On the road to Liberty

My article titled "The Green Peril" was published on 9th December 200. Deepak Lal sees the ecological movement as a new form of imperialism. While the green movement claims to have the future of the planet in mind, economist Deepak Lal warned of the new imperialist threat posed by the ecological movement, particularly for the developing countries. Prof.. Lal, who is the James Coleman Professor of International Development Studies at the University of California, at Los Angeles, USA, was delivering the inaugural Julian L. Simon Memorial Lecture organised by Liberty Institute, in New Delhi, on Saturday. The lecture attracted a wide audience, and was chaired by Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Member, Planning Commission. Dr. Ahluwalia introduced Prof. Lal as some one who never minces words. Prof. Lal lived up to that reputation. Prof. Lal noted the parallels between utopian ideas of Marxism, Christianity and the present day environmental movements. He said, "The ecological mov...

At noon on 11 May 2000, Aastha, a baby girl born in Delhi. She was officially declared as the billionth Indian. My article titled "India's One-Billionth Asset-The path to prosperity is economic freedom, not population policy" was published in May, 2000. India's population officially surpasses the one billion mark today. While government officials search for the suitable baby to herald the occasion, there are no plans for any grand birthday party. Instead people are being somberly reminded of the burden of the billion plus population. It is ironic that India has reached a situation where the birth of a child is considered to have a negative impact on GDP and other economic measures, but the birth of a calf, or production of an additional ton of rice or iron is considered to be positive. Is India's growing population to blame for its relatively poor economic performance in the past 50 years? Or did the policies pursued by successive governments lead to a massive was...

The press release titled "Population: The Ultimate Resource" was published in May 2000. Twentieth Century has witnessed unprecedented demographic changes. For the first time in history, the world population almost quadrupled from about one and a half billion in 1900 to six billion in the span of just hundred years. Likewise, Indian population too crossed the one billion level in May 2000, from about 238 million at the beginning of the Twentieth century. This is particularly significant, since as late as the 1920s, India had experienced a slight decline in population due to poverty and deprivation. At long last it seems that man is successfully defying death and deprivation that were constant companion of his ancestors. Infant mortality rates have fallen, life expectancy at birth have doubled or tripled, and the result is that there are more of us to enjoy life on earth as never before. Yet, there is hardly any sign of celebrations. It is amazing that such an achievement is ...

When political freedom is secured and the market is unrestrained, more people increases demand, and therefore also the supply, and at the end there is more available for consumption than ever before. People are the ultimate resource, they just don't come with a mouth alone, but also a mind and a pair hands. It is time to party and cut the cake on the arrival of the 6 billionth person on this planet. A shorter version of this article titled "6 Billion and Growing" appeared in The Economics Times on 12 October 1999. Birth of baby is usually a source of great joy. Therefore, on October 12, the date symbolically designated to mark the arrival of the 6 billionth person on this planet there should have been a grand party to celebrate the momentous event. This is the first time in history that the human population reached this figure. In the last quarter of a century, the population has increased by 50% from 4 billion. A four fold increase in just this century! Before that it h...