I AND MY WORDS

While Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya agreed with some form of mixed economy, one sees practicality in his economic thought and vision. There are two particular instances that seem to clearly indicate what he thought of different kinds of measures. Minimal government intervention in the private space of entrepreneurship beyond a certain regulatory approach was clearly seen as a plus by him, judging by his critique of the five year plans over centralization. As noted by Mahesh Chand Sharma, Panditji saw major problems with the second plan vis-à-vis the first five year plan, especially on the mission statement of creating a socialist society:  Socialism as a confused principle only ends up in the emergence of autocratic governments, and remains fundamentally incompatible with democracy. The second plan, being a plan that aimed to alter a fundamental system in its entirety, would certainly be a problem as it shifted focus from functionality. The obsession with big industry was ‘indecent’ a...

  Sukhbir Singh Badal with Bishop Franko Mulakkal at an event in 2016 In the ongoing farmer agitation bringing attention on to Punjab, it is interesting to note the various social dynamics that have emerged over the past century first in the undivided state and post-partition, in the various mutations that eventually led to the present state of Punjab in India. An important phenomenon that has been obscured by the various tumultuous events over the years has been the rise and rise of Christianity in Punjab. Through this essay, an examination of this phenomenon is understood. From historical contexts, the role of the community in 1947 to the present state of affairs, an attempt has been made to bring all such details to light. What is also brought to light is the rather strange silence of certain groups who would rather respond to those looking to examine reasons for this conversion and exercise some kind of restraint on it.   The Moorings of Christianity in Punjab Chris...

Maratha Empire in 1759 (wikimedia commons) This is an overdue part perhaps for years on a stretch. However, it is time to write this part, precisely because it is important to understand why the Marathas eventually lost out to the British in maintaining their grip on their empire as a single federal entity and instead broke down into individual states under the East India Company (EIC) dominion that maintained tenuous relationship with the Maratha empire vestiges at best. The key to understanding precisely why the East India Company had the surplus revenue and not the Marathas, something that turned out to be a major influencing factor at the time in changing the power equation of the time. The story shall not necessarily be chronological, and I do not intend to tell dates, but I will tell the story as it emerges, and would request the three readers bold enough to read this blog post to bear with the story and figure out the dates and understand the chronology and convergence that toge...