Jairam Ramesh is at present Secretary of the Economic Affairs Department of the Congress Party in New Delhi, the Deputy Chairman of the Karnataka State Planning Board, Economic Advisor to the Government of Chattisgarh and Member of the Economic Development Council of Rajasthan. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi.

Mr. Ramesh writes fortnightly for the Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar, respectively India's largest circulated English and Hindi dailies. Most of the articles reproduced here were first published in The Telegraph.

Mr Ramesh addressed an Asia Society audience on September 12 at an event entitled, Moving Ahead With India-China Cooperation: The Next Steps.

Mr. Ramesh was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the Karnataka Planning Board and also served as Advisor to the Finance Minister during 1996-98, Advisor to the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission 1992-94 and Advisor to the Prime Minister 1991. He served in the Planning Commission, Ministry of Industry and other economic departments of the central government.

He has been entrusted with numerous special assignments including: in Jammu and Kashmir during 1993-95; reorganizing India's international trade agencies in 1990; implementing the technology missions during 1987-89; reorganizing the CSIR in 1986, and analyzing energy policy during 1983-85. The present central government invited him to join the official delegation to the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999.

For more information about Mr Ramesh, please see his website.