Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) president and from a well-known industrialist family of Bombay, Kamal Morarka was a union minister in the Chandra Shekhar government and a Rajya Sabha member during the tumultuous 1990s. As a parliamentarian (1988 - 94) and minister, Morarka's speeches and replies reflected his vast reading, knowledge of the economy and, more importantly, his concern that the ordinary citizen should not get short shrift from the lawmakers and bureaucrats. As an industrialist, newspaper proprietor (Afternoon Dispatch & Courier and Chauthi Duniya), politician and part of the think tank Centre for Policy Analysis, he continues to read voraciously, intervene effectively in issues and concern and follow the ideas of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayanand Acharya Narendra Dev. He has also served on several government committees. He was president of the All India Manufacturer's Organization in 1989 - 90, president of Indian Council of Foreign Trade, vice president of All India Association of Industries and president of National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs. Morarka chairs a number of non-governmental organizations that work for water conservation and harvesting in Rajasthan, wildlife research (he is an avid photographer), arts and crafts and organic farming and research. He blogs on www.kamalmorarka.com
Can India ever swing back from its current sojourn in la-la land to a position Left of Centre? Former parliamentarian and minister, Kamal Morarka has always been someone who speaks his mind. Left of Centre, a collection of his speeches in Parliament, reflects his extensive knowledge on a variety of subjects, his clarity of thought, his oratorical excellence and, most importantly, his concern for the ordinary citizen. Although economic and financial matters were his forte, as the speeches in this book will reveal, he was extremely well-versed on all the hot topics of his time. With witty observations and practical suggestions, this thought-provoking collection showcases Morarka's views on tumultuous and significant events of the 1990s, including the Bofors scam, the liberalization of the economy, the Babri Masjid demolition, the Harshad Mehta scam and more.
