On FTI in some context I was contemplating how liberalism evolves in societies. Let me share these thoughts with you. There are many factors I believe for the growth of liberalism in society, but one of the most important factors is education. I'll go a bit personal to make this point:

a) One of my two grandmothers (father's mother) was literate but not well-educated and therefore often spoke in crude Panjabi in a dialect I could barely understand. She was naturally also steeped in caste consciousness and was virulent against Muslisms (both my mother's and father's side had good reasons: being kicked out of their homesteads in what is now Pakistan). She was super-religious as well, and read not just the Gita (पाठ) but a range of other books, daily.

b) My other grandmother (mother's mother) was far more educated and had some of the most amazingly liberal views one can imagine.

c) Both my grandfathers were Matriculates (which was considered being well-educated for their times) and were basically liberal in their views. They followed all religious customs and processes but did not over-do them, nor did they hate anyone.

d) My father, obviously more educated, developed even more liberal views. He is what I'd call a liberal Hindu. He has spent many years carefully reading up English translations of the Vedas by Indians (not Westerners) and wrote what I would call a pretty liberal book on Hindu philosophy.

e) In this broadly liberal environment, with access to some really wonderful books from my early childhood (Living Biographies of Great Philosophers by Henry Thomas and Dana Lee Thomas was my 'bible' at age 12), it was natural for me to grow up even more liberal.

f) My son, far more widely read than I, will surely turn out to be even more liberal; he is already a staunch libertarian and is almost wedded to mises.com, so many books he has bought from them.

The point is this: EDUCATION MATTERS. Education correlates strongly with the liberal perspective. Not always, but to a pretty good extent.

Instead of worrying about the mess created by religions in India our focus should be on good governance including world class education for each child. That, in my view, will ease 80% of the pressures of religious over-zealousness in our country, over the course of time. These things take time to fix, possibly a generation or two.

In addition, many highly respectable people have been put off by the pseudo-secular philosophy of Congress (I fully agree with them that Congress is pseudo-secular) and turned their back on the liberal Hindu tradition represented by Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Radhakrishnan, K.M. Munshi, and Rajaji. Now many such people are slaves of third rate Hindu writers (I won't name them) with no knowledge or understanding of Hindu philosophy.

Similarly, in Indian Islam there is (or was) a genuine liberal tradition that has now been almost totally smothered by illiberal traditions due to bad policies of pandering to religions and making them a big deal. We need, through education, to encourage liberal Islamic traditions to revert and flourish in India. Indeed, Jinnah was an arch example of the liberal Muslim tradition until things went badly wrong between him and Nehru. Note that till the end of his life he did not comply with any fanatic Islamic injunction.

In other words, religious freedom is work in progress. It is the most sensitive issue in the India, and we need to be aware that change will take time.

By restricting FTI's focus on good governance, rule of law and education,  we will help change things for the better. By worrying too much about religious influences on India, we will needlessly aggravate things and go down a blind alley.

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2. The doctrine of liberalism #1
3. A liberal policy position on higher education
4. Is liberalism on the decline?
5. Rajaji’s interpretation of classical liberalism
6. The doctrine of liberalism #2 The GREAT inferiority complex of the socialists
7. Liberalisation and liberalism in India – by Ashok Desai
8. Classical vs. other forms of ‘liberalism’
9. Classical liberalism is FAR MORE humane than socialism
10. Ambedkar’s Buddhist liberalism and rejection of communism