About the lecture

In this lecture, we begin to introduce the main characteristics of India. To start, we look at the population dynamics of India, and how it has now surpassed China with an estimated population of 1.44 billion people. We also look at its economic growth and its per-capita income, two measures of equality and quality of life. Moving on, we see India’s position in geopolitics, before finishing off by looking at its cultural, religious, environmental and agricultural diversity.

About the lecturer

Pritam has a doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford (Oriel College) where he was awarded the Edward Boyle/Charles Wallace Scholarship. He took his BA Hons School in Economics and MA Hons School in Economics degrees from Panjab University, Chandigarh (India). He was awarded the Junior Research Fellowship by the University Grants Commission in India to study at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi from where he passed his Mphil with distinction. Before coming to Oxford, he has taught at University of Delhi as a Lecturer in Economics and at Panjab University, Chandigarh as a Reader in Economics. In 2007, he was elected as a Research Associate at the Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, and in 2009, he was a Visiting Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and in 2013 at Moscow State University, Moscow. He leads the research cluster on Environmental and Development Economics in the Department.