Excerpts from The liberal DNA by Pratap Bhanu Mehta (emphasis added):
First, liberalism places the freedom of individuals, their presumptive equality and claim to be treated with dignity at the centre of attention…our political culture far too often immobilises the claims of individual freedom in the face of community identity or group coercion, putting at risk assorted values, from freedom of expression to gender equality…Diversity should be an outcome of individuals freely exercising choices. The Congress cares for diversity but not freedom. The right cares for neither diversity nor freedom.
Second, liberalism has a …

Dear All: I am posting below 2 recent draft policies by Freedom Team of India for discussion and comment. The first one if on the Jan Lokpal Bill and the second on Electoral Reforms. Pl do read, share and comment. Thanks.
The position of the Freedom Team of India on the Jan Lokpal Bill

FTI has agreed to the following draft position on the Lokpal Bill (all FTI documents are draft documents, subject to ongoing improvement).
1. What is the Freedom Team of India?
The Freedom Team of India (FTI) is a team of leaders who will, with …

..so it would seem. Excerpts from “The Dakshina Kannada Model” (written almost five years ago; emphasis added):
Everyone talks of the Kerala model, but to the north of Kerala lie two districts called Dakshina Kannada (headquarters: Mangalore) and Udupi, which, if I am not wrong, are doing just as well as, if not better than, Kerala.
…The state and the district have a lot in common.
…More importantly, the socio-economic profile is similar. People have similar attitudes towards education. The schools in Mangalore are supposed to be the best in Karnataka…Education of women …

Dear All: This is a “lazy post” – i.e. a collection of excerpts, courtesy my friend and FTI colleague Sanjeev Sabhlok. For the past several days, Sanjeev has been running a series of posts and excerpts on his blog on the link between Hinduism and Capitalism, trying to demonstrate that Hindusim is not only compatible with capitalism but actively encourages it and Hindu ideals do not confirm with socialist ideas. From his post titled, 2 excerpts to get convinced that Hinduism is 100% anti-Socialist!, read on (emphasis, by Sanjeev):
It is deplorable …

*** CAUTION: Disturbing post/ May Not be Suitable for Workplace ***
This post is a “mixed” post in Hindi and English..It was triggered by an incident that Indra Vikram Singh (an IAC activist/coordinator from Indore), mentioned on his facebook wall.  The incident was about the gang rape of a minor girl – whose parents refused to file a complaint with the police (presumably for fear of social ignominy and/or the hassles of a police report and the subsequent process). The post moved me to think hard about this issue..Three days back, another …

..as well as “Dharma-Nirapekshata” धर्मं निरपेक्षता vs. “Panth-Nirapekshata” पंथ निरपेक्षता (or “Panth Nirpekshata”)..From Defining ‘Secular’: The war rages on by Arvind Lavakare, comes this illuminating excerpt (emphasis added):
“Dr Ambedkar made it clear in Parliament that he did not believe our Constitution was secular because it allowed different treatment to various communities and the legislatures could frame separate laws for different communities.” (‘Reforming The Constitution’, UBS Publishers Distributors Ltd, 1992, edited by Subhash C Kashyap, an eminent Constitutional authority).
In the above book, Kashyap writes, ‘Where there is discrimination between man and man …

Long-time readers of my blog would remember a post I had carried on in 2009 – in response to a query from an eager student of Hinduism on why higher caste, saintly people and gods/goddesses were predominantly painted using bright colours in Indian art? The eager student was Owen Slavin. In my response to him I wrote that his queries may be more easily resolved if I post them on my blog – since there would be many readers far better-read and well-versed in Indian sacred literature and art history than …

Dear All: I stumbled on this article a few weeks back and felt that it deserved wider circulation – especially in the context of the recent discussions and decision by SC on RTE.  I was vaguely aware of the discriminatory nature of Article 30 (which by the way, was the reason behind the Ramkrishna Mission to declare itself a non-Hindu “sect”) but its extent and repercussions shocked me. Below, excerpts from a richly referenced and data-rich critique of this article by Dr Moorthy Muthuswamy…Read on.
*** Excerpts from Religious Apartheid in Modern …

Dear Friends: It is my great pleasure to announce the third online text chat this year – this time on “Itihaas”, covering aspects related to Indian history. As you know, the span of Indian history and its breadth is impossible to cover even in weeks, let alone the 2 hours we have on the chat..What we will discuss is therefore a selection of topics related to Indian History..

This will very likely be a 2-part chat. The topics that I intend to touch upon are:

An Overview of Indian History
Why Bother with …

This post has been some time in coming – and I am penning my thoughts on something controversial after a long time. It was prompted by the recent decision of government of MP to increase the punishment for cow slaughter. As many of you would know, the issue of cow-slaughter is not a new one.  In fact, the demand for a ban on slaughter of cows is more than a century old – and was first raised in modern times by Swami Dayanand Saraswati and the Arya Samaj. It has …