of only 38 years that suddenly ended in Minneapolis, USA in October 2000! 

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