{"product_id":"the-dilemma-of-an-indian-liberal-9789354476792","title":"The Dilemma of an Indian Liberal","description":"\u003cp\u003e'I became a liberal because I believed in the virtues of openness, mutual respect, and a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003econcern for others. Liberalism offered me an ethically responsible order of human progress\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewithout necessarily involving the state.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGurcharan Das has been a lifelong and passionate champion of both economic\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand political freedom. 'For over two centuries, ' he writes, 'liberal democracies\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand free markets spread around the world to become the only sensible way\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eto organize public life.' After years of the stifling 'license raj', he watched and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecelebrated India's long-delayed move towards a liberal order in the 1990s, as\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emarket reform and a maturing democratic process began to yield remarkable\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eresults, bringing prosperity and dignity to the many millions who had been\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edenied both for decades. He recorded this progress in his classic study, India\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnbound. But after three decades, that light seems to be fading. As in the rest of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe world, liberalism is in retreat in India as well. Society is hopelessly polarized\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand populists are on the march. The debate appears to be about economic\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efreedom versus political freedom-as if it is a given that the two cannot coexist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe liberal today is on a lonely road.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn order to elucidate the dilemma of the Indian liberal, Gurcharan Das recounts\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehis own professional and intellectual journey: how and why he became a liberal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile telling his story, he also narrates the story of a nation struggling-still-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eto become a successful liberal democracy-the late promise and its seeming\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ebetrayal, but also the possibility of course correction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten with conviction, insight and scholarship-and with immense clarity-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethis is an urgent and illuminating book. It is a book that every Indian invested in\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe future of the country should read.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Speaking Tiger Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50523209826578,"sku":"9789354476792","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8fd23ed3-53ef-4e94-b30f-11a411152ab2.jpg?v=1731141031","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-dilemma-of-an-indian-liberal-9789354476792","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}