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Monday, February 23, 2026
TopicIndian Liberals Matter

Topic: Indian Liberals Matter

There’s no need for the outdated and ridiculous shroud of secrecy around Budget: Nani Palkhivala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

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.

Population causes poverty is the devil’s philosophy. It causes prosperity: Sauvik Chakraverti

Crowded cities are rich because there is greater division of labour. The extent of the division of labour depends on the size of the market, wrote Sauvik Chakraverti in 2002.

Nothing suits dictatorship more than a subservient judiciary: Justice HR Khanna

The totalitarian states indeed are never tired of claiming a legal basis for their action and are too eager to make use of conventional legal institutions to further their ends, said Justice HR Khanna in 1980.

English didn’t enslave India. It was the harbinger of a new creative consciousness: A Ranganathan

Rabindranath Tagore stood apart from his contemporaries by infusing poetry and universalism into Indian nationalism, opposing chauvinism and blind obedience, wrote A Ranganathan in 1962.

From Vedanta, India turned to Nehruvian socialism and buried its liberal roots: Sharad Joshi

An Indian Hitler will have to be exceptionally lucky to survive for any length of time. This much hope ought to be enough for seekers of liberty and equality, wrote Sharad Anantrao Joshi, president of Swatantra Bharat Paksh party, in 1995.

Planning for the free market, not state control, will lift India out of poverty: BR Shenoy

A free-market system based on consumer sovereignty, with the state confined to essential public functions would generate much faster growth, Shenoy wrote in 1963.

Like a gambler, govts squandered India’s legacy through mindless socialism: Nani Palkhivala

Our brand of socialism did not result in transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor but only from the honest rich to the dishonest rich, lawyer-jurist Nani A Palkhivala said in 1991.

On Camera

Indian judiciary must stop panicking over AI

To assume courts weigh every word committed to paper is to ignore reality. The Indian judiciary has long had a "Control+C" problem.

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.

India eyes 6th generation FCAS, looks at tying up with France for possible collaboration

Initial talks held on the possibility of India entering the programme that was started in 2017 between France, Germany and Spain to ensure European sovereignty in defence and security.

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.