On Ethics... And Privatization

They say "possession is nine-tenths of the law," but when it comes to India's public industrial sector, we must look into the balance one-tenth. The question in law is: How did the socialist State come to acquire the titles to these properties?

In the case of Air India, the coal mines, the banks and the insurance companies - in all these cases, these properties were acquired by the State through illegitimate force. That is, these properties were unjustly acquired and in the Second Republic these titles should not be recognized as legitimate. The best thing to do with these properties is to return them to their rightful owners. JRD Tata was a "pioneer aviator." Under him, Air India was one of the world's finest airlines. Let the Tatas take over the airline once again, and let us hope that its brand equity has not been damaged for ever. The same should apply to all "nationalized" entities: these property titles of the socialist State should not be recognized as legitimate, and the said properties should be restored to their rightful owners.

This brings to mind something James Madison wrote long ago:

"Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions" -- James Madison in the National Gazette, March 27, 1792.

Let the Second Republic be based on the inviolability of Private Property. Let this principle be the foundation of the Rule of Law.

That said, there are scores of other properties the socialist State has acquired through purchase using tax revenues as well as "deficit financing" - what is better called "inflationary finance." All these properties too, it must be judged, were acquired through force and fraud. Inflationary finance is fraud. And using tax revenues to build cycle, scooter and car factories in a country devoid of roads is but the diversion of public expenditure from public goods. It is a betrayal of the people's mandate.

Thus, on moral, legal and ethical grounds - quite apart from the strictly economic argument which I presented here - the entire socialist State-owned industrial sector should be privatized.

Long live the Second Indian Republic!