Courtesy: WikimediaCommons
The economic mismanagement by the ruling UPA in the past few years – by putting politics and polls ahead of economy and prosperity, and slavish obedience to political masters – has created an environment of crisis and desperation in India. Where did the country’s so-called economic ‘dream team’ go wrong?
Courtesy: Rita Willaert/Flickr
While the rejection by Odisha’s Gram Sabhas of mining projects in the state indicates the triumph of direct democracy, concerns that international investors will shun India due to the fear of unfavourable conditions are rife. How can we work towards both greater democracy and mining projects necessary for growth?
Courtesy: Ronnie Hall/Flickr
Liberalism is a politics of hope, mutuality, compromise and reason. If that has been replaced by a politics of fear, egotism, polarisation and unreason, it is India’s elites that are responsible. How can liberalism be made an object of mass politics in India?
Courtesy: UK Ministry of Defence/Flickr
The war on terror and the global financial crisis have tilted the balance of authority on the side of the state, which the liberating forces of cyber space have only partially counteracted. Can the forces of liberalisation prevail over the forces of incipient oppression?
Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Over the past 30 years, Indian liberals have shed their values of tolerance, reason and dialogue. The rise of fundamentalism, strident socio-political discourse, and post-modernist individualism also indicate the decline of the liberal ethos. This is a threat to India’s vibrant philosophical liberal tradition
Courtesy: Dipayan Bhattacharjee/Flickr
The reforms of the early 1990s did not bring economic freedom to a majority of the population. That explains a large proportion of the economic and social ills that affect India today. Why is economic life in India of the ‘Taliban type’? Why is illiberal thought still our guiding principle?
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India needs a new liberal party, which trusts markets rather than officials for economic outcomes, and focuses on reform of the institutions of governance. This new party must be accompanied by a recovery of the moral authority of our Constitution, and by individual engagement with everyday politics
Courtesy: Kiruba Shankar/Flickr
Education is the most in-demand commodity amongst both the rich and the poor in India. Yet, the state is unable to ride this wave to create a more liberal society. If education is the gateway to taking India’s liberal agenda forward, then educational institutions must be free to pursue their own paths
Courtesy: Sebastian Baryli/ Flickr
Inclusive growth means inclusive reforms and equity in economic freedom, which empowers the formal sector as well as the huge informal sector in India. In the social sector, the government must fund beneficiaries, while in the political domain the ‘ruled’ and the ‘rulers’ must be equal
Courtesy: Madhu Amodia
This report examines whether traditional liberalism stands a chance in today’s India, where the individual’s role has been nearly subsumed by a dominant state seeking to be benefactor.