Arthmanthan 2008- The Economics Festival of Mumbai

Economics to be Fun at Arthmanthan (The Indian Express)
Mumbai, November 9:
Economics will come in a more fun-filled, exciting avatar on December 16 and 17, when N G Acharya and D K Marathe College hosts its annual economics-based festival Arth-Manthan. This is the city’s only festival that has a theme, events and seminars that revolve solely on one of the most seemingly inscrutable subjects there is.
With thirteen events spread over two days, organisers believe if economics is put across to students interestingly, as is the case with their events, the subject will not be considered as dry as it is made out to be. “Economics is perceived as a very boring subject, with tough jargons and a more theoretical than practical approach. We try and make it more interesting by having events where the themes in the subject are brought out through song and drama competitions,” said Rajesh Mahanty, a second year Commerce student at NGADKM, and a member of the organising committee.
This year, the festival will revolve around four main themes: the agrarian crisis, global warming, the financial crisis and what the organisers call a leadership crisis. “We decided it was important to examine why we don’t have a transparent, dedicated, uncorrupt leader,” said G Shashi Panikar, an economics professor and a guiding force for the festival, along with professor Amit Joshi from Swami Vivekananda College, Dombivli and D M Muley, principal of the host college
Among the events to be held at Arth-Manthan this year are the Maha Debate, where contestants will debate on whether or not India can produce a Barack Obama and what India seeks in a leader; a Global Leaders Meet, where participants from various colleges will come representing various countries and their environmental issues and Business Plan. In this event, the team with the best entrepreneurship plan will win.
“This is one of the most innovative festivals I have seen. Imagine explaining economic terms in a song, which is part of an event held each year,” said Saylee Katkar, a participant from Ruia college who participated in Arth-Manthan last year. The festival had also attracted international attention when in 2007, it was presented at the International Developments in Economics Education (DEE) Conference organised by the Higher Education Academy (UK) in Cambridge. Among the economists and academicians who have spoken at the festival in the past are G N Bajpai, Ex-Chairman SEBI, Shri Minoo Shroff, president, Forum of Free Enterprise and Sharad Joshi, founder, Shetkari Sanghatna.
While it started out with 12 participating colleges in 2001, Arth-Manthan now has over 60 colleges participating in various events and records a footfall of 5000 each year. The festival also has a book exhibition as part of the events during the two days, in order to help students and teachers update themselves with the best of books available around the world.