The Kafkaesque Tower of DGTD Clearances: Yashwant Sinha

Yashwant Sinha | Experiences Under the License Raj | India Before 1991

Yashwant Sinha, Former Cabinet Minister for Finance and External Affairs narrates the difficulty in buying a car and about DGTD being the the repository of all knowledge related to industries. He shares his experiences during the period in which he was an MP and later on became the Finance Minister.

According to him, "License Permit Quota Raj meant that for everything you had to make an application, things were not easily available.."

From Monolithic Controls to Economic Freedom: Parth J Shah

Parth J Shah | Experiences Under the License Raj | India Before 1991

Path J Shah, Founder President, Centre for Civil Society shares the interesting story of his father buying a scooter and the importance of a scooter in the 1970s. He also narrates a story of a famous media couple and their reason for getting married, which will amaze you.

According to him, "Life under license raj was a life under artificial scarcity."

The Curious P Form: Jairam Ramesh

Jairam Ramesh | Experiences under the License Raj | India before 1991

Mr Jairam Ramesh, Former Minister of Rural Development shares his experience for the project India Before 1991: Life under the License Raj. In this video Mr. Ramesh explains about how difficult it was to buy a car and a scooter or to get a telephone connection in the pre-reform era. He also shares his story related to the ‘P’ form, which was to be filled to travel abroad.

According to him,“The most outstanding thing that has happened is we have gone from a shortage economy to an economy in which people have easy access to consumer goods.”