Thanks to Sanjeev for alerting me to this remarkable paper.  It is actually more than 15 years old (!) and was published in the journal of the Delhi School of Economics. It is remarkable for it shows that Bharat was far ahead of its time in ancient days when it came to cutting-edge economic theory and Chanakya was perhaps the pioneer of classical economics, free trade and progressive taxation policies..Excerpts from the paper below (you can download the pdf created by Sanjeev here).
Kautilya’s Arthashastra: A Neglected Precursor to Classical Economics
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Thanks to Dr Kalyanaraman-ji for alerting me to this article: “How ancient India upheld democracy, kept corruption at bay“, by Brij Khandelwal, published in DNA. Excerpts below (emphasis mine):
Aligarh Muslim University historian S Chandni Bi, who has specialised in epigraphy, the study of inscriptions, says around 1,000 years ago there was zero tolerance towards financial bungling. According to him, inscriptions in the southern state of Tamil Nadu clearly indicate how intolerant civil society was against corrupt practices and the violators of ethical framework.
Chandni told IANS in an interview: “A well-evolved …

Many of you must have come across this well-known sutra before. Some days back, I got curious to know more about it…and I turned to Radhakrishnan Pillai and Ranjit Shetty, co-Founders and Directors of the Chanakya Institute of Public Leadership in Mumbai.  Radhakrishnan and Ranjit put me in touch with CIPL’s course-coordinator, Malathi..who sent me this very helpful email (thanks also to Rahul and Pravin – both participants at CIPL, who helped Malathi locate the sutras):
The sutras which you have asked the reference for comes in Chanakya Pranita Sutra which …

Several months ago, while idly surfing the web, I stumbled on a somewhat oddly titled monograph*. It read: “Passage to Hindu State: DharmaRajya and RajaDharma” – A Socio-Political Study of the Mahabharata”
It was a serendipitious discovery. I can hardly claim to be an authority on ancient history or the socio-political traditions of the Vedic period but I feel that Dr Nagarajan‘s work deserves serious study – and wider dissemination.  The main focus of his research has been to develop a socio-political constitution for this sub-continent from the point of view …

OR how the politics of subsidies kills the spirit of entrepreneurship…
From NextBillion, comes this story by Rishabh Kaul of an extra-ordinary innovation that is being threatened by the politics of subsidies.
…Last month, the Indian Newspapers were all ablaze with stories of Indian Government rolling out a massive national scheme under which they will provide the women in rural areas with sanitary napkins. While the exact details are unclear, women below the poverty line will be provided with the napkins free of charge where as the rest of the rural women …

The final part of  “What is Dharma” by Harapriya. Today, can one fight a dharma yudh against adharma?
*** What is “Dharma”? – Concluding Part by K Harapriya ***

Can one fight a dharma yudh against adharma?
The Mahabharata gives a pretty clear answer —-yes, we can fight a dharmic war mostly although some acts of adharma will be committed.
This will seem like equivocation to most people because we tend to believe two prevailing myths:   one, that dharmic people should be held to much higher standards than the totally adharmic;   and two,  that …