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Since its
inception in July 1956, the Forum has published a total of 674
booklets (as on Jan 2010) on important subjects having a bearing on
economics. The booklets have been authored by highly eminent
economists and economist-statesmen, businessmen and industrialists,
professionals, educationists, scientists, jurists and others. Many
of these have been based on talks delivered on the Forum platform,
including Memorial Lectures, while some have been reproduced from
other publications, with prior permission of the original
publishers.
Most of the booklets published initially were related to free
enterprise, role of the private sector in economic development, ills
and pitfalls of the public sector, the ill-effects of socialistic
economic policies and the like. These booklets cover highly topical
economic subjects – such as the foreign exchange problem or the food
problem, the effects of high taxation. The budgets presented to the
parliament every year since 1957 have also been analysed.
It is gratifying that many of the predictions made in the booklets
have now come true. The Governments at the Centre and the States
having been for some time advocating economic policies that were
earlier advocated by the authors of Forum booklets. In a way the
Forum stands vindicated. The authors in fact were much ahead of
their time. The post-liberalization era generation (those born after
the 1980s) will hardly believe that such antediluvian
economic policies were pursued by the Government in the
post-independent era from 1947 till the late 1980s resulting in
stunted average GDP growth of barely 3.5% .
An attempt is being made here to place on the website contents of
most of the booklets. The month and year of publication of each
booklet are also given.
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