Rajeev Shukla

Mar 22, 2011

Discovering Nehru’s India

On August 15, 1947, Indians secured for themselves much more than the mere right of electing a government of their choice. We earned for ourselves the sovereign right to shape our political destiny and broke free from the shackles of subjugation that accompanies the status of being a dominion or a colony. Independence, in that sense, for the very first time marked a formal unleashing of the latent, creative energies of a nation long suppressed.

A superstar, his fans, and some hypocrites

On Thursday, as I sat watching non-stop television coverage of the funeral of India’s beloved superstar, I was intrigued. I had no idea that the passing away of Rajesh Khanna would be accorded such importance by TV news channels that gave priority to it over the voting for the presidential elections.

The man who created himself

The candidature of Pranab Mukherjee, as the UPA nominee for the forthcoming presidential contest, announced by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has drawn wide support from across the political spectrum, with there being little doubt, even amongst the staunchest of critics, that Pranabda, as he is fondly referred to, would be the most suitable candidate given his unblemished record in public life spanning almost five decades coupled with his wide experience in matters of governance and constitutional niceties. Pranabda, who hails from a middle-class family with a legacy of participating in the freedom struggle, spent his childhood in the small village of Mirati in West Bengal.

60 years on, the future beckons

India became independent on August 15, 1947, but it was 60 years ago, on this very day, that we began our journey as a parliamentary democracy, which truly liberated us from the clutches of imperial s

Do Bigha Zameen, 2011

John Stuart Mill wrote 160 years ago that “land differs from other elements of production, labour and capital in not being susceptible to infinite increase. Its extent is limited and the extent of the more productive kinds of it more limited still. It is also evident that the quantity of produce capable of being raised on any given piece of land is not indefinite. These limited quantities of land, and limited productiveness of it, are the real limits to the increase of production”. This is true for India today.

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