The Billionaire Raj Quotes

“The most important political distinction among countries concerns not their form of government but their degree of government,”
― James Crabtree, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey through India's New Gilded Age

“For any society to lift itself out of absolute poverty it needs to build three critical state institutions: taxation, law and security,”
― James Crabtree, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey through India's New Gilded Age

“India’s tradition of debate and an open spirit of enquiry is critical for its economic progress,”
― James Crabtree, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey through India's New Gilded Age

“India is often described as having a weak state but a strong society:”
― James Crabtree, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey through India's New Gilded Age

“Speaking in 1916, Mohandas Gandhi warned that India faced a pernicious new kind of commercialism. ‘Western nations are groaning today under the heel of the monster god materialism,’ he told students at a college in the heartland state of Uttar Pradesh. ‘Many of our countrymen say that we will gain American wealth, but avoid its methods. I venture to suggest that such an attempt, if it were made, is foredoomed to failure.’27 Gandhi’s views were rooted in his own era, chiming with the theories of anti-colonialism and non-violent protest that earned him the title ‘Mahatma’, or ‘great soul’ in Sanskrit. Almost a century later, his warnings seemed prescient.”
― James Crabtree, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey through India's New Gilded Age