Sanjeev Sabhlok's Blog, page 124

List of movies and documentaries on World War II, Hitler, Stalin and things related to them

I’ve not had much of a chance earlier to understand World War II and how the modern world came into being. But recently, I’ve watched a few documentaries on Netflix and have become more interested in the history of this period. This is a placeholder and an ongoing list. MOVIES THAT I’VE SEEN Schindler’s List […]

How the leftist Economic and Political Weekly viewed the formation of Sharad Joshi’s Swatantra Bharat Party

Sharad Joshi formed Swatantra Bharat Party in 1994. This is an editorial report from EPW (Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 29, No. 25 (Jun. 18, 1994), p. 1494). How hopelessly leftist these people are – a great shame for India that socialists have taken over ALL mediums of publication, leaving none behind for the liberals. […]

Why Temasek is a bad idea #1

I’ve discussed Temasek here. Some more questions have arisen re: the Singapore “model”, in particular, whether India should learn from the Temasek model. [See Temasek faq] My response is no. While a strict Temasek type model (which even Temasek does not abide by) might be superior to an autonomously managed government owned GBE model, but there […]

Why did Hitler hate communism? Because he was a GREATER communist than the communists.

There is a ridiculous misconception that Hitler was not a communist. Why? Because he crushed the communist party in Germany. But that’s merely because he was a greater communist than the communists. Nehru would have been proud of him, if only he knew the extreme welfare state orientation of Hitler. Netflix has brought out some […]

बिना अच्छी शिक्षा के भारतीय युवा अपनी क्षमता के अनुसार सक्षम नहीं हो पाएंगे

आजकल विज्ञान इतना आगे निकल चुका है कि केवल किसी पुरानी किताब को पढ़ने से कुछ नहीं होने वाला. आजकल जरूरत है अच्छी शिक्षा की ताकि हमारे बच्चे वैज्ञानिक सीमा को पार कर के नए अविष्कार कर पाएं. पर वैज्ञानिक सीमा तक पहुंचने की बात तो छोड़िए, भारत में पुरानी शिक्षा भी आज नहीं मिलती. […]

The clowns of Bahujan Azad Party – can’t read basic English and want to run the country

A few days ago I sent the following msg to BAP through FB: === Dear Naveen, I’m delighted to hear that young people have formed a party. I have been working to bring total reforms to the Indian governance system for nearly 20 years now, and we started our party (which is active in many […]

Nationalist messaging of the liberal message

After 20 years of failure to make any dent on Indians’ psyche with the message of liberty and good governance – so deeply immersed their mind is in their narrow identities of caste, religion or region – I’ve come to the (reluctant) view that we need to strengthen the nationalist message of liberalism. Now, liberalism […]

Liberalism in India – a reading list

S.P.Aiyar wrote perhaps the best article on Indian liberalism that I’m aware of: The Concept of Liberalism and its Relevance for India (I published it online at the India Policy Institute around 20 years ago). But there are many other readings worth looking through. I’m listing a few of these – in no particular order: Nehru’s […]

Nehru’s views about India’s pre-independence Liberal Party

From his autobiography (I’ve OCRd from here). The text here, analysis later when time permits. I understand the liberals were very upset with this mis-characterisation of their ideology and efforts – but that’s something for another day. === THE LIBERAL OUTLOOK During my visit to Poona to see Gandhiji, I accompanied him one evening to […]

My comment on the newly formed Bahujan Azad Party

I sent a message to these people on their FB page but no response. My Quora comment: Sadly, and as usual, it appears that just going to IIT doesn’t make anyone even remotely competent in economics. And without understanding economics, one can’t understand why even after 70 years, India remains a basket case, with extreme […]