'There is a difference between the American defined 'Development' and 'Progress' or Sarvodaya defined by Mahatma Gandhi. Agricultural land should not be used for non-agricultural purposes. A peasant who owns a piece of land and works on it to earn his living is an independent citizen. We should not make him an urban coolie'
U R Ananthamurthy, one of India's greatest writers and a leading figure in contemporary Kannada literature, is 'saddened and disgusted' by the moral policing in his beloved state. Moral policing is a parental duty, he says, not a governmental one.
A towering figure in the world of letters, Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy, who died in Bangalore on Friday, was modern in his sensibilities and intellectual underpinnings in his literary works questioned many deeply-held beliefs.