In the task of nation-building it is the spirit and willingness of the people alone that matters. The tools and resources can always be created once a nation decides to move ahead towards its goal with self-confidence and determination. We displayed such intensity of spirit and determination in the first half of the twentieth century, when under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi we harnessed all our energies for a great national effort.

After achieving Independence, we lost the spirit and determination that Mahatma Gandhi had evoked in us, and slipped once again into the debilitating habits of mental sloth and mechanical imitation acquired during the long years of bondage.

For more than fifty years, we as a nation have been living a spiritless existence, trying mindlessly to imitate and catch up with the west, and meanwhile to somehow cope with the present.  

We have made no real effort to understand our situation or that of the world around us, and have been moving according to whatever seems fashionable at any given time, or whatever is being purveyed as the panacea for the ills of all nations in the international marketplaces, or perhaps according to whatever is forced upon us by the structures and institutions left behind by the British.

It seems that we have to start afresh. We have to somehow rekindle the spirit and determination that builds nations. For that to happen it is essential that we acquire a clear overview of ourselves and our position and role in the world of today.

Centre for Policy Studies has been founded to initiate this effort of comprehending the Indian situation and to help in formulating a polity that shall provide all Indians with the challenge and the opportunity to get into the task of nation building with an abiding passion.