Musings
Curated excerpts from the primary works
Short, focused passages from books, pamphlets, and essays in the corpus: paragraph-citable, full-text searchable, linked back to the source work.
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28 October 2024
Controlling Inflation in India - BR Shenoy
“If we may define inflation as an expansion of money which drives up commodity prices in general, inflation exists, incipient inflation apart, only when the General Prices Index rises.”
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21 October 2024
A Blueprint for Eradication of Poverty - Dr B.P. Godrej
“The biggest problems facing India today are poverty and unemployment.”
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14 October 2024
Tagore's Humanistic Approach To Indian Nationalism
“Tagore's greatness lies in the fact that he infused the spirit of poetry into the Indian national movement.”
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7 October 2024
Auctioning Import Licenses - B.R. Shenoy
“You cannot get rich quicker today than by getting import licenses issued in your favor.”
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16 September 2024
Whithering Indian Urbanisation? - FP Antia
“The urbanisation process appears certainly to have run amuck in this country.”
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9 September 2024
Crushing Burden of Taxation - Nani Palkhivala
“When laws fail to account for the spirit of justice and fairness, they lose their moral legitimacy and encourage widespread evasion.”
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2 September 2024
Ceilings on Landholdings - M.A. Venkata Rao
“It is vital for the future of democracy and stable governance in India that these land reform proposals are discussed thoroughly from all perspectives—economic and social, short-term and long-term, evolutionary and revolutionary.”
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26 August 2024
Globalisation and the Poor - Johan Norberg
“Relative poverty is not a measure of poverty, but of inequality.”
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12 August 2024
The State of Enterprise in Free India
“India has had so much regulation that no amount of deregulation seems adequate.”
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5 August 2024
The Myth of Free Education
“Whenever we get comfort and have not paid for it, we must realise clearly that we are enjoying it at somebody else’s cost.”
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22 July 2024
Free Enterprise in Danger - B.R. Shenoy
“The institution of free enterprise and the liberty of the individual are in a critical phase in India.”
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15 July 2024
The Place of Free Enterprise in a Backward Economy
“Since the decision of the Government to establish a socialist economy in the country, this section has come in for quite an unnecessary measure of discrimination and has been discredited and discouraged at every stage.”
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8 July 2024
Freedom and Economic Freedom - Bibek Debroy, 2008
“These core human rights represent the essence of freedom and have been captured in legislation, national as well as international.”
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1 July 2024
Post Reform Labour and Employment Issues - The Liberal Budget
“This resulted in a well-laid framework seeking to provide security of tenure of employment in the organized sector while largely ignoring similar efforts in the unorganized and small-scale sectors.”
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24 June 2024
Enduring Challenges in Indian Public Administration - V.P. Menon
“Sardar Patel was always at pains to impress on his party men not to interfere in the administration; but interference goes on, differences being only a matter of degree, in all the States.”
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17 June 2024
Nani Palkhivala’s Publications to Serve Public Education | M.R. Pai
“He has left for future generations a legacy of noble thoughts.”
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10 June 2024
1991 Liberal Reforms: Why No One Celebrated Them - Ashok Desai, 1995
“There was economic liberalisation, but there was no liberal philosophy behind it.”
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4 June 2024
Free Enterprise in India: A Call for Leadership - A.D. Shroff, 1961
“An atmosphere darkened by slogans of socialism is getting brighter today, thanks to the dissemination of knowledge on economics of free enterprise which is nothing but application of common sense to problems of production, distribution and exchange.”
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27 May 2024
The Shetkari Sangathana and the History of the Farmers' Movement in India
“The SS is a non-political, non communal and non-pastoral union of peasants with a single point-programme – “Securing remunerative prices for the agricultural produce.””
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20 May 2024
To Prosperity through Freedom
“Like Luther at Godeoburg, Mr. C. Rajqopalachari has nailed his Fourteen Points on the door of the Ruling Party in the crucial challenge.”
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13 May 2024
Manifesto for Indian Liberals
“Respect for the individual as guaranteed under the original Constitution of 1950 is the true basis of society.”
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3 May 2024
Free Enterprise and Freedom
“But the extension of the public sector in an expansionist economy is bound to result in the concentration of economic power in the hands of those who form the Government and of those who administer public enterprises.”
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29 April 2024
Commerce and Control: Barriers to Free Enterprise
“As has been the case throughout history, the unifying forces of commerce are frustrated by the divisive forces of politics.”
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21 April 2024
Bureaucracy and the Liberal Administrator
“Sauvik Chakraverti (1956-2014) was an award-winning columnist and author whose books, monographs and columns advanced the cause of libertarian movement in India.”
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26 January 2024
Examination of Objections to Limitations of Amending Power
“If the representatives of the people could be trusted to respect citizens’ basic freedoms, there would have been no need for the chapter on fundamental rights at all.”
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16 January 2024
Economic Growth with Social Justice
““Socialism" has become a word comprehensive enough to cover the entire spectrum of economic folly — a plethora of harmful controls, periodic bouts of nationalization, and the pursuit of policies which ensure unemployment and economic retrogression.”
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21 December 2023
Planning by Minoo Masani
“Just as an injection can cure or kill a man, so too a Plan can enrich or ruin a country.”
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20 December 2023
Indian agricultural policy in a nutshell
“The central and the most essential fact about Indian agriculture is that it suffers from either the caprices of nature or, when the nature is benign, by the tyranny of governmental interventions.”
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13 December 2023
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO PROPERTY BY V. M. TARKUNDE
“V.M Tarkunde’s “Fundamental Right to Property” explains how the right to property is fundamental to a human being to enjoy other fundamental rights.”
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29 November 2023
Rukhmabai Raut: A Beacon of Courage and Change in British India
“Her remarkable contributions to medicine and the cause of women's rights continue to inspire generations.”
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15 November 2023
Acharya N G Ranga: The Farmer’s Friend and Swatantra Party Stalwart
“He was a champion of Peasant rights and is considered the father of the peasant movement in India.”
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8 November 2023
Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu: A Visionary Leader and pioneer of Press Freedom
“He championed Press freedom as a reputed journalist and carried out crucial reforms for the development of Rural people.”
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1 November 2023
Kandukuri Veeresalingam: Icon of Andhra’s Renaissance
“Veeresalingam used literature as a tool to banish the darkness of superstition and social vices, and spread awareness.”
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25 October 2023
Two Strands of Liberal Expression : Dr. Anandibai Joshi and Lakshmibai Tilak
“As liberal feminist ideas became more articulate and the suffrage movement became stronger in America, an intellectual churning shaped the Indian psyche in the latter half of the 19th century.”
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18 October 2023
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“राजकीय शिक्षणाशिवाय राजकीय बदल होऊ शकत नाही यावर त्यांचा ठाम विश्वास होता।”
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11 October 2023
Lokmanya Tilak : A Conservative Liberal?
“He has often been interpreted and largely misinterpreted as a revolutionary, an extremist, and a nationalist leader who supported the use of violence.”
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4 October 2023
Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and the Vindication of Women’s Education
“In the face of opposition from several sections of the society, Agarkar held on to the liberal ideas of equality of opportunity, individual choice, individual freedom, and education for women.”
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27 September 2023
The Forgotten Legacy of Yashodabai Agarkar
“Yashodabai Agarkar is a figure missed entirely by history.”
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13 September 2023
Gurajada Apparao: Liberal and Feminist Insights in Kanyasulkam
“Through his works, Apparao challenged the authoritarian and orthodox beliefs deeply ingrained in Indian society and culture.”
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6 September 2023
Fighting for Freedom : The Tumultuous Legacy of Raghunath Karve
“Karve was a strong believer in individual autonomy especially of the corporeal kind and was a strong supporter of birth control.”
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30 August 2023
Gurcharan Das: Champion of liberal ideals
“As a liberal figure, Das advocates for individual freedom, limited government intervention, and free-market economics.”
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23 August 2023
Dr Muthulakshmi Reddi: Beacon of Women's Liberty
“By championing gender equality she left an indelible mark on South Indian social fabric.”
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16 August 2023
Have We Lost Our Will To Be Free?
“Freedom rests not on constitutions but on the will to be free.”
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2 August 2023
Profit-Shy Asians
“Free enterprise is the only guarantee of the broadest possible choice.”
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26 July 2023
The Evils of Child Marriage
“Who can feign ignorance of the evils that these mindless acts have unleashed?”
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5 July 2023
Your Prosperity Through Freedom
“Free Enterprise is not reflective of an individualistic system but a society where rules and regulations are laid down by the economic representatives elected by the people.”
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28 June 2023
National Priorities for 1970
“My own feeling is that if she goes to the polls, she will be decisively defeated at the present juncture.”
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21 June 2023
Democracy in India
“In the name of democracy, the country now lies bound with restrictions which even the British did not dare impose.”
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14 June 2023
Socialism or State Capitalism
“It is bad enough that India should be a hundred years behind advanced nations in industrial development.”
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7 June 2023
Limits and Limitations of State Trading
“The State is not entitled to disregard this context because that is the context within which both the state (the Central and State Governments) as well as individuals and corporations-every one of us in this country–in fact, have to work.”
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4 June 2023
Swatantra Party: 64th Foundation Year
“The Swatantra Party stands for the protection of the individual citizen against the increasing trespasses of the State.”
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31 May 2023
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur: Philanthropy and Politics
“There was a quiet strength, an earnestness and deep humility about him that went straight to my young heart .”
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24 May 2023
A Resilient Soul: Ramadevi Chowdhuri
“Ramadevi Chowdhuri (1899-1985) was a prominent Indian freedom fighter and social activist from Odisha, India.”
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17 May 2023
Economics of Freedom
“I was unable to convince my friend that the destruction of free enterprise and peasant proprietorship must lead in India, as in Russia, to the same kind of monolithic totalitarian dictatorship as had developed under Stalin.”
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8 May 2023
The Nation by R N Tagore
“But the nations do not create, they merely produce and destroy.”
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3 May 2023
Pitfalls in Our Industrial Policy
“Private enterprise has, therefore, earned the country's gratitude for the faith and courage with which it developed such industries as Textiles, Jute, Steel, Sugar, Shipping, etc., against heavy odds and at considerable sacrifices.”
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26 April 2023
Pandita Ramabai: A Trailblazing Feminist
“Ramabai's life and work continue to inspire feminists, educators, and social justice activists worldwide.”
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19 April 2023
Government and Society in a Free and Prosperous Commonwealth
“A free and prosperous commonwealth does not depend for its motive force on any great political leader.”
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12 April 2023
Dr B R Ambedkar on Village Panchayats
“Whatever be the merits of these rural republics, I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that they have been the bane of the public life of India.”
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6 April 2023
Population Causes Prosperity
“If humans are the only species capable of creating wealth, then how can more of their number cause poverty?”
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22 February 2023
Laying The Foundations For An Economic Miracle
“This year’s Budget will go down in the fiscal history of India as the one which will create the right environment for engineering an economic miracle that has, so far, eluded the country.”
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15 February 2023
The Liberal Budget: Building an Equitable Society
“It is that the business of government is governance and not business.”
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8 February 2023
The Missed Opportunity
“The budget starts a chain reaction in the economy, and it can either promote economic growth or retard it.”
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3 February 2023
The Budget Versus The People
“Thus, the States have come to depend more on the Centre for financial assistance.”
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17 January 2023
The Party or the People?
“In most cases, the quarrels involve no issues of principle or programme.”
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11 January 2023
Prospects of Democracy in India
“Democratic government and politics rest on the idea of the responsibility of the rulers to the people, who are considered to be the ultimate repositories of political power.”
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4 January 2023
The Education of the Electorate
“The characteristics of the electorate everywhere determine the quality of democracy and its influence on beneficial or otherwise affairs.”
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28 December 2022
The Universality Of Human Values
“One thing is clear, as indeed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations recognizes, and this is that Human Rights must be universally recognized and applied.”
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21 December 2022
Democracy Means Bread And Freedom
“The authoritarian who asks “What is freedom to a hungry man?” and then goes on to assert that fundamental rights are meaningless and cannot be exercised without economic well-being is sure of a sympathetic response where bread is scarce.”
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14 December 2022
Community Development
“My complaint is that community development has been ill-planned, if planned at all, and as regards the best use of limited resources - the less said, the better.”
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7 December 2022
For Freedom, Farm and Family
“Megalomania–a strong word–has vitiated our planning.”
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30 November 2022
Panchayati Raj
“It is clear, however, that the logic of the movement is driving it forward and constantly enlarging and deepening its implications.”
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23 November 2022
Constitution And The Common Man
“In India freedom is not more than one election away from extinction.”
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16 November 2022
The Light of the Constitution
“The Constitution is part of the heritage of every Indian citizen, irrespective of party politics.”
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9 November 2022
The Indian Constitution And Judiciary
“Law, justice and judges of India are today at the crossroads.”
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2 November 2022
The Individual and Indian Constitution
“In the last analysis, the Constitution is an extremely delicate mechanism which is controlled by the mainspring of liberty in creating the proper balance between public authority and individual freedom.”
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27 October 2022
Is Socialism Outdated?
“The tragedy of India today is the tragedy of waste - waste of manpower, waste of industrial capacity, waste of talent, experience and the spirit of enterprise which could be harnessed to greater national purposes.”
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21 October 2022
Making Indian Industry Globally Competitive
“The world's fifth largest democracy reached a turning point in its history: for the first time it looked less like a tortoise and more like a tiger.”
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18 October 2022
Nani Palkhivala: The Task Before A Free People
“Fear, born of terror, was more acute- particularly among the innocent- during the twenty months of the Emergency than it was during the two centuries of British rule.”
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13 October 2022
Economic Reforms In India: Where Are We And Where Do We Go?
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5 October 2022
Nani Palkhivala: Education, Leadership, and Vision of Free India
“Dadabhai Naoroji's vision of a free India was the vision of an enlightened and well-educated society.”
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23 August 2022
Fundamental Rights: Our Protection Against Tyranny
“The Constitution of a country is its supreme fundamental law.”
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17 August 2022
The Role of Judiciary in Parliamentary Democracy
“Parliament may pass any law but it is the Supreme Court which is the ultimate arbiter of its validity.”
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12 August 2022
The Essence of Democracy
“According to him, the right to dissent is useless unless it is actually allowed to be exercised.”
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3 August 2022
Forty-Three Years of Independence
“The greatest achievement of Indian democracy is that it has survived unfractured for forty-three years.”
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21 July 2022
OBSTACLES TO LIBERALISATION AND MARKET ECONOMY
“In the name of socialism, we ignored individual enterprise and looked to the state to provide the impetus for growth and removal of poverty.”
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12 July 2022
FREE ENTERPRISE IN INDIA AND FREEDOM
“The role of Private Enterprise in the future can be assessed only in the context of Government's decision to establish a Socialist State in this country.”
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7 July 2022
MAKING CAPITAL OUT OF CONSUMER GOODS
“Or is it perhaps salutary to remind ourselves of those virtues in an age which so takes freedom for granted that it is being whittled away under our noses, diluting the blood of entrepreneurship in our veins without us fully realising it?”
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20 June 2022
FREE MARKET ECONOMY: Key to Economic Progress and Freedoms
“Or is it perhaps salutary to remind ourselves of those virtues in an age which so takes freedom for granted that it is being whittled away under our noses, diluting the blood of entrepreneurship in our veins without us fully realising it?”
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15 June 2022
Homi Mody: Free Enterprise & Foreign Exchange
“I had also expressed my apprehensions with regard to the imposition of penal taxation, widening controls and consumption curbs, which were calculated to cause considerable hardship to every section of the people.”
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3 June 2022
CONSUMER SOVEREIGNTY LEADS TO RAPID ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
“He argues that consumer sovereignty and planning for the free market would lead India to economic development.”
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21 May 2022
Raja Ram Mohan Roy on Press Freedom
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14 April 2022
Ambedkar's Annihilation of Caste
“The assertion by the individual of his own opinions and beliefs, his own independence and interest — as over against group standards, group authority, and group interests—is the beginning of all reform.”
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28 March 2022
THE MISSION OF LIBERTARIANISM
“The liberal democratic State evolved all over the continent and in North America on the basis of individualism which in the realm of economics assumed the shape of capitalism.”
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28 February 2022
THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TO SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
“It has emerged as the most important element of national development and economic uplift.”
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2 February 2022
THE UNION BUDGET 1992-93 by Nani Palkhivala
“It is a Watershed Budget which marks the beginning of a new chapter in India’s economic history.”
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29 December 2021
The Emerging Scenario in Education
“It is time that in India, leadership does that; it is time for the political establishment to set the facts out so that people are informed and through that process a dialogue starts between Government and civil society.”
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10 December 2021
WHAT MAKES JAPAN TICK: SOME LESSONS FOR INDIA
“The Meiji Government devoted its energies for the development of industry with focus on import of advanced technologies from the west.”
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19 November 2021
The Retreat from Socialism
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12 November 2021
THE DANGERS OF JOINT CO-OPERATIVE FARMING
“Co-operation can only be between free men, not between serfs.”
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5 November 2021
Free Enterprise and Freedom
“The achievement of a Socialist Pattern of Society has been accepted as the objective of economic policy.”
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29 October 2021
Censorship and the Law of Inexorability
“In India, no other form of human expression has faced more restrictions than cinema.”
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22 October 2021
ART VERSUS LAW AND ORDER
“A ban is wrong not only in principle but also as an expedient measure.”
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15 October 2021
STATE MONOPOLIES AND THE CITIZEN IN A DEMOCRACY
“It seemed to me that where a business was being run according to the law of the land and where apparently it was carrying on a perfectly legitimate and socially useful activity a democratic state had morally no right to take over such a business.”
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8 October 2021
Globalisation and The Poor
“Relative poverty is not a measure of poverty, but of inequality.”
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1 October 2021
Our Economic Future
“Of all the problems facing this country today, none is as challenging as the present economic situation.”
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30 September 2021
For Absolute Freedom of Expression
“Freedom of expression ought to be absolute - or it is no freedom at all.”
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10 September 2021
Democratic Socialism in India - A Symposium
“If economic power were to be concentrated in the hands of the state-which in a parliamentary system means, in effect, the Prime Minister or a few mandarins at the top- political democracy cannot survive for long.”
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6 September 2021
Controls and Freedom
“Every complaint of a shortage or high price of any particular thing became the excuse for imposing control on that thing.”
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27 August 2021
The Swatantra Manifesto
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20 August 2021
Minoo Masani: Old Liberalism & New Liberalism
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14 August 2021
Is This The Freedom We Fought For?
“Those who have been freedom fighters and those who were born after freedom, have a sense of sadness, a sense even of alienation with the sorry state of affairs of our country today.”
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6 August 2021
Is There A Middle Way? - Dr F. A. Mehta
“We, in India, now stand in the Company of nearly a hundred countries which have dedicated themselves to a Free Enterprise System.”
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30 July 2021
My Idea of A Welfare State - B.R. Shenoy
“The accent of the welfare state is, clearly, on welfare as there can be no welfare state without welfare.”
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23 July 2021
Minoo Masani on Liberalism
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16 July 2021
Jamshed Antia's Views On Sales Tax
“During the last 20 years Sales Tax has become an important feature of India's Public Finances.”
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9 July 2021
Humanism, Science and Rationalism
“A rational, naturalistic attitude to the world was first developed by the Ionian Greeks; Cornford writes : “The Milesian system pushed back to the very beginning of things the operation of processes as familiar and ordinary as a shower of rain.”
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3 July 2021
The Three Meanings of Secularism
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25 June 2021
The Principle of State Interference
“Mere external freedom at law was found to be equivalent in practice only to the freedom to starve, and political equality was found to be surprisingly compatible with extreme inequality in economic condition.”
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18 June 2021
A Viewpoint on Libertarian Society
“If any one conceives of a libertarian society as being anything but a series of profound headaches, has been deceived.”
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11 June 2021
Satyagraha and the Political System
“The technique of non-violent direct action (satyagraha) has not been examined with reference to its application to a political system that claims to rest on legitimacy.”
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4 June 2021
Statement of the Principles of Swatantra Party
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28 May 2021
Why I Oppose Socialism - M.R. Pai
“First, socialism cannot solve our problem of poverty.”
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21 May 2021
The Universality of Human Values - M.R. Masani
“One thing is clear, as indeed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations recognizes, and this is that Human Rights must be universally recognized and applied.”
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18 May 2021
The Wisdom of the Rulers
“It is not mere time that makes the yuga or time spirit but it is the king that determines the entire “progress-and-happiness conditioning” climate of society and state at any time.”
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11 May 2021
Sharad Joshi on Liberalism in India
“The defunct Nehruvian socialism is being replaced not by the vibrant forces of liberal entrepreneurship but by lumpen chauvinistic and communal jingoism.”
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30 April 2021
Dangerous Counter Philosophy - Piloo Mody
“The authoritarian who asks “What is freedom to a hungry man?” and then goes on to assert that fundamental rights are meaningless and cannot be exercised without economic well being is sure of a sympathetic response where bread is scarce.”
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23 April 2021
Philosophy of Freedom
“The function of philosophy is to find out the fundamental postulates from which a particular system of thought or values is derived.”
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15 April 2021
Towards Party-less Democracy
“The first casualty is that of moral and intellectual conscience.”
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9 April 2021
B.R. Shenoy on Economic Growth with Social Justice
“A free society is so called because its citizens are free individuals, free in the sense of "independence of the arbitrary will of another".”
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1 April 2021
The Education of the Electorate
“They said frankly that in their deliberate opinion, one candidate was as good or as bad as another and that parties made little difference to the final outcome in good administration!”
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25 March 2021
The Swatantra Economy : Obstacles and Challenges
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12 March 2021
Democracy and Liberalism : Contrasting Ideals
“Liberalism is concerned with the functions of government and particularly with the limitation of all its powers.”
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8 March 2021
The Essence of Democracy
“But it does unmistakably mean that opposition to the government of the day is of the very essence of democracy.”
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12 February 2021
What is Fascism? By Minoo Masani
“Fascism attempts by the manipulation of nationalist sentiment to impose a dictatorship whose basic slogan is "One Nation, One Party, One Leader."”
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5 February 2021
Freedom of Self-Expression
“In their perfect harmonisation lies the maximum amount of liberty consistent with order and security.”
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29 January 2021
Modern Policing for Modern India
“A good vibrant stable solid democracy must belong to the people and for this people need information and people need justice.”
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22 January 2021
The Role of Judiciary in Parliamentary Democracy by Justice M.C. Chagla
“Parliament may pass any law but it is the Supreme Court which is the ultimate arbiter of its validity.”
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14 January 2021
A Viable Agriculture Policy for Sustained Growth
“Allowing the pace of rural-urban migration to continue or even accelerate would result in a breakdown of urban infrastructure.”
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8 January 2021
Two Greater Enemies of Freedom
“Organisation is not the principal thing; man himself is better.”
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31 December 2020
Sharad Joshi on The Unchanged Quarter Century for Farmers
“Remunerative prices were to be obtained through elimination of all governmental interventions in the commodity market.”
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24 December 2020
Sharad Joshi on The Tragedy of Being a Farmer in India
“For the last two years farmers have been committing suicide practically every hour.”
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17 December 2020
Farmers Need Freedom, Not a Guardian Angel
“So far, the Central government has been trying to attribute the epidemic of suicides by farmers to water scarcity, lack of credit, high cost of production, low productivity of agriculture, smaller holdings and lack of extension services.”
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10 December 2020
N. A. Palkhivala's Views on Socialism
“The tragedy of India today is the tragedy of waste - waste of manpower, waste of industrial capacity, waste of talent, experience and the spirit of enterprise which could be harnessed to greater national purposes.”
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6 December 2020
Fifteen Years of Indian Planning
“If the incomes of the more prosperous groups galloped ahead whilst the economic condition of the masses remained comparatively stagnant, there will be complaints of social injustice.”
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16 November 2020
Parth Shah on Education and Choice
“Parents and students can only articulate what good education or quality education is, if they are able to explore different options by having the freedom to choose.”
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16 November 2020
Kanwal Rekhi on Liberalisation for the Sake of the Poor
“Economic Liberalisation in India, since 1991, has been by and large liberalisation of the elite, by the elite and for the elite.”
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16 November 2020
Grievances in and of the Supreme Court
“A key takeaway from this fiasco is that there is no institutional mechanism in the judicial system to address the judges’ grievances.”
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16 November 2020
Voltaire On Trade
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16 November 2020
Piyush vs Piyush -‘Beautiful Policies are Not Enough’
“Policy stability is more than just drafting ‘beautiful’ policies; if there are hurdles to implement them, it is not easy to do business.”
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16 November 2020
The Retreat from Socialism
“The reason for the retreat from socialism is that societies that tried to base their economies on ownership by the State, economic equality and the replacement of the market by the command of the bureaucracy, simply did not work.”
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16 November 2020
Forests to Forest Dwellers
“Community ownership and management solve two problems simultaneously: the protection of forests and of dignified livelihood to the poorest communities in the country.”
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16 November 2020
Wastage in Public Sector Enterprises
“We are taking over the cast-off clothes of the West!”
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16 November 2020
Corruption of Thought
“We are taking over the cast-off clothes of the West!”
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16 November 2020
Any Hope for Indian Liberals?
“But history has ample evidence that liberty blossoms in the most unexpected of places and at seemingly impossible times.”
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16 November 2020
Do We Deserve Our Prime Ministers?
“Prime Ministers may come and go but they are all enemies of autonomy and federalism because they want to rule India from Delhi on the telephone.”
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16 November 2020
Conditions for Economic Growth
“Even after 55 years, one can clearly see that these prescriptions remain timeless and note that no Indian government has worked seriously on these long term solutions to instil rapid economic growth.”
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16 November 2020
Hindi Raj and Hindu Raj
“All attempts to sustain and promote the national and emotional unity of India are gravely thwarted by the imminent threat of Hindi Raj and the potential threat of Hindu Raj.”
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16 November 2020
Food Prices and Libertarian Solution
“The right remedy is not to attempt any price-fixing at all but to remove the hindrances in the way of the smooth working of the agricultural economy and let free enterprise have a chance.”
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16 November 2020
The Role of Ideas in Politics
“Many of the sources of trouble in current politics is due to the prevalence of notions only imperfectly understood and applied hastily in garbled forms to justify partisan interests.”
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16 November 2020
Marx and Theory of Value
“Marx's theory of surplus-value is not the result of unbiased research.”
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16 November 2020
The Gold Problem in India
“The gold problem in India, if there is such a problem at all, has been the subject of intensive public debate and discussion in recent days.”
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16 November 2020
Has Private Enterprise Failed?
“It has been suggested that Private Enterprise is incapable of undertaking large-scale and rapid economic development of the country.”
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16 November 2020
A Rule of Law Society!
“All that societal order requires is good law – which all the people understand, and which all the people respect and follow, knowing well that it is in their interest to do so.”
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16 November 2020
The Secular State
“What the Indian Constitution-makers aimed at was not a general indifference to religion but a tolerant and broadminded appreciation of all creeds and denominations and a respect for one another's religious beliefs and practices.”
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16 November 2020
We Wish You A Happy New Year!
“Liberty of one must not encroach on the like liberty of his fellow-being.”
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16 November 2020
The Mission of Libertarianism
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16 November 2020
Agricultural Policy of Swatantra Party
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16 November 2020
Caste System, Greatest Curse of India
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16 November 2020
Not a Rich People’s Lobby
“The Swatantra Party's principles and the policies it commends are the only policies and principles that can help general welfare and national progress.”
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16 November 2020
Remembering Dr Ambedkar
“Masani's recollection piece is a reflection of the shared pedigree of Indian liberalism which went on to shape the nation.”
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16 November 2020
Free Enterprise is Economic Democracy
“Free enterprise works because, like democracy, it gives real power to the people.”
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16 November 2020
India: Seeing the Future in its Past
“Because employment was so important for India, encouragement was given to small-scale industries by reserving specific areas of production for them.”
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16 November 2020
India, the Tiger Caged
“The fact of the matter is we are broke – thanks to forty years of “Nehruvian socialism”.”
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16 November 2020
The Tiger Caged – Part II
“India has one of the most protected domestic economies in the world.”
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16 November 2020
Replace the GDP
“Adam Smith said that the final measure of an economy is the well-being of the people.”
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16 November 2020
Soviet Dissidents, Detente and Liberty
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16 November 2020
Trample the Wall
“But the fear of possible consequences of such an act rendered the American military authorities on the spot powerless.”
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16 November 2020
Sikkim – Through Other Eyes
“Masani objected to the way Sikkim was made part of India and made his displeasure known in public in 1982.”
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16 November 2020
The Perils of State Support
“Ideological states pledge themselves to control all aspects of human activity.”
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16 November 2020
De-Stalinisation Versus Communism
“It is obvious that the “socialist” world is no longer a mighty tree ( if ever it was ) with deep roots and it has to contend with its own problems as much as with the external ones.”
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16 November 2020
China’s Tiananmen Massacre
“China, at least, has answered in the negative and proved beyond all reasonable doubt that once communists gain control of a country they will never let go.”
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16 November 2020
Rajaji Was Prescient About Electoral Funding
“As I have often pointed out, much of the expense is really what the State ought to bear on behalf of all the candidates.”
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16 November 2020
A Democracy at War
“We are today faced with this great disaster that is overtaking our armies at the front as a result of ten years of misguided policies of neutralism and of appeasement of Chinese Communist expansionism.”
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16 November 2020
The US-India Alignment in Cold War
“1962 will go down in history as a memorable year which, for the first time, witnessed the invasion of India by foreign hordes through the Himalayan passes.”
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16 November 2020
Swatantra Liberals and Indian Foreign Policy
“On November 15, 1965, Minoo Masani gave a speech in the Parliament outlining his vision of foreign policy for India.”
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16 November 2020
War Between Opposing Ideologies
“The founding father of Malaysia, Mr Tunku Abdul Rahman saw the border war as a struggle between communism and democracy.”
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16 November 2020
A Dialogue Between Socrates And Lenin
“The Communist doctrine crucially ignores the way incentives shape human behaviour and the role of the agency.”
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16 November 2020
All Quiet on the Western Front
“The horrors of war have been beautifully captured and give a heart-rending account of the war and the lives destroyed by it, even when one is lucky enough to survive the bullets.”
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16 November 2020
The Perils of a Welfare State
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16 November 2020
Liberalism and Freedom
“At the core of the concept of Liberalism lies the principle of freedom.”
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16 November 2020
Rajaji- Man with a Mission
“Rajaji had always been emphasising the importance and the need for an effective opposition in a democracy.”
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15 November 2020
Accountability in Public Service
“Accountability, as mentioned earlier, constitutes the soul of effectiveness and quality of public service.”
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15 November 2020
Minoo Masani on Citizenship
“Politics is about power, but power is not an end in itself.”
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9 November 2020
The Indian Libertarian
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25 October 2020
Khoj : January - February, 2008
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