Nearly 150 professors from across the country have turned students to learn about demonetisation, challenges in the Indian economy and the way forward from Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

The first lecture of the course titled "Contemporary Themes in India's Economic Development and the Economic Survey" was held yesterday, the inauguration of which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar.

"For the first time a policy maker has turned a professor for the MOOC courses. For seven days he will conduct a 35-lecture course which will help in developing an in-depth understanding of the Indian economy- its history, recent developments, and impending challenges," Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said.

The course will cover the history of the Indian economic development and the current progress, challenges and the strategy to go forward. It will cover these themes through the analysis presented in the Economic Surveys of the previous three years.

"The participants will become proficient in understanding and analysing macro-economic developments and policy. They will also become familiar with the current dominant thoughts and tools used for economic policy making and research," Javadekar said.

The topics will include global and Indian economic history, monetary policy and inflation targeting, economic crises and the twin-balance sheet problem in India, reviewing macro-economic developments and understanding macro-economic policy, state capacity, fiscal capacity, and the social sector in India and demonetization.