The School of Economics, University of Hyderabad (UoH) hosted the 1st International Conference of the Indian Society for the History of Economic Thought (ISHET) on the 28th and 29th of October 2024. ISHET was established to encourage the teaching and research of the history of economic thought (HET) in India. Dr Limakumba Walling was the organizing secretary of the conference.
The honourable Vice Chancellor Prof. B J Rao presided over the inaugural session on the 28th October where Professor Richard van den Berg of Kingston University London delivered the first keynote lecture on ‘Turgot, Patullo and the Bengal Famine of 1770’.
Professor R. Vijay, Dean, School of Economics, welcomed the keynote speakers and the delegates. Dr. Alex M. Thomas, President of ISHET, welcomed the delegates. The valedictory session where the second keynote lecture on ‘Women Economists in the Global South: The Case of Two Venezuelan Ministers of Economy (1945-1968)’ was chaired by Professor R V Ramanamurthy.
The conference had delegates from several countries and all parts of India. The international delegates included Tomoyuki Arai (Nanzan University, Japan), Manuel Branco (University of Evora, Portugal), Scott Carter (University of Tulsa, USA), Rebeca Gomez Betancourt (University of Lyon 2, France), Richard van den Berg (Kingston University London, UK), and Alexandre Reichart (Renmin University of China).
Senior distinguished professors from India included Professors Ashwani Saith, Chiranjib Sen, Gita Sen, L. Venkatachalam, and G. Omkarnath. The conference participants were from several top institutions such as University of Delhi, University of Calcutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), South Asian University (SAU), IIT Delhi, IIT Tirupati, Jamia Millia Islamia, IIT Patna, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), IIM Bangalore, IIIT Hyderabad, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS).
There were close to 80 paper presentations across 2 days. Prior to this, an INET-YSI-sponsored one-day workshop on HET was conducted. Close to 150 people participated in the conference.