On Sovereignty... And Unilateralism

India is a “sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic.”

The notion of political “sovereignty” implies that each nation-state can follow policies that are in its own interest without having to discuss its choice of policy with the rulers of other sovereign states. We therefore do not need the “multilateral” World Trade Organization (WTO) to practise free international trade. Similarly, we do not need advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to institute sound money and the gold standard. In other words, sovereignty is valuable only because it allows for unilateralism.

Let us begin with unilateral free trade. The idea of WTO-type multilateralism is tied up with the ridiculous notion of “reciprocity” in international trade. So, if other nations practise harmful protectionism, we must too. If they don’t reduce their tariff barriers, neither should we. Diplomats, politicians and other state personnel will forever “negotiate” trade agreements with each other, at exotic foreign locales, drinking duty-free Scotch denied to the citizenry.

The key point to note is that it is individuals who trade, not nations. Further, when individuals trade, reciprocity is meaningless. For example, suppose I am the owner of a bar that serves non-vegetarian food. Now, the tailor master opposite is a teetotaler and a vegetarian. He has not visited my establishment in 20 years. But I always get my suits stitched from him, simply because he is the best tailor in town. Would I be smarter if I ordered my suits from the drunken tailor, my very good customer, the last man to leave my bar every night, whose hands shake a lot?

Suppose, similarly, that a senior manager of Nokia dines regularly at my establishment. One day I show off my new Samsung phone to him. Will he take offence? Will he prefer henceforth to dine at some other restaurant, knowing well that my Afghani Chicken is superior to any you might get even in Kabul?

Look at it any way you like, from the viewpoint of individuals, reciprocity in trade is sheer nonsense. For further reading I recommend my The Essential Frederic Bastiat, which you can download for free here. It contains two essays against reciprocity. There are many more arguing for free trade, against protectionism. Bastiat was probably the first economist to write against customs departments. He saw them as evil. Adam Smith did not. He worked for many years as a customs commissioner, a blemish on an otherwise honourable career.

Bastiat clearly saw that customs men do not levy a “tax”; rather, they “debar” foreign goods from local markets. They impose an “interdiction.” He also clearly saw the corrupt nexus between protectionist politicians and resident businessmen. Read the play “Protectionism, or the Three Aldermen” in the above selection - and enact it in your school or college.

Thus, our nation can and should practice free trade, unilaterally, as such a policy is in our own interest. We will gain hugely as consumers and importers. The alternative is what the Nehruvian dynasty forced upon us for 50 years: autarky, empty shop-shelves, and protected industrialists who cheated their customers – us.

Over now to unilateralism in instituting sound money and the gold standard. In my recent column arguing for such a policy, I outlined the evils of unsound money, the kind we have today:

When paper money is a “property title without property”, and “legal tender” forces its exchange in markets for real goods and services, nothing is exchanged for something. When these propertyless notes multiply, while the real goods and services do not, there is only redistribution in society, away from savers, away from fixed-income earners, in favour of borrowers—all perverse incentives that destroy the character of society and promote “decivilisation”. Unsound money is terrible.

I then wrote what our nation would gain from sound money and the gold standard, if we pursued such a policy unilaterally:

Any nation can unilaterally revert to the gold standard whenever it chooses. If we do so, our rupee, now pegged to gold, will always appreciate against the rest of the world’s fiat papers. This will help us become big importers. And cheap imports, including of capital goods and components, will make our manufactured exports competitive in terms of technology, quality and price. Our banks will attract the world’s savings, and we will possess capital, the vital ingredient of “capitalism”. All prices will steadily fall and the consumption of the poor will rise in leaps and bounds. This is the power of “sound money”.

In my book, both free trade and sound money are essential “good policies” which we can and must institute unilaterally. Otherwise, “sovereignty” is useless.

What About The Indian State Police?

Continuing the discussions of the past few days on “good government” (all these posts are now under a separate label), let me begin by recalling the definition of government – the “social apparatus of compulsion and coercion; the negation of liberty.” I had then argued that the greatest intellectual error of the last century was overestimating what society can accomplish through institutionalized force.

Today, let us turn our attention to the Indian State Police. They are the very arm of government compulsion and coercion. Yet, it seems now that our people have had enough of them. The other day a policeman was beheaded in West Bengal. Some months ago a police inspector was beheaded in Jharkhand. Another police inspector in Tamil Nadu had his leg hacked off, and was left to bleed to death on a public road. No one helped. He died.

And there is worse – from Chattisgarh. Here, a supreme court lawyer made a statement recently that the police chief of this new, small province would in all likelihood be assassinated, since he was performing his duties in the manner of a lawless warlord.

My own experiences with the Karnataka State Police during my years of grassroot political activism there proved to me that our men in khaki are up to no good. I was repeatedly arrested, repeatedly locked up, and regularly harassed – without any formal charges ever being leveled against me. Their only grouse seemed to be that I was smoking ganja openly. This is not yet a crime. I lodged a formal complaint with the Lok Ayukta (ombudsman) and even held a press conference on the matter, which was widely reported. My overall impression was that the State Police were “playing politics.” They were goons of the ruling politicians. They were rogues. Now that our poor people are killing cops, you can only guess where my sympathies lie.

I wonder if there is anyone anywhere in India who thinks well of India’s cops. In the cities, they are predators. They extort bribes from all the roadside businesses. They do no “socially useful work.” Crimes, even rape and murder, go unsolved. And what can be said of road traffic? I am therefore of the firm opinion that our nation must do away with this State police force in its entirety. (Note, I say State police and not local self-government police). How can we manage without the State police?

Well, the Honourable East India Company managed fine without a police force. The Indian Police Act is dated 1861 – after the Mutiny, by which time the Honourable Company had been replaced by the British State and Queen Victoria had become Empress of India. If the Company Bahadur could manage so well without police forces, so can we.

For starters, let us understand that policing is a “local” subject. Today, it comes under the Bhateeja States. Tomorrow, it should come under the local city or town mayor. Europe has a long history of independent towns with their own police forces. The ancient City of London (the famous “One Square Mile”) still maintains its own police force; the “bobby” of metropolitan London is not allowed within. In Frankfurt-am-Main, a resident took me on a visit to the old police station of the city when it was a “freireichstadt” (free city) – and this police too was under the mayor’s control.

Secondly, we must inhabit a “private law society” wherein “crimes” are replaced by “torts.” Thus, all offences are against individuals and their properties – and fines must be paid to the victim by the offender. There are no “crimes against The State.” There is no need, therefore, for a State Police that monopolizes investigation, prosecution and punishment. There is no need for a State Police at all. If absconding offenders have to be apprehended, free civic society must co-operate to bring the lawless to justice. The old USA has a fine history of such voluntarism in tackling lawlessness, as does Olde England. They have forgotten their own history. Let us, then, learn from their rich experience of community policing.

Further, in a “voluntarist society,” a high degree of social co-operation is automatically achieved. Today, none really co-operates with the State Police. Everyone wants to stay far away from them, and you cannot blame people for that.

I am reminded of the title of a Tennessee Williams’ play:

This Property Is Condemned.

The Chacha State, The Bhateeja State, the State Police, the IAS and IPS, and even their judges – they all must go. They have made a mockery of government. Their theories are all wrong, hence their practice is in serious error as well. Think about that.

Finally, the one area of economic activity in India today that is reporting the highest growth rate of employment is private security. These men in blue are doing a great job protecting us, protecting our residential localities, shopping complexes, cinemas, et. al. And they are not preying on us. More power to the men in blue.

What Is "Good Government"? Part 3

Bad news: LRC is off the airwaves – and I am getting withdrawal symptoms. Also, we have no water supply for 3 days. I think it is “hydraulic despotism,” typical of the oriental despot. Give these morons any power over any resource and they will misuse it. Good thing there is abundant groundwater – so we will dig a well, like all our neighbours already have. Private water.

No other news worth commenting about, so let us return to our discussion on good government. Today, I will focus on localism, arguing that powerful central governments are NOT good government. Uncle Sam is the bane of the USSA, as is Uncle Sham here.

For example, our nearest town is Chaudi, where we have to go today for the Saturday bazaar and our weekly shopping. Chaudi is the central market town catering to a vast area – and it is a mess. Yet, I wonder whether there is a file on Chaudi in the offices of the Planning Commission in New Delhi. Both Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi and his chhota ustad, montek, I am positive, have never heard of Chaudi. I am sure neither have heard of Jhumri Tilaiya either, a pretty town in Jharkhand where everyone is very fond of music.

A vivid illustration of the intellectual error in establishing a powerful central government (essential for central planning) occurred when Atal Behari Vajpayee was prime minister. He announced plans to build a highway “from Saurashtra to Silchar.” This would connect the west to the east, Vajpayee claimed. But Silchar is in Assam. There are three Indian states to the east of Assam: Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland. Some days after Vajpayee made his grand announcement, the chief minister of Manipur rebuked him for “forgetting” about his state. Like they “forgot” about Chaudi. Actually, if Chaudi was under good local government, I am sure it would be one of the finest towns on the planet. Nature has been so kind to this area.

Of course, our Total Chacha State pays lip service to the idea of local government. But “panchyati raj” is all about villages. Max Weber wrote about the towns of Europe – so basic to western civilization. We need urban local self-government of high quality in India. I wonder how we can accomplish that. I possess little faith in democracy, having read Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s great book Democracy: The God That Failed three times already – and I look forward to reading it again.

Hülsmann reveals that Mises championed a strong central monarchy for an East European Empire centred around the Hapsburgs of Vienna. Our India is an empire too – but here we need to shift the focus away from New Delhi to the mayors of all our cities and towns – mayors we do not possess as of now. I have not yet crystallized my thoughts on how this can be accomplished. But we must get there.

Off to Chaudi now, and the weekly bazaar. These poorly functioning local governments give me the creeps. We must think of a way out.

What Is "Good Government"? Part 2

No news is good news – so I can resume the discussion of yesterday, on “good government.”

Let's consider what government actually is. In truth, is not government but an institution of compulsion and coercion? - of the negation of liberty? The greatest philosophical error of the 20th century has been to grossly overestimate what can be accomplished by force, compulsion and coercion. Indeed, from the Whigs to the old classical liberals, from Locke to Hume and Smith, the entire focus was on limiting government to its rightful sphere – so that society can breathe free. The critical understanding was that provided by the nascent science of Economics – that Liberty is crucial for economic success. This understanding prevailed right up to the reign of Queen Victoria and the rule of the Gladstonian liberals; and the best example of the political attitude of that great era is provided by the “moralist” Samuel Smiles, whose Self-Help, it is said, outsold the Bible. I quote from the opening sentences of this wonderful and inspiring book, an Indian edition of which, with my foreword, is available from Liberty Institute:

Heaven helps those who help themselves is a well-tried maxim, embodying in a small compass the results of vast human experience. The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigour and strength. Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates. Whatever is done for men or classes, to a certain extent takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing for themselves; and where men are subjected to over-guidance and over-government, the inevitable tendency is to render them comparatively helpless.

Even the best institutions can give a man no active help. Perhaps the most they can do is to leave him free to develop himself and improve his individual condition. But in all times men have been prone to believe that their happiness and well-being were to be secured by means of institutions rather than by their own conduct. Hence the value of legislation as an agent in human advancement has usually been much overestimated. Moreover, it is everyday becoming more clearly understood that the function of Government is negative and restrictive rather than positive and active; being resolvable principally into protection – protection of life, liberty and property. Laws, wisely administered, will secure men in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labour, whether of mind or body, at a comparatively small personal sacrifice; but no laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober. Such reforms can only be effected by means of individual actions, economy, and self-denial; by better habits, rather than by greater rights.

Thus, the government does not have to “create jobs”; rather, the government has to step aside, so that entrepreneurs can freely open their businesses and employ people. I saw Barack “Il Duce” Obama on television last night calling for a new “jobs bill.” This is an illustration of the gross intellectual errors of our age of over-government. As Samuel Smiles pointed out:

The value of legislation as an agent in human advancement has been much overestimated.

We in India are lucky that our Total Chacha State is such an abject failure that nothing much can be expected from it. The economic advancement of our legions of desperately poor people cannot be accomplished by any “positive” government action, either through legislation or “welfare.” Rather, the government must step aside – so that the poor can help themselves. Today, the agencies of the Total Chacha State are but impediments and predators. As one poor man told me recently in New Delhi:

“Sarkaar ne hamaray raastey mein kaantein bo diye hain.”
(The government has sown thorns in our path.)

Liberty, not government. Liberty is what we all need. This is even more true for the poor.

The serpent of government must be defanged.

What is "Good Government"?

Nothing much on the news today – so let us return to where we left off yesterday, when I argued that this Total Chacha State is not a democracy in any sense of the word.

What I would like to add today is that what really matters is not how the government is formed, what matters is what the government does; and, even more important, what the government does NOT do.

If the government leaves all voluntary exchange free; if it leaves all peaceful people alone; if it does not inflate; if it practices no interventionism and does not hamper the working of The Market; if its taxes are not onerous and vast armies of tax parasites are not maintained at public cost; if it practices no “welfarism” and leaves the field to private charity and philanthropy; if it does not seek to instruct its subjects in the arts and sciences and “knowledge is free”; if a huge “standing army” is not employed in times of peace; and if peace, trade, goodwill and non-interference mark its relations with the outside world, instead of the ideology of perpetual war – that is good government. The only tasks left to such a government are the protection of property and the apprehension of real outlaws, who menace the peaceful public; and the administration of justice (not the making of law). Of course, in India, the government must build toll-free roads. Such a government could be democratic, but it could also be a monarchy, a nawab, a sultan, whatever. Even a mayor.

Hülsmann reveals that Mises supported the return of monarchy for post WW-2 Austria. He even addressed Otto von Hapsburg as “Your Highness” in correspondence. In the USA, Mises spoke highly of democracy, and drew a sharp rebuke from the feisty Rose Wilder Lane, who called his notions about US democracy “stuff and nonsense.” According to Lane, the US was heading towards doom because of democracy. Lane championed Liberty. She is the author of that great book The Discovery of Freedom.

The Lesson: Freedom matters more than democracy.

On the USSA of today, this post from Lew Rockwell is worth reading, where he calls Obama America’s Mussolini. It seems their democracy has degenerated into fascism, just as Rose Wilder Lane feared it would.

Also on LRC today was this short article by Ron Paul advocating the free coinage of gold and silver. We in India need to do that too. We must get Chacha’s cotton-picking hands OUT of our money.

It is a very dangerous thing, this thing called government. Its role must be vastly restricted and limited if society is to flourish. That is the lesson of recent history – in the USSA, in the UK, and in India.

On Chacha, Democracy, And Freedom

“While we have protected the process of democracy, we have deeply violated its spirit”: so reads the sub-title of an editorial in Mint on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Indian republic. It makes me extremely happy when eminent voices are raised against the deep flaws in the functioning of our socialist and democratic political system. All the points raised are valid, and I particularly liked the conclusion:

India chose an open political system which was based on constitutional rule in 1950 and, though belatedly, an open economic system in 1991. We need to nurture both so that the republic flourishes over the next six decades.

Under current circumstances, two points need to be added:

First, that our great and illustrious prime minister, Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi, has nothing to do with democracy. He lost the Lowk Sabha elections from South Delhi over ten years ago and never contested popular elections again.

Second: inflationism is a negation of democracy. This is a point Ludwig von Mises, champion of sound money and enemy of inflationism, always emphasized. A government that engages in inflationism deceives the public about the true cost of its measures. Indeed, if these true costs were openly aired, the people would never ever vote an inflationist party into office. Chacha is an inflationist – and no democrat. We are fooling ourselves – and he is fooling us.

Thus, the basic contention of the editors of Mint, that “while we have protected the process of democracy, we have deeply violated its spirit,” is a hundred per cent valid. The question then arises: Where do we go to from here?

There are no ready answers to such a question. However, what must be recognized is that we must focus on two priorities: first, that the law should matter most, for we don’t want lawlessness. Today, it is the arms of the socialist democratic Total Chacha State that are “lawless” – and this is a negation of constitutional government. Our only hope, then, is in a “private law society” – the subject of my last column. We need to protect ourselves and our properties under private law – not only from criminals, but also from the lawless Chacha State. Private money becomes essential for the purpose.

Second: We must nurture the open economic system that we partially ushered in during the 1990s. An open, competitive, free market must rule the roost here. State socialism must go.

What is the “classical liberal” Misesian vision of a free society?

Lew Rockwell answered this question admirably in a speech delivered recently in Houston, Texas. Do read the full text carefully. Towards the end, Rockwell defines freedom thus:

[By freedom] I mean a social or political condition in which people exercise their own choices concerning what they do with their lives and property. People are permitted to trade and exchange goods and services without impediment or violent interference. They can associate or not associate with anyone of their own choosing. They can arrange their own lives and businesses. They can build, move, innovate, save, invest, and consume on terms that they themselves define.

What will be the results? We cannot predict them, any more than I can know when everyone in this room will wake up tomorrow morning, or what you will have for breakfast. Human choice works this way. There are as many patterns of human choice as there are humans who make choices.

Rockwell goes on to ask whether such a state of freedom will result in order or chaos. He firmly rejects Hobbesian paranoia and categorically asserts that order is the natural result of a system of social co-operation based on the extended division of labour. This is something we Indians must know to be true. In all our city markets, order prevails naturally – while the cops are invariably predators. Our Total Chacha State does not exist to promote social co-operation, harmony and order. On the contrary! The only means of ensuring co-operation between strangers in crowded cities is the market, the “catallaxy.” We erred grievously when we threw out the market and installed The Chacha State at the “commanding heights.” Such a socialist democracy only politicizes economic life – as Peter, Lord Bauer consistently pointed out while referring to the étatist regimes of the Third World, like India. Such politics is deeply divisive, causing disharmony and disorder – and economic losses all around. And widespread corruption, to boot.

Think!

Our polity is a mess. There is much to think about.

On Education, The Brits, And The CONgress

It is customary these days, both in India as well as in Britain, to blame most of India’s present-day ills on the colonial administration. Thus, referring to a chapter in James Tooley’s The Beautiful Tree, a chapter titled “Men Who Uprooted The Tree,” a reader posted a comment on my post of yesterday, which asserts:

The East India company men introduced British style central planning to education in India even though a bottoms up, student fee & philanthropy funded education system existed and flourished before Munro and Macaulay.

Tooley is a dear old friend, but I have yet to read this book of his. If this is the point of view he has expressed, then I would like to counter his contention. I will argue that the British planted a tree, an entirely new tree, and it was the CONgress who uprooted this beautiful tree.

First, Munro had nothing to do with education. He is remembered for his work in settling land records in the south – in Baramahal and the Canara districts. And as for Macaulay, there was much happening on the education front in India before the Whig historian appeared on the scene, in the 1840s.

The first officer of the East India Company who took steps to educate the natives was Mountstuart Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay in 1819. Philip Mason notes that this was a hugely “enlightened” policy, for back home in England those days, public opinion held out no role for the State in education. Elphinstone’s motive must also be noted: the idea was to create natives who would rise to western standards of thought. A few years later, in far away Calcutta, Raja Ram Mohun Roy – father of the “Bengal Renaissance” – would strongly support the idea of western education for the natives. Macaulay arrived only 12 years later, by which time the climate of opinion had been created for inculcating western learning in India, under the aegis of the EIC administration.

In 1823, in Bengal, the British government announced plans to support the setting up of a school of Sanskrit studies. Raja Ram Mohun Roy’s letter in protest, addressed to the Governor-General, is worth quoting, for it reflects on the quality of native education at the time. It also illustrates the widespread feeling among the Bengal elites that EIC rule was a boon, and that western education was to be strongly encouraged. Macaulay, 12 years later, did not invent his education policy. The idea had already captured the public imagination.

Raja Ram Mohun Roy wrote:

The establishment of a new Sangscrit School in Calcutta evinces the laudable desire of government to improve the Natives of India by Education – a blessing for which they must ever be grateful; and every well-wisher of the human race must be desirous that the efforts made to promote it should be guided by the most enlightened principles, so that the stream of intelligence may flow in the most useful channels.

When this Seminary of learning was proposed, we understood that the Government in England had ordered a considerable sum of money to be annually devoted to the instruction of its Indian Subjects. We were filled with sanguine hopes that this sum would be laid out in employing European Gentlemen of talent and education to instruct the Natives of India in Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Anatomy, and other useful Sciences, which the Natives of Europe have carried to a degree of perfection that has raised them above the inhabitants of other parts of the world.

While we looked forward with pleasing hope to the dawn of knowledge to the rising generation, our hearts were filled with mingled feelings of delight and gratitude; we already offered up thanks to Providence for inspiring the most generous and enlightened Nations of the West with the glorious ambition of planting in Asia the Arts and Sciences of modern Europe.

We find that the Government are establishing a Sangscrit school under Hindoo pandits to impart such knowledge as is already current in India. This seminary (similar in character to those which existed in Europe before the time of Lord Bacon) can only be expected to load the minds of youth with grammatical niceties and metaphysical distinctions of little or no practicable use to the possessors or to society. The pupils will there acquire what was known two thousand years ago, with the addition of vain and empty subtleties since then produced by speculative men, such as is already commonly taught in all parts of India…

Thus it was that the British administration took up western education in India and “planted a tree.” Natives were taught western ideas, particularly the idea of Liberty. This is most forcefully illustrated in Surendranath Banerjea’s presidential address to the Indian National Congress in 1895, full 72 years after Raja Ram Mohun Roy's letter cited above. Banerjea said:

Above all, we rely with unbounded confidence on the justice and generosity of the British people and of their representatives in Parliament…. Nevertheless we feel that much yet remains to be done, and the impetus must come from England. To England we look for inspiration and guidance. To England we look for sympathy in the struggle. From England must come the crowning mandate which will enfranchise our peoples. England is our political guide and our moral preceptor in the exalted sphere of political duty. English history has taught us those Principles of Freedom which we cherish in our lifeblood. We have been fed upon the strong food of English constitutional freedom. We have been taught to admire the eloquence and genius of the great masters of English political philosophy. We have been brought face to face with the struggles and the triumphs of the English people in their stately march towards constitutional freedom. Where will you find better models of courage, devotion, and sacrifice? Not in Rome, not in Greece, not even in France in the stormy days of the Revolution – courage tempered by caution, enthusiasm leavened by sobriety, partisanship softened by a large-hearted charity – all subordinated to the one predominant sense of love of country and love of God.

We should be unworthy of ourselves and of our preceptors – we should, indeed, be something less than human – if, with our souls stirred to their innermost depths, our warm Oriental sensibilities roused to an unwanted pitch of enthusiasm by the contemplation of these great ideals of public duty, we did not seek to transplant into our own country the spirit of those free institutions which have made England what she is.

Banerjea was a fruit of the “beautiful tree” the British planted, encouraged by enlightened Indians like Raja Ram Mohun Roy.

Of course, by then the EIC had gone and the British State ruled India. The greatest disservice to good government was done by Lord Curzon, the ultimate imperialist, who partitioned Bengal along communal lines in 1905 and was forced to run away with his capital to New Delhi by the resultant social unrest. The Indian Muslim League was founded in 1906 – in Dacca. Soon, the Indian National CONgress turned disloyal to the regime and became “nationalist.” And “socialist.” Just like the Nazis in Germany. The Brits could no longer control the turn of events. Gradually, they handed over portions of their administration to CONgress politicians in the provinces. The reforms of 1919 handed over “education.” Soon, the CONgress flag was flying atop every government school – much to the chagrin of British ICS district officers, as Philip Mason notes. This “education” turned nationalist and socialist, and was “used” for the CONgress’ political purposes. Natives were no longer enlightened; they became slaves of propaganda. This continues to the present day. That is why Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi shamelessly wants to control education. It is viewed as an essential prop to CONgress power. If we want Indians to see the light of truth, there is no choice before us but to kick The Chacha State out of education. Out!

As for my old friend Tooley: I do believe he suffers from what Peter, Lord Bauer, called “western guilt” over colonialism. In truth, British rule was benign in the utmost. If it had not been for them, we would have been an even more backward civilization. Today, we have a vibrant English press, widespread knowledge of the English language – and these are good things. As Lord Bauer often said, countries of the Third World that did not have contacts with the west have fared much worse. We must keep this in mind.

Finally, on a personal note, our little cottage in south Goa is up for sale. We are moving to Jamaica, or Morocco, or the Canary Islands, or Poona – we are not yet decided. If you want to know more about this cottage, click here.

For A Tax Revolt

It is fitting that a foreigner has delivered us somnolent Indians a wake-up call. John Kampfner’s column in the ToI, titled “India’s selfish elite hold back the Republic,” is a must read not only for all Indians, but for the whole world, where “unlimited democracy” has destroyed liberty and installed tyranny. He begins:

It is perplexing how the world’s most populous democracy is so flawed. How can a country, whose elections are cited as an exuberant example of people-power, produce governments that serve their people so badly?

“Serve”? Do they serve us? Or do they serve themselves? Out of our earnings. Today, there is further evidence that the Chacha State is out to rook us. We need to act.

Here is a report that says that all national highways will be tolled, and there will be toll booths every 60 km. This, while for more than a decade we have been coughing up a cess on motor fuel. And there is more – which tells us where our money is going.

Here is a report that says that there is going to be a 15% increase in the funds allocated to Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi’s “flagship” (of the pirate fleet) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme – by which villagers will receive our cash and dig holes for Chacha – and vote for him.

Chacha’s other great “scheme” is public “education.” I think we all know that this is “miseducation.” I therefore find much to commend this editorial in Mint today, titled “Private schools for the poor.” It is an excellent piece – and timely. What I would like to add is that poor kids don’t need school at all. They can learn basic English through short courses delivered by private firms. And they can easily learn to use calculators. Thereafter, they can learn marketable skills through apprenticeship. So say “NO” to Chacha’s education – and refuse to pay the “education cess.”

Which brings me to what we must now do – I say, let us refuse to pay taxes. No house tax, no income tax, no sales tax, no excise tax, no capital gains tax, no customs duties. What will the Chacha State do? If they try and seize our properties, we can defend them ourselves – and scare these thugs. And force them to privatize if they are to maintain a skeleton administration. Yes, a tax revolt is what this doctor prescribes.

Idiots On All Sides

I have yet to see the film 3 Idiots, which is, I believe, a spoof on our Chacha State-sponsored and -directed higher education system, but Jug Suraiya's blog post on the subject makes for compelling reading. I particularly liked these points:

...though a number of higher educational institutions with dubious international credentials have been allowed to set up shop in India, highly reputable academic establishments, such as Harvard, are facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles in making an entry into the country.

His conclusion is also stark:

When are we going to see the idiocy of our higher education? And having seen it, when are we going to do something about it? What do you think? Are we doomed to be a nation of not 3 Idiots but a billion idiots now?

Read the full post here, and circulate far and wide. It is your mind you have to protect - and nurture. The Chacha State only seeks to destroy it. So don't be an idiot.

Talking of idiots, I also found a Lew Rockwell post extremely funny, though in a macabre, black humour kind of way. The post is titled "The Spectrum," speaking of the political spectrum. It also tells us something about the idiots around us:

Democrats: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Republicans: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Liberals: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Conservatives: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Fascists: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Socialists: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Communists: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare
Nazis: Political Party favoring welfare and warfare

Thanks God for the libertarians.

We believe in being pro-market, anti-state and anti-war.

I hope someday you will join us,
And the world will be a new one.

On Hülsmann's Fabulous Book

I do declare that Jörg Guido Hülsmann’s 1050 page biography of Ludwig von Mises, titled Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism, which details his life and work, and also the history of the Austrian School of Economics, is the best book I have read in a long, long time. Indeed, for the last few days I have been waking up at 4 AM so that I could get down to reading it without any disturbance. It is an unputdownable book, and I recommend it to all those who wish to learn more about this school of thought – especially people like Kaushik Das, Vipin Veetil, Kumar Anand and Chandra, my little troop, who have been studying the Austrian paradigm on their own, the hard way. In this book they will discover the intricacies of Austrian theory and be able to differentiate the good guys from the bad guys. For example, Friedrich Wieser and Joseph Schumpeter turn out to be bad guys, and even Friedrich von Hayek doesn’t fare too well (he is a Wieserian and not a Mengerian, and a “neo-liberal” as opposed to Mises’ unflinching laissez faire “classical liberalism"). Chandra recently presented me with a copy of Wieser’s Natural Value, but after reading Hülsmann I have decided never to read the Wieser book, which sowed the seeds of great confusion.

There is also much dope on Lord Lionel Robbins (after whom the LSE library is named) – and he is a very bad guy, who turned to Keynesianism and interventionism to play British politics à la the LSE. Hint: Don’t study at the LSE. Not that the USSA’s “Ivy League” universities are any better. Read about what Yale University Press did to the second edition of Mises’ magnum opus, Human Action.

India's liberals would also find dope on Friedrich Naumann - some good, some bad. Perhaps the FDP should name their think-tank after Max Weber, who comes off quite well.

The book also talks of many “heroes” in the saga of modern subjectivist economics, and the book lists many who stood solidly behind Mises – from Henry Hazlitt to Leonard Read to Hans Sennholz (whose student, the late Uday Sher Singh, was a good friend of mine and told me many great stories of his beloved teacher). Percy Greaves and his wife, Bettina Bien Greaves, are also portrayed as faithful followers. There is also a fair bit on the American “anarchists” led by Murray Rothbard. An interesting aside is about Rothbard's and Mises' experience with Ayn Rand and the Randian "cult." We also read about the “neo-liberal” takeover of the Mont Pélérin Society, and its politics. Lew Rockwell also features. There is also a discussion on the "conservatives" of the USSA, which is educative, for neither Mises, nor Hayek, nor, for that matter, James Buchanan, call themselves "conservative."

A free PDF download of Hülsmann’s book is available here. But I recommend you buy and treasure this great book, handsomely bound, which is now the pride of my modest library.

Of course, the ultimate hero of the story is Ludwig von Mises. This is a book about this great economist and social philosopher who stood steadfastly by truth and liberty, and never wavered. A towering giant of a man. The “historical setting” of the school in Hapsburg Austria is also very well documented.

I am much inspired by the story of Mises’ life, his trials and tribulations. I am also far better informed about his ideas. I have learnt a lot.

Duds Rule Maharashtra

Mumbai and Maharashtra have come to represent all that is ugly in Indian politics. The latest is a cabinet order mandating that all taxi drivers in Mumbai must know Marathi and, further, be domiciled in the city for at least 15 years. The news report says that the prime mover of this order is transport minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, and I wonder whether this dude has lived in Mumbai continuously for the last 15 years. I am willing to bet my bottom dollar that his principal secretary of transport, C S Sangitrao, IAS, who is to implement this stupid order, has not been posted in Mumbai for the last 15 years. Indeed, civil servants throughout India barely serve 3 years at any location. But taxi drivers must possess a 15-year domicile! Just shows how little “application of mind” goes into government decision-making. Duds!

When I grew up in Calcutta in the 60s, almost every taxi driver there was a Sardarji – and none complained. In Delhi, there is nothing called a “Dilliwallah” taxi driver – all are migrants. A Bengali taxi driver took me to the airport the other day. I recall having a Pakistani taxi driver in London (a real gentleman), an Afghani taxi driver in Geneva, and a Greek taxi driver in Frankfurt. There are many Sikh and Pakistani taxi drivers in New York, New York.

Mumbai, of course, must be different. Then, why stop at taxis? Why not mandate that all restaurant waiters should be Marathi-speaking? Or, in a reductio ad absurdum, mandate that all Indians must live and work in their place of birth?

This business about speaking the Marathi language is also quite absurd. As ET has commented, in Shanghai they are teaching all taxi drivers to speak English. Mumbai’s politicians often dream of making their city the Shanghai of modern India. Yet, their stupid ideas and policies are totally regressive. And tyrannical, to boot. Mumbai has no chances of equaling Shanghai with such a narrow parochialism. Rather, Mumbai is fast becoming a model of the kind of city none will emulate, anywhere in the civilized world.

Of course, the ugly politics of Maharashtra is to blame. Perhaps Sharad Pawar the “sugar baron” supremo of the NCP, now food & agriculture minister in New Delhi, widely seen as a crook profiting from market manipulations at the expense of the ordinary, poor Indian (read my earlier post on him here) is trying to play the famous “Marathi card.” Ordinary Marathi people in Mumbai should see through his gimmick – especially if they do not seek careers as taxi drivers. Their future lies in a vibrant city. Such a city must be a “catallaxy” – open to friendly strangers – and not a closed tribe. For such a catallactic order, India must practice free immigration with herself.

Today, in Maharashtra, the NCP rules in alliance with the CONgress. This episode also shows the intellectual vacuity of India’s Grand Old Party. It also shows Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi to be a totally ineffectual leader. With such politicians, I am reminded of a GK Chesterton quote recently contributed by Lew Rockwell on his blog: “It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.”

These politicians are playing havoc with the lives of poor people who have come to Mumbai to work hard and scrape a living. They do not deserve any votes. Rather, they deserve the noose.

For Students... On Saraswati Puja

The best read of this morning for me was Ashok Malik in the ToI, an article titled “A Place Time Forgot,” on Calcutta and West Bengal in the times of Jyoti Basu. This is a highly critical look at the legacy of this man – and I enjoyed it to the hilt. Do read the article – and circulate. This paragraph holds the key:

West Bengal is not a location of contemporary relevance; it is the place time forgot. Kolkata is a museum piece; somebody cruel once called it "the world's largest old people's home". You go there if you're a heritage tourist, a nostalgia junkie or have a particularly beloved patriarch to visit one final time. As Basu's health deteriorated, this harsh verity made itself apparent. In his twilight hours, he began to resemble his terrifying legacy.

Malik also speaks of Basu’s meddling with “education”:

In the 1970s and 1980s, the world gradually began to turn. The Asian tigers began to embrace technology and trade and move out of misery. They gave a slumbering continent a new economic model. This was precisely the time Basu chose to finally bury the Bengal renaissance. Business was hounded out, computers were resisted. English was abolished in government primary schools, depriving young Bengalis of a massive comparative advantage.

Thus, we learn an important lesson – The State should have nothing to do with education. Basu, an English educated elite, whose favourite book was George Mikes’ How to be an Alien, deliberately denied the English language to the Bengali people. Politicians do not want the people educated. They want them miseducated.

This bitter truth is reinforced by the scandal over Nobel laureate RK Pachauri's lies over Himalayan glaciers and their apparent "melting" - the subject of today's editorial in the ToI, which also refers to the WHO's lies over the dangers of "swine flu." The lesson is therefore reinforced: the sovereign people must never trust the pronouncements of their governments, far less look upon The State as the "universal teacher."

Thus, the Central State’s education ministry threatening to close down over 40 private universities should be seen as something macabre, as anti-people, as anti-student. In my book it is this ministry that should be closed down. And all government universities should be privatized.

I have consistently been advising all my best students to drop out of the government education system, and many have done so – and benefited. If you seek knowledge, you will not find it in a government sponsored institution, anywhere in the world.

Think about that, dear student.

And today is Saraswati Puja, when we Hindoos, particularly Bengalis, worship the goddess of learning (and music). Either we worship her or Kapil Sibal who, like Basu, studied Law in England (or was it the Punjab?). I have made my choice. You make yours.

On Jyoti Basu

Jyoti Basu, West Bengal’s communist chief minister for over 30 years, has gone the way of all flesh. He presided over the destruction of Bengal’s industry – what with militant trade unionism – and oversaw an exodus of the middle class from Bengal.

What I find most amusing is that the man studied Law in England. Just like Bapu Gandhi and Chacha Nehru. I wonder what they taught him there. Obviously, that private property does not matter.

The first chapter of Adam Smith’s Lectures on Jurisprudence is titled “Property.” In England, these lessons from civilization were largely forgotten, and mistaught blackies and brownies were dispatched all over the world to attempt socialist and communist experiments on black and brown peoples.

Let us not forget that Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi was also educated in Cambridge – under Professor Joan Robinson, the eminent Keynesian, who confessed that her mission in life was to destroy Say’s Law of Markets. Like saying you wanted to destroy the Law of Gravity. Like saying you wanted to destroy Property.

Of course, these idiotic ideas also took their toll at home – divine justice – and Britain is just a has-been in the world of today.

About Jyoti Basu: The ToI waxed eloquent on his initiatives in land reforms and panchayati raj (village self-government). However, all this can now be seen as foolish clientelism. If you ask any Bengali villager whether he will prefer two acres of land in Gobindopur to one room in the city, I am sure most will plumb for the room in the city. And as for panchayati raj, these clients of the Bhateeja State are useless when all the cities and towns are in decline. Urban West Bengal was devastated under Basu’s misguided communist rule.

Also noteworthy is the fact that, like Karl Marx, like Friedrich Engels, Jyoti Basu too was not “working class.” Basu was a member of Bengal’s elite. As a child he went to Loreto School in Calcutta – to study English. He graduated from the elite Presidency College – in English. Perhaps these elites had great dreams for the toiling peasantry, but these dreams were horribly misguided. With Basu’s passing an era has ended. Nature has rung out the old. Let us ring in the new.

Bum Shankar

Boom Shankar or Bum Shankar? That is the question - so I found in New Delhi.

What did I do in New Delhi these past six months? Well, apart from my morning blogging, which took a few hours, and my monthly column for Mint, which took a few minutes, I did no other “work.” All I did was have a good time.

For starters, Bablu Das and I established the Dhooan Club – dhooan meaning “smoke.” We put up a poster accordingly on my wall, with Bob Marley’s photo on it – and smoked. But since the smoke in New Delhi is extremely crappy, our Dhooan Club soon had a motto: Hanshi Aar Kashi.

Hanshi means “laughter” in Bengali and kashi is “coughing.” There was lots of laughter in the Dhooan Club alright, but there was also a lot of coughing. That was the quality of the smoke – all cough, no high.

Now, the Dhooan Club also had an outdoor location – under the neem tree near my local market. There, Bablu and I were joined by about a dozen hardy workingmen every morning – and we all pulled chillums. It was there that I met young Subol, friend of Bablu’s, a professional cook who claimed to be able to produce better Afghani Chicken than can ever be found in Afghanistan. Must have got the recipe from a direct descendant of Babur, I thought.

I soon took a liking to Subol, a simple, honest and gentle soul. And so it was that one day Subol said something that struck a major chord in my heart. He said:

Dada, everyday I buy a 20 rupee pudiya of ganja. It makes two chillums. I smoke then both – but never do I get a buzz.

Now, 20 rupees is a lot for a poor man like Subol – and 20 rupees is a lot of money for smoke. For 20 rupees you can get 3 sticks of India Kings, our finest and most expensive cigarette – and still have some bucks left over for a cup of tea. For 20 rupees you can get an imported cigar. I advised Subol to smoke IKs. Better 3 IKs and a cup of tea than 2 fuck-all chillums, I told him. He looked at me wide-eyed, and shocked.

This truth simultaneously dawned on Bablu and me as well. We were then spending over 50 rupees a day on crappy ganja. We decided to give it a skip. We tore down the Dhooan Club poster on my wall with Bob Marley’s photo on it and switched to smoking IKs and cigars. The smokes were better. We felt good.

And so it was that I, who flies the Ganja Flag – and will always do so – gave up on smoking the stuff myself.

Now that I am in sunny Goa, the economics is even worse. Here, because of western tourists, the market for ganja has been ruined for us desis. Here, a pudiya of ganja costs 400 rupees. For 360 rupees you can buy 2 cases of King’s beer, arguably the best beer in our country – and this lasts me a week. For 420 rupees you can buy 10 packets of Gold Flake Kings cigarettes – and this lasts me a fortnight. A 400 rupee pudiya of ganja just lasts me half-an-hour, and is not worth it at all. Bum Shankar.

Thus, I have made up my mind to migrate – to Jamaica. I am told ganja sells there in 2-kilo bags – and that is the dose I need. And there are sunny beaches. And great reggae music. Marley lives forever. That is where I am now headed.

What about Boom Shankar in India? Well, we now have a national security advisor (seniormost cop) named Shiv Shankar. His offices are in New Delhi, right next door to Chacha. As under his predecessor, so under Shiv Shankar, in India the slogan will remain Bum Shankar.

This is what “democratic legislation” has done to our fair land. We need to institute a “private law society.” Read my recent column on this here. And think.

Chacha's Food Minister - A Rascal

Nidhi Nath Srinivas, agriculture correspondent of the Economic Times, a position she has held with distinction for well over a decade now, has an important blog post today that lays the blame for unusually high sugar prices on the nation’s food & agriculture ministry, now headed by a “sugar baron,” Sharad Pawar. The post is titled “Time to quit, Mr. Pawar.” It should have been titled “Throw the rascal out.”

She begins:

On December 31, sugar was selling for Rs 36/kg. On January 7, wholesale price jumped to Rs 43 and we began paying Rs 50. Sugar is now pricier than desi ghee, kaju and badam.

She goes on to say that sugar should be cheap now because this is the season when the mills are crushing all the cane. What is the “real story”? Here is her scoop:

Each month Sharad Pawar’s food ministry fixes how much sugar is sold in India. On December 30, it announced that only 16 lakh tons would be sold in January. But January is a month of festivals and weddings. Traders know actual demand is about 2 lakh tonnes higher. So prices exploded instantaneously. Instead of cooling rates that have already doubled over last one year, the food ministry added fuel to the fire by widening the demand-supply gap.

About then, traders say, the railways began delaying wagons for moving open market sugar to the East because other commodities took priority. This was a disaster for Kolkata, a key market which needs 30 rakes a month, and the North East, which monthly consumes 2 lakh t. Both depend on Maharashtra and the South for supply. Kolkata flared, leading to a corresponding jump in supplier Vashi as well.

So, Mamata and Pawar are hand-in-glove – probably.

Nidhi also comments on Pawar’s “misbegotten” – or should we call it “insincere” – attempt to fix things:

A few months ago, in a misbegotten attempt to flush out hoarders, it [food ministry] asked all states to impose stock limits on traders, processors, large consumers and even mills. It completely forgot [forgot? Or was it intentional?] that in a country where three-fourths sugar is produced by two states – Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, only a reliable and efficient supply chain can make sure consumers everywhere continue to get it affordably.

Thus, it seems to me that our great Central State is nothing but Chacha and his Chaalis Chor (forty thieves). They are not “governing” the country; they are only pretending to do so. In reality, they are all running huge rackets – at the expense of the governed.

Let us take a vow to throw ALL these rascals out – soon.

On Street Music... And The Button

Just the other day, a proud and well-meaning friend raised strong objections to my having a “Donate” button on my blog. She said it seemed like I was begging for charity, hat in hand.

As a proud man myself, I confessed that I did not see things as she did. My blog was more in the nature of “street music” – and street musicians are not beggars. They express themselves freely in a public place, entertain the people, and accept whatever people “donate” – and most people don’t.

To buttress my stand, I made my friend listen to a YouTube track from Playing For Change, a new group that features street musicians from all over the world. In this track, titled “Blues Across America,” a blind black blues singer from New York begins by talking of the “self-worth” that street musicians possess. After hearing the intro and listening to the song, I think my friend got my point.

Over the last year or so, many, many people have been kind enough to donate money to Antidote. This money has been very carefully spent – not on ganja-charas, but on BOOKS. These books are vital to my knowledge base.

Allow me to list some of the precious volumes I have been able to purchase – and I would not have been able to purchase these had it not been for my donors. I paid $70 (including shipping) recently for Jörg Guido Hülsmann’s biography of Ludwig von Mises – and I am currently enjoying this great book to the hilt, and learning a lot besides.

I bought the original 2-volume set of Philip Mason’s Men Who Ruled India, 1953 edition, and these are the pride of my modest library.

I bought George Roche’s biography of Frédéric Bastiat – second-hand, for it is now out of print, and it was a great read; very inspiring too.

I bought the only history of the institution of Lord Mayor of London, a very instructive history for one who champions urban local self-government in India.

I bought a whole lot of great books from the Mises Institute – Hoppe, Böhm-Bawerk, Doug French on bubbles, etc.

For all of these, I am most grateful to my donors, and I hope they are also pleased to see how I have used their kindness.

Chacha's Ministers - In Error

While our great and illustrious prime minister’s leadership qualities are very much in doubt, two of his important ministerial colleagues are also up to no good. I am referring to Anand Sharma, cabinet minister for commerce and foreign trade, and Shashi Tharoor, junior minister for foreign affairs. Let us begin with Sharma, who replaced Kamal D Nutt some time ago.

A news report says that Sharma’s ministry has just sanctioned 500 crore rupees on export subsidies – after spending 1500 crores this fiscal year on that head already. The logic seems to be blatantly “mercantilistic” – the doctrine that exports are “good” for an economy while imports are “bad.” Exports increase earnings while in the case of imports money flows out. It is not seen that when money flows out, goods flow in – goods that are usually not available domestically.

This is why the mercantilists of old lambasted the Honourable East India Company – for they were exporting gold while importing spices. These spices were not necessities; they were luxuries and fripperies, and the mercantilists felt England was losing wealth in these deals.

It was Adam Smith, no friend of the EIC, who first exploded the myths of mercantilism. He showed, in the Wealth of Nations, that a nation’s wealth is not its stock of gold bullion; rather, national wealth is the sum total of the consumption, possessions and properties of the people. Thus, cheap imports increased national wealth.

It is best to look at the issue from the viewpoint of a village economy, the kind in which I now live in southern Goa. Here, there are but a few shops, and all the goods they stock and sell come from the world outside our village – they are “imports.” Do these imports damage the village economy, or are they the most important sources of material advancement for all the villagers? Indeed, the villagers flock to these few shops every day, to buy the things they need. They could not survive without these imports. Like wheat, which does not grow in these parts. Or textiles. Or whatever. Without these imports, we all would just be living off fish, rice and coconuts – and feni, of course.

Thus, as in the case of Kamal D Nutt, who stridently opposed imports and championed exports, wrecking WTO negotiations in the bargain, so too with Anand Sharma – they are mercantilists. Since Sharma is a lightweight politician with an important portfolio (as is Chacha) it must be presumed that mercantilism is basic to CONgress ideology. Like all their other policy preferences, from NREGA to “right to education, to the proposed “right to food,” these are all avenues by which CONgress con artists steal public money from the treasury.

Export subsidies are theft. If a manufacturer cannot sell abroad in free competition, nor locally, he should shut down and change his business. The impoverished masses cannot be asked to pay for his business to “succeed.”

On the other hand, cheap Chinese toys are good for the poor Indian (and his children), just as imported mobile phones and cars are good for all of us. May we import wines and cheeses, too. Indeed, may India become the world’s largest duty-free trading area. They used to say “Fly, Buy, Dubai.” May the world soon say “Fly, Buy, India.” That is the India we must bring about – by rejecting Chacha’s mercantilism.

I recommend this Mint editorial of today that is critical of those Indian firms who demand protection from Chinese imports.

Onwards to Shashi Tharoor.

I believe ministers must WORK. Tharoor just “tweets” – whatever that is. And he courts controversy and thereby hogs media attention – undeservedly. What work should be assigned to the junior minister for foreign affairs?

Tharoor is an old UN hand – and the UN is the world’s largest bureaucracy. Similarly, the foreign affairs ministry’s biggest bureaucracy is the passport office – and it is a mess. Ask me, for I am having a great deal of trouble getting my valid passport renewed, to the extent that the documents the passport office is demanding are not even required as per their website – as, for example, an “address proof” when the old address has not changed. I think quick and easy passports are very important in this globalized world – and Tharoor would do the nation great service by using his bureaucratic prowess to streamline this department. Let him be judged by his work, rather than his silly tweets.

Give No Chance To UID

Back in sunny Goa again, and it’s great to be out of freezing Delhi.

Today’s lead editorial in Mint is a paean to Chacha’s unique identity card project to create biometric ID cards for a billion people – but I find it difficult to agree with the editors’ view on this.

They conclude that this ID project is the only way by which direct cash transfers can be given to the poor:

“The truth is that given India’s grating inequalities direct cash transfers are the only way out. The successful execution of UID is key to that end.”

Oh! The poor. The poor. If only everyone would just leave the poor alone.

In reality, in all our cities and towns, the poor are EXPLOITED by the functionaries of The Chacha State. They never receive anything; rather, they are coerced into coughing up their surpluses to Chacha’s corrupt bhateejas (bribes, in other words). Indeed, if one were to hear their prayers, they only ask to be left alone. They want NOTHING from The Chacha State, not even cheap credit. They just want to be left free to earn their keep in our urban markets. We must heed this prayer. They must be granted Liberty.

And they need titles to their urban and rural properties. Millions are stuck in rural poverty because they have no titles to their lands, and so must occupy and guard them personally. The landless who migrate to cities for better opportunities fare no better when it comes to clear titles to their urban dwellings. While I was in New Delhi, the papers reported that Chacha was demolishing slums – in this bitter cold.

My talks with Bablu Das, “property dealer without property,” and his neighbours revealed that they possess all kinds of identity and address proofs. They have ration cards, voter ID cards, electricity and gas connections – but no titles. It is titles they need – not another ID card. This UID project is in the interests of The Chacha State and its State Police. Ultimately it is not in the interests of the poor.

The editors mention what is wrong with our “social welfare” programmes these days:

“Today there are well off persons who are part of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. State governments, that actually implement most such schemes, simply have no wherewithal to monitor them. Various departments and agencies of these governments are handed money and it then disappears. The truth only surfaces years, if not decades, later in the reports of the public accounts committees or those of the state auditor generals. The poor remain what they always have been—poor. When the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi said the poor don’t even get 15 paise of every rupee spent on them, this is what he meant.”

I would say CLOSE DOWN ALL THESE WASTEFUL EXPENDITURES.

Invest all the money in roads – capital assets from which all can benefit. And then give the civilian administration just one task – property titles.

Say “No” to the UID.

That said, the main article in Mint today is also noteworthy – Manish Sabharwal’s call for an “eradication of India’s green jobs.” I recommend this read.

On the same subject, my reader is also recommended this interview with Barun Mitra of Liberty Institute, in which he says that combating poverty is more important for poor countries than combating climate change.

Yeah. Bugger green jobs. Bugger climate change. Tackle poverty. This requires Economic Freedom, roads and urbanisation, and property titles.

Say no to the UID, which will only benefit the State Police (and sundry IT companies who are Chacha’s latest chamchas).

A Memorial For Chacha

Our great and illustrious leader, Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi, speaking at a conference of expatriate Indians, “promised that his government would improve infrastructure.” I wonder why they don’t make such promises to resident Indians. Perhaps because “democracy” here is a farce.

My friend Professor Cris Lingle, speaking at the Centre for Civil Society recently, said that in China, a dictator had the incentive to usher in policies which would make the people rich – so they would not overthrow the oppressive regime.

He added that in India, democracy has created the perverse incentive to keep people poor – so they would forever be kissing the butts of politicians and their baboons.

There is no better way to keep the people poor than to deny them roads, electricity and water. Especially roads. Our The Chacha State has systematically employed a “scorched earth policy” towards rural Indians by keeping them disconnected from cities and towns – and their bustling markets. I have a old humorous column on this scorched earth policy here.

Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi is of course much, much older than me. But even I recall my undergraduate years in Delhi University (1974-77) studying Economics (Hons.). Even then, a common term employed by teachers and students when referring to India’s problems was “infrastructural bottlenecks.” These bottlenecks have been with us for ages. Chacha should know. Those days, he designed the Economics syllabus.

However, the older you get, the more you think of your mortality – and how people will remember you after you are gone. Our aged Communist leader, Jyoti Basu, is very sick these days. How will Calcuttans remember him after he has gone? How will India remember Chacha?

Well, I think the best memorial for Chacha & Co. is the great big mess called New Delhi. While Chacha was promising infrastructure to expats, I was ferrying my mother to Connaught Place – and we couldn’t reach. We had to turn back after an hour’s struggle. This entire city is gridlocked – the famous “infrastructural bottleneck.”

I was thinking of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), the great English architect, while contemplating this post. He is famous for having designed and built London’s grand St. Paul’s Cathedral. He is also buried there. And his gravestone reads:

Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice

Which translates as:

Reader, if you seek his memorial – look around you

So, if you seek Chacha’s memorial, look around your city and town, at all the “infrastructural bottlenecks.”

They are the true memorial to The Chacha State.

On Cars... And Roads

With New Delhi currently hosting the Auto Expo, the news and the views today are mainly focused on cars. Mint has an editorial titled “Green cars, not green politics,” which makes eminent sense. The ToI has an editorial that looks at traffic in our cities, and concludes:

Traffic in most cities is nightmarish, with the World Bank estimating that city traffic has grown by 15 per cent a year for the last decade this when car penetration in India is a low 10 per 1,000 population, as compared to 500 per 1,000 in developed countries. Unless the government acts quickly to close the infrastructure deficit, the dream of mobility for all will quickly turn into a gridlocked nightmare.

I think if traffic is to be scientifically managed, the Bajaj autorickshaw must go. It is this vehicle that complicates matters on our city streets. With India now emerging as a global “hub” for manufacturing small cars – the ToI editorial is titled “Hub of small things” – it is vital that these modern cars replace the silly autorickshaw. Only then will it be possible to manage traffic properly in our teeming cities. Of course, roads will have to be built on a war footing – but you read about that on this blog quite often, don’t you?

The only point that I would like to add today is the statistic quoted in the ToI editorial – that car sales are expected to grow at 16 per cent this year. Such growth has been a normal feature in the years past as well. As this trend continues, it is vital that we wake up to the fact that a sea change has occurred in our lives and on our streets, a change that The Chacha State has not noticed – that fact that more and more Indians are car owners. Volkswagen, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota and Nissan-Renault have all unveiled plans to manufacture more than 100,000 cars annually in India. This is apart from the even bigger plans of Maruti-Suzuki. If the Central Planner wishes to think ahead – a basic function of the planner – then he must think of roads for all these cars.

Roads, more roads, and even more roads – that is what I recommend from the public kitty. We can then manage traffic, achieve a modicum of road safety, and even decongest our cities and develop satellite townships. All this depends on a roads vision – something The Chacha State sorely lacks. Therein lies the rub.

When A Student Nails The State

Inflation is the hot topic of the day, with Mint warning in an editorial that “the virus is spreading.” So far, all talk had been of “food inflation,” but now, the editors of Mint say, prices of metals – gold, copper, aluminum – are showing a dangerous rising trend. The newspaper is also carrying an interview with Pawan Munjal of Hero Honda, who is quoted as saying that he is “concerned” about rising commodity prices, especially of steel and rubber.

What do you make of this?

We all know what the economists employed by The Chacha State have to say on the subject. Here is a report from last week quoting Kaushik Basu:

India does not need to tighten monetary policy now and risk stalling a nascent economic recovery as inflation pressure was mainly caused by high food prices, the chief economic adviser to the finance ministry said

…

Basu added:

Right now, it is a sector-specific intervention that is needed, which is in food sector and that is what the government is doing…

But there is good news in the face of all this mendacity. A young student from Kerala, Shanu A, has published a perceptive piece on inflation and nailed the real culprit – The Chacha State and its central bank. They are the real cause of inflation, he says, and the only cure is sound money. Shanu calls for gold.

You can read Shanu’s piece here – and I recommend it to all, especially students. You guys are the future – and Chacha & Co. are screwing up the future. This para is noteworthy for its forthrightness:

Inflation is purely a monetary phenomenon, no matter how hard the statists try to evade that fact. Intellectuals and politicians would want the public to believe that inflation is an act of God, over which we humans have but no control. Inflation however is a policy, and as any policy, it can be halted. Our government goes on with its inflationary policies because it wants to tax the public, but lacks the temerity to resort to it in so explicit a manner. Inflation is in fact a hidden tax everyone pays irrespective of their incomes. It is a tax, which hits the poor more than it hits the rich. The sections hit most by inflation are orphans, widows and the elderly who live on the buying power of life insurance policies, pensions and annuities. Inflation leads to a re-distribution of wealth from the poor to the state and its parasites.

So I am happy to rest my pen today. It is deeply satisfying when the youth take over. Well done, Shanu.

For Private Law... And Private Guns

I’m back – with a column in Mint titled “For a private law society.” My reader knows that this blog stands for private law. Here is an opportunity to read about this concept. The article concludes:

Law is a very serious thing. It is the protection for every individual. Today, especially in socialist India, the law is but naked coercion, offering zero protection.

Now, talking about protection, it is an inescapable truth that ordinary, law-abiding folks in our country need their own private guns to protect themselves. They cannot depend on the mercenary and predatory apparatus of the State Police to defend them: “A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.”

Thus, it is horrifying to read that our The Chacha State is drawing up plans to make legitimate gun ownership even more difficult for us. Abhijeet Singh of Indians For Guns, a society of which I am an old member, in his recent blog post, addresses the issue. There is also an excellent article by Vikram Kona titled “Right to Protection: A Fundamental Responsibility and Failure of the Indian State” to be found here. Abhijeet says that today is the LAST DAY for citizens to petition The Chacha State against this tyranny. So, if you care for your own safety, do your bit.

Note that Aristotle thus defined the difference between a monarch and a tyrant: the monarch protects his people; the tyrant has to protect himself from them.

Indians For Guns are calling for a “partnership” between civilians and the State. Vikram Kona says:

Whenever the State found itself with insufficient resources to deal with the problem at hand or expedient to its goals, the State did recruit the help of civilians in various forms. Post 1962 Indo-China War, the government initiated Civil Defence Training programmes, providing arms training around the country to raise a last line of defence. Even today, the Sashastra Seema Bal regularly provides arms training to villagers at the borders to fight and harass the enemy soldiers in case of an invasion. At different times, governments in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir armed citizens with government supplied guns and ammunition to fight terrorists! Right at this moment, the government of Chhattisgarh actively supports, arms and equips a counter insurgency movement called Salwa Judum. These examples make it evident that civilians can be trusted to bear arms, be proficient in their use, help preserve peace and security, protect the country, and still remain law abiding.

The prescription is as follows:

The Government must realise that empowering law abiding citizens is not detrimental to peace, stability and security of the country. Au contraire, such proactive measures would fill in the lacunae in governance effectively and efficiently. No one advocates an unregulated, free-for-all arms market. Criminals must be prevented from acquiring firearms but on the other hand, if a person is eligible to vote, has no criminal back ground and is mentally stable, that person should be eligible to get a firearm license without having to go through the bureaucratic rigmarole designed to deny and disarm rather than empower and enable the law abiding. The Government must define the licensing procedures clearly and implement them speedily, fairly, and transparently, without fear or favour. Private initiative should be encouraged in the firearms industry, to introduce an element of competition that is essential to counter the evils of monopoly. This will enhance the quality of products available to consumers and ensure that they are available at reasonable prices. Ban on imports of firearms for civilian use should be lifted for the same reasons and also to make high quality self-defence tools available.

Note that a “private law society,” the subject of my column in Mint today, fits in neatly with private guns, for the citizenry to effectively protect themselves and their properties.

Onwards to a brave new India.

[PS: I was not on a holiday the last week. My computer was down, and it was the engineers who were on chutti. Rukawat ke liye khed hai – if you remember your Doordarshan - and a happy new year >:)]