Bastiat Boy

A round of applause, please, for India Uncut's Amit Varma, who's just been nominated for the 2007 Bastiat Prize for Journalism, aiming to honour writers “whose work cleverly and wittily promotes the institutions of the free society,” named after French philosopher and essayist Frédéric Bastiat. Amit gets the nod for his pieces in Mint, and what's notable is that he's the only writer from Asia to make the shortlist. His post announcing the details is here, with links to the articles he submitted for consideration. Well done.