Parth studied the work of classical liberal writers such as Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises in greater detail after becoming inspired by Rand’s writings. He laid the groundwork for his future aspirations as a policy advocate by thoroughly grasping economic ideas and their consequences for public policy through the works of these great minds.
His reading presented Parth with a new—and out-of-fashion—way of understanding the world around him. Notwithstanding Rand’s relative popularity in India at the time, most Indians saw free-market ideas as rather foreign and potentially nefarious, thanks to widespread influence from the Soviet Union. “The assumption was that anybody who talked about market ideas had to be funded by somebody in the U.S. and most likely by the CIA. It was a common belief,” he said.
Real-world policy encounters, such as seeing the disastrous effects of alcohol prohibition in Gujarat, his native state, further stoked Parth’s intellectual curiosity. His conviction in the ability of free markets and individual liberty to propel societal progress and prosperity was strengthened by this exposure to the shortcomings of government interventionism.
Parth’s desire to study economics in India, however, was thwarted by a prohibition on switching majors, in this case from science to arts (which in India includes economics). He learned it was possible to do so in the United States, so he enrolled in a graduate pharmacy program in Boston. He soon also learned that it was possible to “audit” courses for free—something not offered in India—an opportunity he took full advantage of by soaking up lectures from Nobel Prize-winning economists at Harvard University.
After completing his pharmacy degree, Parth gained admission to the economics program at Auburn University, where he earned a PhD. He landed his first teaching job at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and soon became an advisor at the Mackinac Center, where he saw firsthand how think tanks function. He also attended training programs offered by Atlas Network that provided him with the skills to start a think tank back home in India.
Another turning point came when Parth learned he needed open heart surgery. For many years, he had intended to return to India to create a forum for the advancement of individual liberty and free-market principles, but he had repeatedly put it off after securing a professorship. Coming face to face with major heart surgery forced him into action.
“I asked myself the night before : ‘what’s one thing I would regret if things do not go well tomorrow in the operating room?’ And the answer was completely obvious. I always wanted to come back to India—start a think tank.”
So that night, after years of enjoying the life of a U.S. academic, he realized it was time to return home and roll up his sleeves. After recuperating from surgery, Parth moved to New Delhi, and—with the help of supporters in the U.S. and his own savings—he established Centre for Civil Society (CCS). He founded the organization with the goal of advancing social change through scholarly research, policy analysis, and outreach.