Gopal Ganesh Agarkar

• Agarkar is commemorated for his work as a social reformer, rationalist, and educationist
• Agarkar often wrote essays commenting on the nature of discourse on economics prevalent during his time
• Agarkar's essays are of particular significance to understand his positions as a 19th-century liberal and the philosophical influences that propelled him to take those positions
• The two essays that reveal Agarkar's economic thoughts are titled 'Teen Arthashastre' - broadly translated as 'Three Strands of Economics'
• Agarkar opened his first essay with the analogy of an ongoing 'Tug of war' between the extremely ignorant people of India and a self-serving British government in India
• Agarkar advanced suggestions for both the government and the people of India as a member of the third party of intellectuals
• Economics is about production, distribution, and transactions or exchanges
• India had a grave problem concerning production, distribution, and transactions due to foreign rule
• Categories of then-existing views on economics

  • Axiomatic or Classical Economics
  • Practical Economics
  • Illusory Economics
• Classical Economics tenets state that a government should stay away from interfering in production, distribution, and trade
• The British government in India ignored the grave economic conditions and the effects of its economic policies
• Agarkar believed political freedom and economic freedom were inseparably intertwined for Indians
• The British valued India for trade access to other Asian countries more than for its resources
• India's lack of consumerist culture led to dependency on British goods and services
• India's economic drain and vulnerability to rustification were consequences of dependency on British goods
• The government controlled the impoverished masses by offering temporary relief and various concessions
• The government used its power supposedly for the redressal of grievances by pitting classes against each other and establishing ministries for agrarian affairs
• The government used its power supposedly for the redressal of grievances


  At times sought to save the peasants by inflicting costs on the landlords - by pitting the classes against each other
• The government opened up a ministry to manage agrarian affairs

  1. Manned it with intelligent bureaucrats

  2. Had a lucrative remuneration for which Indians paid through their tax money
• None of the so-called agrarian reforms elevated the lifestyle of crores of poor Indians fundamentally
• Agarkar: '"the fatal and deep wound of systemic impoverishment (that the economic policies of the government) inflicted on Indians could not be healed by mere band-aids."'
• No amount of temporary relief could improve the economic condition of India
• Increasing the volume of production (and subsequently trade) was the only suitable tonic that could impart vitality among Indians
• Countries like France, the United States of America, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, Switzerland, and even England worked toward increasing trade when their industries were at a nascent stage
• Indian thinkers like Justice Telang, Justice Ranade, and Dadabhai Naoroji had devised ways of stimulating Indian industries, commerce, and agriculture without violating the laws of economics
• Agarkar: '"After all one can be woken up from slumber if they are asleep, how can a person who pretends to be asleep be woken up?"'
• The general laws of classical economics were not entirely suitable for the prevailing conditions under British rule
• The principles of classical economics cannot be applied to every society as their applicability hinges upon the level of economic development in a given society
• If industry, if promoted, can create self-sustainable enterprises, it won't require the support of the state
• Agarkar adhered to the view of Practical Economics
• Agarkar considered Practical Economics a transitional arrangement to reach the ideals of Classical Economics
• Agarkar wanted the state to create good conditions for industries to increase production, trade, and commerce
• Agarkar rejected preferential treatment to products based on the place of their origin and opposed state or society-sponsored protection to businesses