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Indian Liberals Matter

Marxism extinguishes democratic rights the moment it captures power: MA Venkata Rao

Being founded on class war, any State founded on Marxism is bound to set itself in opposition, bitter and all-out, against all other nations, libertarian commentator MA Venkata Rao wrote in 1963.

There’s no need for the outdated and ridiculous shroud of secrecy around Budget: Nani Palkhivala

To every economic policy, we must apply the acid test—how far will it bend our people to fruitful ends and how far will it dissipate them in coping with a bumbling bureaucracy, Palkhivala wrote in 1977.

Liberal methods reach social justice faster than socialism: Minoo Masani

The biggest capitalist has to consider what the smallest man in the market wants. This is how the consumer is king and this is what is called a free market economy, Minoo Masani wrote in 1966.

Indian bureaucracy should be given incentives and rewards: MH Mody

Is there a place for a counter-bureaucracy, or a separate and competing bureaucracy to counterbalance the force of the executive’s bureaucracy, asked author MH Mody in 1980.

Demonetisation is a wild hit at the bull’s eye. It will not hurt the guilty: BP Adarkar

Demonetisation is no terror to politicians, officials and big businessmen who had enough notice to take necessary precautions. It'll catch dumb goats, not black sheep, Prof BP Adarkar said in 1973.

Henry George’s Single Tax offers a democratic alternative to communist remedies: DM Kulkarni

The immediate benefit of Single Tax would be to reduce the sale prices of land to nominal ones. Landowners would no longer find it profitable to keep idle lands, wrote DM Kulkarni in 1960.

A shame-faced modesty pervades 1991 reforms. This is strange and inappropriate: Ashok Desai

Liberty is not accepted in India as the ultimate goal of political systems. This is why, for instance, there is so much paranoia about foreign investments, wrote economist Ashok V Desai in 1995.

No constitutional provision deserves repeal more than the one imposing Hindi: P Kodanda Rao

The article to adopt Hindi as the official language of the Union was moved by . Gopalaswami Iyengar. The fact that he was from Madras has been exploited to assert that non-Hindi members welcomed Hindi, wrote P Kodanda Rao in 1988.

Free-enterprise features are reshaping Russia’s socialist institutions: AD Shroff

Just as the economic waste of centralised planning is being realised, the failure on the agricultural front is also making a dent on doctrinaire thinking in the Soviet Union, AD Shroff wrote in 1964.

India’s labour policy left it unable to compete with other eastern economies: Nani A Palkhivala

Liberty without accountability is the freedom of the fool. Our concept of freedom will remain impoverished until it is deepened by liberal education, wrote Nani A Palkhivala in 1995.

On Camera

Why legal provisions are necessary to curb the power of trade unions: MH Mody

The collusion between the new class of bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen and trade union bosses perpetuates itself partly because of the short-run benefits and partly because they see no way out of the system, wrote author MH Mody in 1980.

In the West, there’s anxiety. In India, optimism—Rishi Sunak says India poised to be leader in AI

On Wednesday, the former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was speaking in New Delhi at a Carnegie & Observer Research Foundation event on AI.

Embraer moves full throttle in pursuit of IAF contract, ties up with Hindalco after Adani

IAF is firming up plans to revamp airlift capabilities with medium transport aircraft that will be assembled in India & serve as its main workhorse. Embraer is leading contender as of now.

No country is ever fully sovereign. Cold War era taught India its real meaning

India’s fraught neighbourhood places multiple constraints on its strategic choices. It leaves no time to take a deep breath, lean back and reset.