On Amarnath... And Homesteading

The law and order situation in the state of Jammu & Kashmir is precarious enough, so the state-wide unrest following the government’s “allotment” of 40 hectares of forest land on the Amarnath yatra route to the “Shrine Board” must be seen as hugely unnecessary, given the fragile peace that prevails there.

I certainly do not believe in arduous pilgrimages as a means to discover Shiva, but a smokey friend does. He trekked it to Amarnath some weeks back. I quizzed him on the facilities on the route – for it took him a few days up and a few days down, in freezing cold – and this is what I heard.

All food on the route is free, gratuitously provided by wealthy believers.

“Where did you sleep then?” I asked.

He told me an unlikely tale. There are tents all along the route where pilgrims can rent a bed for the night. If you rent the bed before 3 pm, the charge is 100 rupees. If you rent it around 5 pm the charge can exceed 500 rupees. So this is how the money is made. My smokey friend said that there were more than 100,000 pilgrims in all. Grab your calculator and do the math and you know you are looking at some pretty big money.

Now, who “owns” the forest land, the 40 hectares (just 100 acres) that the government is giving away?

Actually, nobody owns it.

The huge amount of civil unrest that is currently going on is only because of the fact that it is the government that acted as the actual “owner” of this unowned land.

In Muslim-majority Srinagar there were violent protests because it was felt that the government was showing partiality towards Hindus. So the government revoked their allotment order. This sparked off the Jammu protests – and the law and order situation in the entire state has been unstable ever since.

What would a libertarian solution be?

Let us start with the First Principle: people own things, governments do not. Governments exist only to give titles to properties people acquire – either by purchase or by “homesteading.”

Homesteading means that anyone can lay claim to any unowned land. Thereafter, if he “mixes his labour with the original soil”, he possesses a “claim to title.” This is a claim that the government, at the local level, must recognize.

If the homesteading principle is applied to the whole of India, a lot of “unreal estate” would become “real estate” instantly – including the land on the way to Amarnath. Why just the Shrine Board, lots of others – maybe many Muslims too – would occupy and develop all the unowned land just lying waste there. Then, why a bed in a tent for 500 rupees, pilgrims might get a bed in a concrete hotel with a hot shower for less. If the local government’s only duties lay in recognizing claims to title and building roads connecting all the properties, the Amarnath area would see “development” – and this would benefit the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir.

There would be no civil unrest because the role of the government would be neutral: the government would not exist to give anything to anyone. If the government never shows favours to anyone or any group, but only acts against “outlaws”, no one and no group would rise in protest against any of its actions. There would be peace, harmony, co-operation in markets, the building up of property and towns, and the spreading out of the population all over this vast landmass. The government would enjoy the support and confidence of the society it serves.

This is where liberalism and socialism collide head-on: We differ over the role of The State in a free society.

And these are irreconcilable differences.

Onwards to a Second Republic!

And Booooom Shankarrr 2U2.