As many of you know, Ayn Rand is quite popular in India, and the Atlasphere has more members from India than from any other non-U.S. country.
Atlasphere member (and Liberty English Camp founder) Stephen Browne forwards the following news about the Liberty Institute in Delhi, India:
Liberty Institute, a Delhi-based think tank, won the [$10,000] Templeton Freedom Prize for Excellence in Promoting Liberty in the Social Entrepreneurship category for its Language of Liberty Summer Camp held in June 2003.
The month-long camp enabled low-income students from rural Himalayan villages in Nainital District, of the northern state of Uttaranchal, to learn English in an interactive manner, while discussing the ideas freedom, dignity and responsibility. The students were exposed to computers for the first time, and got a glimpse of the enormous opportunities that English and IT could open for them. The project demonstrated the tremendous awareness and demand for functional educational skills even among poor village communities, and reflected their willingness to meet part of the costs for value added education. The camp had to accommodate 120 students instead of 60 initially estimated.
Barun Mitra of Liberty Institute says, ?Projects such as this provide an opportunity for those who want to uphold individual freedom and human dignity, to take our case to the wider audiences. Demand for basic education can be met substantially through market economics, even for the poor, if the policy framework is conducive towards educational entrepreneurs.?
As a think tank Liberty Institute seeks to improve public understanding of the market forces, and advocate policies that would best harness the power of the market to meet the needs of the people. In this, the poor and the deprived are the natural allies of pro-market advocates, since they have anything to lose but their poverty. The summer camp project is a micro-level manifestation of principles, policies and practices of liberty ? of entrepreneurship, responsibility, and market.
Our congratulations to the Liberty Institute!