The Indian Liberal group was founded on 10th November 1965. The founding members included Minoo Masani, Prof B R Shenoy, Mr H V R Iengar, Dr Fredie Mehta, Mr Khushwant Singh and Madame Sophie Wadia. One of the objectives of the Indian Liberal Group as defined by them is that “the ILG seeks to emphasise the fact that a market economy by itself does not ensure an open society; that a free economy and a free society are two sides of the same coin; and that a free and democratic society alone will ensure a satisfying standard of life for the people.”
The Group believes in achieving the objectives of attaining freedom, social justice, tolerance in the society and equality of opportunity through various local chapters on the local level along with State and National level executives.
Issues
The Liberal Position – Newsletter of the Indian Liberals Group, April 2002
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani, to promote the liberal point of view and educate the public on the concept of libertarianism. The tank published newsletters titled, “The liberal position,” to help defend and promote liberal values. The issue of April 2002 is a continuation of the formation of the proposed structure that was mentioned in the issue of October 2001. The newsletter focused on the statewide distribution and the institution of local chapters, this was highlighted with the help of a table. It further emphasized the importance of a local chapter...
The Liberal Position – Newsletter of the Indian Liberals Group, October 2001
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani, to promote the liberal point of view and educate the public on the concept of libertarianism. The tank published newsletters titled, “The liberal position,” to help defend and promote liberal values. The purpose of these newsletters was to create a medium for interaction. The issue priorly focused on the values that brought the institution of the Indian Liberal Group. The newsletter contained details about the installation of the new website and the discourse it has been created for. The responses to the status report on the...
Constitution of the Indian Liberal Group, March 4, 2000
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani, to promote the liberal point of view and educate the public on the concept of libertarianism and defend the fundamental values. The Constitution of ILG was adopted on 4th March 2000. As per the Constitution, the purpose of instituting ILG was to foster the values of freedom, tolerance, social justice based on the foundation of liberal beliefs. The charter included the details for location, organizational structure, membership, enrollment. The structure included how the organization was further going to be composed of a national council, state councils,...
Basic Principles of the Indian Liberal Group, March 5, 2000
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani, to promote the liberal point of view and educate the public on the concept of libertarianism and defend the fundamental values. The framework for establishing basic principles as the guidelines for action for the ILG was instituted and adopted on 5th March 2002. The emphasis was laid on rationalism and educating people about libertarianism. According to the liberal group, five matters were highlighted that ranged from the importance of freedom of the press, a threat to personal liberty, resorting to extreme violence followed by the criminalization...
Manifesto for Indian Liberals, 1985
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani, to promote the liberal point of view and educate the public on the concept of libertarianism and defend the fundamental values. A manifesto was drawn at the Indian Liberals Conference held in the year 1985. The declaration was adopted amid a time period where there were gross violations of human rights with recurrent threats to the foundations of peace, liberal principles, and democracy. This public declaration of IGL emphasized the stand of freedom and democracy and the need for its revival. The concept of decentralization and...
The Liberal Budget, 2006-07
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani, to promote the liberal point of view and educate the public on the concept of libertarianism and defend the fundamental values. This text is titled “The Liberal Budget 2006-2007” and covers the third Liberal Budget which was released three months ahead of the Union Budget for the year 2006-07. The text has a total of five chapters. Chapter first titled “Assessment of Economic Reforms” covers the political and economic background of India’s Economic Policy Reforms and the principal message of the Reforms. Further the chapter discusses...
Trends in Government Expenditure, April 30, 2007
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani, to promote the liberal point of view and educate the public on the concept of libertarianism and defend the fundamental values. The booklet titled “Trends In Government Expenditure” was published on April 30, 2007 and was authored by K. P. Geethakrishnan. This text is the Sixth Ambirajan Memorial Lecture delivered by him on March 30, 2007. The author in the texts suggests that expenditure compression can be counter- productive and explains the expenditure trends in developed countries. The text further covers the impact of the Great...
Union Budget 2002 – 2003 : The Liberal Point of View
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani,to promote the Liberal philosophy, and to place before the country an alternative to socialists, supporting the ongoing economic reforms. The text titled “Union Budget 2002-03” is a review of the union budget for the year 2002-03. The text discusses GDP growth and industrial growth, the economy slow down and discusses the poor condition of the country. Then the text suggests that the economy needs a strong demand push and at the same time says the path of deficit financing is fraught with risk. The text talks...
The Liberal Budget 2007-2008: Taking Reforms to the Poor
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani, to promote the liberal point of view and educate the public on the concept of libertarianism and defend the fundamental values. This text is titled “The Liberal Budget 2007-08” and covers the fourth Liberal Budget for the year 2007-08. The text has a total of five chapters. The very first chapter of the text covers the Fiscal Issues, several areas of serious concerns, strategic framework of LB4, an overview of earlier liberal budgets, tax reforms, expenditure reforms, evaluation of Central Budgets with the LBs over the...
The Liberal Budget: Building an Equitable Society, 2004
The Indian Liberal Group was a think tank founded in 1964 by Minoo Masani,to promote the Liberal philosophy, and to place before the country an alternative to socialists, supporting the ongoing economic reforms. The text titled “The Liberal Budget: Building an Equitable Society” was published in 2004 and has a total of three chapters. The very first chapter titled “Liberal perspectives and human development” covers the philosophical position, effective fiscal governance, fiscal consolidation and stabilisation, efficiency & productivity, acceleration of growth, promotion of equity and the nine-point objectives of a liberal state. Then the chapter discusses poverty and employment, welfare,...
Fifty Years After
This booklet was jointly sponsored by Project for Economic Education and Friedrich Naumann Stiftung. It is the textual summarization of the seminar held at Mumbai in April 1997, on the topic ‘India - Fifty Years After’. It discusses the various developments that have taken place in the nation since its independence. Issues persisting since 1947 such as widespread illiteracy, regional disparity in availing basic healthcare infrastructure, water scarcity, corruption in the bureaucracy and government, and so on are discussed in the course of the seminar. Political developments, including the Emergency period, nepotism within the Congress, rise of alternate political parties...
The Retreat After Socialism
The Project for Economic Education was a non-political, non-partisan programme established with the objective of enlightening the intelligent layman on economic issues. This booklet is a publication of the Project for Economic Education, and is co-sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. It contains the textual reproduction of the seventh C D Deshmukh Lecture conducted by the India International Centre, delivered by Mr. B K Nehru entitled ‘The Retreat From Socialism’. He traces the origins and developments of modern socialism and explains its specific history in the Soviet Union. He discusses the global spread of socialism including our first Prime Minister...
Bureaucracy and the Liberal Administrator
Published by the Centre for Civil Society, a public policy think tank based out of New Delhi, this excerpt has been borrowed from Sauvik Chakraverti’s essay titled “New Public Management: Escape from Babudom”. The essay builds a case for new public management as an escape from the statist clutches of Indian bureaucracy – starting with the attributes and importance of a liberal administrator, and the essence of bureaucracy – as written by Max Weber and Ludwig Von Mises. Sauvik Chakraverti (1956-2014) was an award-winning columnist and author whose books, monographs and columns advanced the cause of libertarian movement in India….
Post Reform Labour and Employment Issues – The Liberal Budget
The following musing is taken from ‘The Liberal Budget’ published by the Indian Liberal Group for the year 2007-08, titled ‘Taking Reforms to the Poor’. The text reproduced below is the introduction of its third chapter on Post Reform Labour and Employment Issues. In light of the 2024 budget being presented by the newly formed government this month, which aims to address the ever increasing problem of unemployment in the country, this aspiring liberal budget gives some much needed perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that we are faced with. Being a populous country, lndia has had to face the...
