Urging the institution to maintain its high standards of economic research, the Prime Minister said, “The best is yet to come.”

“I sincerely hope that this institute will stay faithful to what its founding fathers stood for” Singh added.

Dr Rajendra Prasad laid down the foundation stone of NCAER building in 1959 and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated it in 1961.

Singh was walked through the architectural plans for the New Centre by a specialized team before his address and interacted with eminent economists of the country at NCAER after the ceremony.

The NCAER is an independent non-profit economic research institution that assists the government, civil society and private sector to make policy choices. NCAER has an interdisciplinary team of researchers that generate large-scale primary data and independent analyses at national, state, sectoral, industry and firm levels.

The Council’s current research activities focus on the progress of the country’s economic reform programme and its impact on agriculture, industry and human development.

An emerging focus of the Council is a thorough assessment of major government public expenditure schemes in the social sector, at both state and union levels.

Published in: Business Standard, July 27, 2013