Sanjeev Sabhlok's Blog, page 111

Documents/ Resources on Sharad Joshi, Shetkari Sanghatana and Swatantra Bharat Party

I’ll be meeting key leaders of Shetkari Sanghatana/ Sangathana in Pune in a couple of weeks. I have worked with Sharad Joshi and know about his political work. He has an extensive Wikipedia entry. There’s a vast amount of material on Sharad Joshi on the internet. But for some reason there is no Wikipedia entry […]

Cornelia Lenneberg’s study of Sharad Joshi’s work in 1988

Cornelia Lenneberg of Melbourne (currently Executive Director, Brotherhood of St.Laurence) was a young woman in 1988 when she wrote: “Sharad Joshi and the Farmers: The Middle Peasant Lives!”, Pacific Affairs, Fall 1988. She is considered one of Latrobe University’s ten boldest thinkers. Looks like she had not completed her Masters degree when she wrote this article. I’ve extracted […]

Sharad Joshi twice rejected India’s civilian award: Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan

I wasn’t aware of this. In 1992 Sharad Joshi rejected Padma Shri In 2016, after his death, his family rejected Padma Vibhushan.

Why government CBAs are highly unreliable compared with private sector CBAs

I’ve just elaborated a comment I made on this article in The Age. In principle a low discount rate is not a problem. Were it not for the difficulty in estimating future demand, one could always build wide roads and even tunnels in anticipation of repayment by future generations who are invariably wealthier than the current […]

Jon Alpert’s brilliant documentary on Cuba based on visits across 45 years

Almost finished watching this documentary, Cuba and the Cameraman, which is probably one of the best examples of high quality journalism I’ve seen. A genuine attempt to understand Cuba and its people. In the process, the doco also shows the total mess that socialism creates. Jon covered some of the same people across these years […]

Please download and share Amar Habib’s excellent book, “Anti-farmer Laws” – for free

I mentioned this book by Amar Habib yesterday. Mr Habib has been kind enough to permit me to share this book on the internet even though it is priced at Rs.20. I would encourage everyone who can, to contribute their mite to Kisan Putra andolan if they can. This is an extremely valuable book that […]

People fleeing Fidel’s socialist Cuba. Just like Indians are fleeing socialist India.

In terms of sheer numbers, more Indians have fled socialism than Cubans. But the Cuban situation was more desperate since there was no democracy, either. From the same doco which I’ve extracted from a moment ago. This.  

The disastrous state of the Cuban health system. Socialism kills. ALWAYS.

The absolutely pitiable condition of Cuban hospitals is not widely known among fanatic Indian socialists who imagine that Cuba is health heaven. Far from it. It is a place for suicide from stupidity. From the same documentary I extracted a clip from a moment ago. This.  

Socialist Cuba is VERY similar to what India was before liberalisation: SHORTAGES of everything

This is an extract from a delighful Netflix documentary Cuba and the Cameraman. A great people, the Cubans, but led by Fidel the Fool into poverty ever since his 1959 take over of Cuba. Sadly, his predecessor Batista was a classic example of a corrupt crony capitalist so the people were frustrated. But socialism totally […]

Amar Habib and Makarand Doijad’s battle against the draconian anti-farmer Article 31(b) of India’s socialist Constitution

I’m becoming more aware of the work of Kisan Putra which was started in 2016 by Amar Habib and Makarand Doijad. Habib, who was a close associated of Sharad Joshi, is a great fan of the liberty of farmers, He “prioritized ‘liberty’ over ‘protection’ for farmers” [Source]. Kisan Putra held a “47-day long Bedi Todo (break […]