Read the Deccan Herald this morning. Impressive. Hats off to our English press. They are surely leading the way.
The story I found noteworthy in the paper is on our MPs voting themselves huge salary increases. They want each MP to be paid more than the wages of a Secretary to the Government of India. What I find peculiar is that these guys have surely lost the plot. In a democracy, MPs are supposed to "represent taxpayers." The rallying cry of democracy has always been "No taxation without representation." In India, socialist democracy creates and maintains armies of "tax parasites." Now our MPs want to join the bandwagon. How long will these people go on looting the taxpayer?
The taxes on booze in Karnataka are horrible. I am told that taxes on petrol are also very high here. But there are no roads and the cities and towns are all a mess - because we are not "represented" where it matters: in the running of our own cities and towns. The genius of the English constitution is that it is based on local self-government. The Indian Constitution just sets up the Central State without any social foundations.
I noticed this also in Srinagar, Kashmir. We never hear of a Mayor of Srinagar, do we? All government revolves around a Chief Minister of the entire Province. This is also true of a huge province like Karnataka. These chief ministers lack local knowledge and do not engage in local politics. Without sound institutions of local self-government our centralized democracy is just a sham. It is the very opposite of the ideal of "political freedom" that Democracy traditionally upholds. This is one more reason to reject this centralized, socialist democracy.
The taxes we are forced to cough up to these representatives of tax parasites get my goat. They even steal my money from Mint, who send me their cheques after deducting taxes. What do we pay taxes for? Who represents the interests of the taxpayers? I trust I have left you with lots to mull over today.
Dear Sauvik,
ReplyDeleteliked the jalebi jibe a lot..i suggest we start a movement against taxation in this country...`Axe The Tax' combined with the sale of public sector to the public i.e, ordinary shareholders, reduction of size of government plus number of sates be reduced so less chief ministers and governors and so less taxes to the people.
No Representation With High Taxation!
manuwant
@manuwant...
ReplyDeletei would love to be a part of this movement...as long as the police leaves me alone...however, that may be really difficult to ask for...because it looks like in the world we live in the concept that prevails is that government is created by god...lol...
I was just reading an essay by George Orwell (Shooting an Elephant) which starts: "...in lower Burma,I was hated by large numbers of people - the only time in my life that i have been important enough for this to happen to me. I was subdivisional police officer of the town..." Orwell of course was so sickened by being in the police - that too the colonial police force - that he chucked it up. The other day i heard from someone studying in the US how rough and rude the police there are, and how hated. They seem even worse than our cops who by and large can be quite harmless. In the US the violence against ordinary citizens seems to be institutionalised. If this is a creeping trend worldwide, it's bad news.
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