Sibal's Principle... And Capitalism

The Congress lawyer, Kapil Sibal, currently education minister, is piloting the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill in the lower house of parliament. The upper house has already passed it.

In his speech in parliament supporting this bill, Sibal said that the objective was to create “intellectual assets.” He added that any opposition to the bill is “anti-national.” Of particular interest is the following sentence from the minister’s speech, quoted in this news report:

“We do not want an education that defies Constitution”.

This will be socialist indoctrination by force. It will create zombies, not intellectual assets.

Let us step back for a moment and look at a simple property dispute over a gas field that is occupying much column space. Many prominent Communists, including Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat and D. Raja, have suggested their own solution to this property dispute. What is a Communist solution? As this report says:

“The government has rightly asserted that the country's natural gas reserves, including the gas of KG Basin, is a national asset and this asset and the interests of the economy cannot be held hostage to the benevolence and mercy of some private players,” the Left MPs said in the letter.

They added that this “nationalized” gas should be “distributed” by The State through a national grid, according to “priorities” set by The State. Soma Banerjee, who has covered this sector for more than a decade now, writes of the “confusion and wooliness” of present “utilization policy” in this vital area. But while she wants The Market in, these commies want The Market out.

Now, this “confusion and wooliness” must take us back to the basic principles of our political order. Is it based on Private Property or is it based on Collective Property? If it is the latter, then Yechuri, Karat, et. al. are right. And their principles should be taught to all by Sibal.

But as we all know, nationalization spells disaster. Soma Banerjee writes that the demand-supply gap in gas is close to 50 per cent. Only half the current demand is being supplied. There are also no pipelines, so we see these giant tankers ferrying gas along our “notional highways.” The only way to get gas piped to every home is via The Market – what has happened to phones. Thus, the opposite principle must prevail.

So, the only question is: Who owns the gas field? The courts have to establish ownership based on the principles of jurisprudence which belong to classical liberalism – like Locke’s “mixing his labour with the original soil.” In no way can The State be an owner. This is how gold miners functioned under law in California during the Gold Rush. There will be no disorder if these principles are followed. Nationalization will add to endless litigation. And anyway, we oppose nationalization.

But let us get back to Kapil Sibal, the sharp lawyer. What principles should his schools teach?

All I can advise is that don’t put your own children in their schools, colleges or universities.

Save their Precious Minds.