On the road to Liberty

Political ideologies are simple tools by which people decide on the general direction they think society ought to take. In a true democracy, different political ideals have to compete to win the support of the people. The authors of the Indian Constitution had specifically debated and rejected the idea of binding the country to socialism. Yet, the Preamble to the Constitution was amended in 1976, and the election law in 1989, requiring all political parties to affirm to the Constitution, and to socialism. Now, the Supreme Court has acknowledged that there are valid questions on the issue of socialism, though academic, at this point in time. So it is a time to form a Party, and part with socialism. Let us be liberal, and play the tune of freedom! This article of mine, " A time to Party! ", was published in Pragati, a national interest magazine, in its August 2010 issues. Recently, the Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) that questioned the validity of t...

Though Indian politicians talk a lot about reform, they are good at spending tax payers money, mostly because they are socialists. Every political party in India should swear allegiance to socialism, according to the 42nd amendment to constitution.There are around 50 parties represented in the parliament, but people of India do not have much of a choice as there is no liberal political party. The petition filed by Sanjiv Agarwal is a case in point. The petition was withdrawn on the grounds that no political part has opposed the insertion of the word 'Socialism".Political parties should take up this cause.My article titled "We're All (Still) Socialists in India" was published in The Wall Street Journal on July 26th 2010. India's politicians love to talk about "reform," but if the recent past is any indication, most of them like spending money more. There's the $22 billion annual bill for food and fertilizer subsidies; the billions spent every ye...

My article titled "Hayek's Road to Freedom-A Centenary that may hold the Key to the Next Millennium-A Tribute to Friedrich A. von Hayek on his Birth Centenary" was published on May 8, 1999. Introduction This month marks the birth centenary of Friedrich A. von Hayek, one of the greatest philosopher of freedom and Nobel laureate economist. While we in India were fascinated by government planning, a quarter century ago in 1974, the Nobel Academy held that "von Hayek's analysis of the functional efficiency of different economic systems is one of his most significant contributions to economic research in the broader sense. His conclusion is that only by far-reaching decentralization in a market system with competition and free price-fixing is it possible to make full use of knowledge and information." Impact of Hayek Today, a wide range of people has acknowledged his contribution all over the world. From philosophers like Karl Popper, Robert Nozick and Michael Fo...