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John Matthai: The values of service revisited in fresh perspective
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A K Bhattacharya
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HONEST JOHN: A Life of John Matthai
by Bakhtiar K Dadabhoy
Published by Penguin
XXIV+396 pages ₹999
John Matthai had many unique distinctions. He was India's only post-independence finance minister who had also held that responsibility in the interim government, formed before the country gained freedom. As finance member in Viceroy Wavell's Executive Council, Matthai took some important decisions such as abolishing the notorious salt tax, levying an export duty on cotton and removing price controls on jute and jute goods.
But in less than two months, he had to make way for Liaquat Ali Khan of the Muslim League, which belatedly
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