What is the impact on land reforms? Should the government take over agricultural land for industry promotion? In Karnataka now there is a raging controversy over the State government’s allotment of about nearly 1,000 acres of prime agricultural lands on the outskirts of Bangalore for the IT major, Infosys. Mr.Deve Gowda, the former Prime Minister,…
Author: V.Isvarmurti
Fabian Socialism
What I learned from Harold Laski? He shaped my political beliefs in my younger days My another favourite writer and thinker was Harold J.Laski (1893-1949). I must have read and re-read almost all his volumes at one time. Now, as I read his biography (Harold Laski: Isaac Kramnick and Barry Sheerman, 1993), I felt inspired…
Land reforms/ceiling laws/tenancy laws
What Planning Commission Dy. Chief says? Lots of informal business models are working in the landowner-tenancy relationships! Planning Commission Dy. Chief Mr.Ahluwalia suggestions on tenancy records seem very irrelevant and theoretical and even a casual remark! We need more vigorous, pragmatic working hands-on operational strategies for agriculture modernisation programmes. Mr.Ahuluwalia, a veteran economic expert. He…
What is history?
History is series of accidents Big events have no big causes! Marxists believe history has a pattern or lessons. Non-Marxists like Alan Taylor (who taught me history) thought history is a series of accidents. As Taylor had said many a time the first war was triggered because on the “fateful July 28 1914,all the six…
Agriculture can’t grow in isolation!
We need to further remove the many controls on the agri sector Unless we become an open economy, there is not much chance for agri diversification! Indian agriculture is “not satisfactory’, says Sharad Pawar the agriculture minister. Why this state of affairs had come about? The minister of course can’t open his mouth! He might…
Some thoughts on the history of our times
History:a challenging social science! Reading history is one thing Writing history is another thing Should we,Indians, re-write our history? India’s need to re-write and also learn to re-interpret the world events of the 20th century and the likely shape of history in the 21st century is a challenge for intellectuals and educators. Eric Hobsbawm Eric…
Hugh Gaitskell : Labour Leader I admired most
When Democractic Socialism was at its best phase Under Gandhi’s influence we can say now that the rest of the nationalist movement was under an unclear mindset about our Independence. We were still made to believe in the benign rule of the British government. It was the emergence of Hitler, we in India too began…
Democracy and dynastic politics
Elected Prime Minister, limiting Prime Minister’s terms, establishing democratic norms in parties are critical for sustainable democratic traditions. UK and USA are taken to be the most perfect forms of democratic countries. In the world itself, now it is estimated that out of some 190 odd countries nearly 133 or so countries are democracies, however…