Forget Ram, Worship Bhola

The socialist courts of India have delivered their verdict on the title suit to the "disputed land" in Ayodhya in a highly predictable manner - in that the verdict seems to be "politically correct": the land is to be divided in three parts, and, presumably, all sides to the dispute will be happy. Of course, there will be appeals to the Supreme Court, and matters could drag on endlessly.

I liked Vir Sanghvi's comments on this vexed isuue, available here. He says, most importantly:

...the real history of Ayodhya does not begin with the property dispute. It begins with the Rath Yatra and with the BJP’s decision to re-invent itself as the party of Ram. When L.K. Advani went on his Rath Yatra, his position was simple and clearly enunciated: millions of Hindus believe that Lord Ram was born on this site. It is, therefore, one of the most sacred spots in Hinduism.

Do read the entire piece; it is well worth it.

What is my take on the matter? One, that this is ugly BJP politics at work. This is to do with competitive electoral politics; it has nothing to do with the Hindu faith. Most Hindus pray privately - and choose their own gods. The last thing we need is a "party of Ram."

Who is Ram anyway? He was a king - a good king. He was therefore elevated to the status of a god by some Hindus. The BJP, as the "party of Ram," probably wish to convey the impression to our gullible masses that, if elected to office, they will rule us in the manner of Ram. I, for one, don't swallow this. I hope none of you do so either.

Who is the supreme god of the Hindus? Well, it is Lord Shiva who is known as "Mahadev." Shiva was no king. He was no mortal man. He belongs to myths and legends - like Zeus of the Greeks. If you travel the "devbhoomi" area on the banks of the Ganga between Haridwar and Gangotri, it is Shiva, not Ram, who is worshipped here. Indeed, Varanasi is the "city of Shiva."

Shiva is affectionately known as "Bhola" - or "the simple one." He is the personification of the average Hindu, who is "simple." The BJP thinks he is a "simpleton." That is the danger.

I, for one, have never ever worshipped Ram. I am a smoker of the Noble Herb, which Bhola loves too. Whenever I light a chillum, I raise a salute to Bhola. Like:

Bum lehri, garh de tamboo gehri,
Bum lehri, tere jata se Ganga behri.

Or;

Boom Shankar, dushman ko thang kar.

I will continue to remain a bhakt of Bhola. I will ignore our socialist courts. I will ignore the BJP. I will never visit the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, when built.

Actually, I never visit temples. I find peace among sadhus - outside the temples. When I visited Gangotri, I did not enter the temple - but found peace with the sadhus there, smoking chillums on the banks of the river, discussing the eternal questions.

One thing I will never forget is what one of the sadhus there told me. He said - there are sadhus, and there are sawadhus. That is, there are genuine sadhus, and there are the fakes. In Hinduism, there is no one Holy Book. There is no One God. There is no Pope. All gods and all priests and all sadhus compete. And fakes abound. The Ganga, after all, is a very muddy river.

Methinks the "party of Ram" are all fakes - sawadhus. I advise my readers to beware of them.

As for me, I will stick to Bhola, my chillum, and my personal holy man, Baba Pagal Nath Charsi. I will remain a one-man "party of Bhola."

Boom Shankar!

A Woman, The Baba, And Me: Take #2

Today is the 129th birth anniversary of Ludwig von Mises. This post is written in his honour.

This morning, I awoke at the crack of dawn and, after a wash and a change, decided to drop in on my old friend, Baba Pagal Nath Charsi, whose "Hashrum" is quite close to where we stay. He was seated on a bench in his garden, filling a mighty chillum with some green ganja that looked rather good. What was peculiar is that there was a woman there too, seated on a chair. I greeted them both and offered a light to the Baba when the chillum was ready. We both smoked; the woman abstained.


When the chillum was done, the Baba shouted "bhoonsa maal" in disgust - and threw a big plastic packet full of ganja over the wall.


"Dum mein koi dum hi nahin hai," he said.


I understood, for no buzz happened to me either. So I made my offering to the Baba. I said, "Baba, I bought some charas at Palolem yesterday. Here it is, for you. The man said it was "Malana Cream" - but they all say that, don't they? Anyway, let us hope it is at least charas."


This time, I made the chillum. But the Baba took one pull and threw my chillum over the wall! "Bombay Black," he said. "Boot polish mixed with it," he added. "Poisonous!" he screamed.


He then took the entire lump of charas I had presented him with, and threw it over the wall.


"How much did you pay for this shit?" asked the Baba.


"Five thousand," I said.


"I paid two thousand for that crappy ganja myself," roared the Baba. "So that's seven thousand rupees thrown away."


It was then that the woman entered our conversation.


"Look at yourself sometime, Baba. Your clothes are tattered and your footwear is shoddy - yet you spend a fortune on these substances. This is a waste of precious resources. Why don't you give up this life of intoxication and get back into the normal world?" she said.


She was a small woman, very prim and proper, her clothes were simple, and her voice was as soft as her words were harsh. I thought the Baba might get offended, but he just smiled at the accusation - and said, "Let me explain my actions to you, since you understand them not." He then proceeded to make a long speech, which I will attempt to reproduce accurately, below. The Baba said:


"All human action is purposive; directed towards the removal of felt uneasiness. So, when I wake up, I feel uneasy - and reach for a cigarette. The cigarette relives me somewhat, but a new uneasiness begins - at my rear end. So I rush to perform my daily ablutions, and that done - which is a sign of good health - and with my face, neck and ears washed in cold water, feeling fresh, I feel a new desire in my mind - the desire to smoke a mighty chillum. If the maal is good, all uneasiness ends - well, almost, for there is some dryness in the throat, for which I make myself a hot cup of tea. After that, I am ready to face the day. I have a small breakfast of kandha-pohe - peasant food that is cheap, nutritious and easy to digest. I bathe and change. I then smoke another chillum - and after that, I feel NEEDLESSNESS. I need nothing. No more smoke, no more tea, no more food - NOTHING. My mind is at peace. No "uneasiness" at all.


Then, my working day begins: reading, writing, meditating. At 2 pm I have a simple lunch of khichdi - peasant food again. Then I sleep for an hour. In the evening I don't work. I smoke a few chillums. Enjoy my garden. Relax with some music. And I also have some beer for the dry throat, and for a good night's sleep, for tea in the evening keeps me awake all night. I dine on zunkha-bhakri, peasant food that is great for the health, the wallet, and the important performance of the morning. Now, that is me, my needs, and my life. Where is the "waste" you speak of?"


The woman replied, soft voice; hard words: "Exactly, Baba. If you did not spend so much on the substances you abuse, you could eat better, dress better, live better. Your lifestyle is nothing but waste."


The Baba was nonplussed, and replied: "Values and pleasures are subjective. I hold good ganja and charas in high value - so I willingly pay a lot for them. As for the rest, it is all a question of preferring one thing and setting aside another. I don't value good clothes at all. My power does not emanate from what I wear - unlike the policeman. For me food has no value at all - except for nutrition and digestion. I set these values aside when I prefer what I prefer."


WOMAN: But look at the amount of money you waste. Just 10 minutes ago you threw away seven thousand rupees - which could have fed a poor family for two months. Isn't this criminal?"


BABA: What is actually criminal is the legislation banning my "substances" - as you call them. Without this legislation, these would be cheap and plentiful. Farmers would grow these and prosper. A huge number of people would gain - and we smokers would have money spare for other things, by which we would encourage other branches of industry. There would be far less poverty, far less crime, and zero police atrocities. Do not forget that we babas have been smoking these "substances" for millennia. I have been to Gangotri, to Kedarnath, to Haridwar and Rishikesh - and everywhere I have met babas complaining about the smoke they love so much, and which is so difficult to obtain today, because of this thoughtless piece of legislation.


WOMAN: But these substances must be harmful, which is why our Parliament has banned them.


BABA: Harmful? What utter nonsense! Babas are the hardiest people in India. They walk the "char dham yatra" in droves, smoking all the way, something no city-person can do. Not only that, babas are full of philosophical insights. These "substances," as you call them, harm neither the body nor the mind. Our ignorant Parliament has banned these while unleashing alcohol upon the people. Vijay Mallya, the booze merchant, sits proudly in this Parliament. And do look around in Goa at the small bars that open early every morning. Look at the alcoholics who rush there for their morning fix - and who collapse by noon. Nothing should be banned, of course - except, perhaps, evil literature. And our government schools and colleges are full of evil literature!


WOMAN: But if these substances are legal everyone will smoke them. Even the poor. How will anyone work?


BABA: The poorest labourers smoke ganja - and work. Observe sometime the lives of day labourers, rickshaw pullers and the like in our cities. Why not make their harsh lives better - by giving them a healthy and cheap high?


ME: Baba, pardon me for interrupting, but you sound like a praxeologist. What have you been reading lately?


BABA: Why, Chuck, I have been reading those excellent books you gave me. I have read Ludwig von Mises' Human Action three times already - and it took me months. It showed me the inner harmony of Man - as God has made him. We babas always look at the harmony of God's work, without realizing that God made Man too - as a creature who is destined to live in harmony with his fellowmen. Mises showed me the truth about our own inner nature, the harmony in our minds, in the laws by which we all think and act. Thank you for this book, Chuck.


ME: Well, today happens to be Ludwig von Mises' 129th birth anniversary. Wish we could smoke a good chillum in his honour.


BABA: No luck, my friend. Let us smoke some cigarettes instead, and I will make some tea for us all.


WOMAN: Baba, you have convinced me of the truths in your arguments, and the correctness of your way of life. I have some good friends in Manali. I will fly there tomorrow and return with the finest charas money can buy - for the three of us. For I too want to smoke these substances. And to learn about Liberty from the two of you.


The Baba and I were astounded at her change of mind and heart. But I had not been introduced to her as yet, so I told her I was Chuck and asked for her name. The predictable reply: "Prudence."


I laughed.


The Baba laughed too.


WOMAN: I hate my name. Baba, please give me a new name.


BABA: I give you the name "Passion" - for that is what has fired you today. Not passions of the flesh, but passion of the mind, and the passion for Liberty.


ME: Thank you both, for such a lovely morning. And a fitting tribute to the memory of that great philosopher of Liberty - Ludwig von Mises.


Having said that, I departed. I am now waiting for Ms Passion to return from Malana with some good smoke.


"Any day now. Any day now. I shall be released... " as the Dylan song goes.

Babur Is Their Hero, Too

In yesterday's post, I wrote about the Mughal Emperor Babur, and why he remains my greatest hero. Today, let me continue on that theme, and write about the time I spent a night at the airport in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Some fifteen years ago, I flew Uzbekistan Airways to London and back. My ticket was Delhi-Tashkent-London and Frankfurt-Tashkent-Delhi. I used the opportunity to travel from London to Frankfurt by bus - and that was one great adventure, about which I will write some other time.

After a week or so in Frankfurt with relatives and friends - and loads of Moroccan hash - I reluctantly took the flight back. However, my plane, a brand new Airbus, was delayed on the tarmac for over an hour, due to which I missed the connecting flight from Tashkent to Delhi. The airline offered me meal coupons at the airport restaurant and, since a visa to visit the city cost US$20, which I could ill-afford, I decided to spend the night in the airport itself.

The airport restaurant was completely empty when I landed up there for dinner - except for a small rock-n-roll band that played old Elvis and Chuck Berry classics; rather well, too. The food itself was ghastly. But the bottle of Uzbek wine that went with it was not too bad. I sat around sipping the wine, chomping on the boiled meat, and urging the band on. Then, suddenly, there was an exodus. Everyone split. The band packed up. The waiters disappeared. The barman was not to be seen. I sat around for a while, sipping the sweet wine, wondering what had happened - and then decided to investigate.

I wandered round the restaurant, wine-glass in hand, unable to find a soul, when all of a sudden I heard muted clapping coming from a room beyond. Thinking something interesting may be happening there, I opened the door a crack and peered in. Everyone seemed to be there - the entire restaurant staff, and all the members of the rock-n-roll band. Nothing much was really happening - they were all watching a programme on a big colour television. Seeing me, they asked me to join them, and I did. I couldn't understand a word, but it seemed to be a historical programme, with sword-carrying men in strange clothes, riding horses and all that. Every once in a while, the audience would cheer and clap excitedly. Then, finally, the show ended, and everyone packed up to leave - back to their duties. It was then that I posed the question to the rock-n-roll guitarist: What was this TV programme all about? The answer: This is a weekly programme on Babur - the Uzbek who conquered Hindostan! Babur was their Hero!

In yesterday's post I had said this about what Babur might feel if he were to return today to Kabul, where he lies buried:

But if Babur were to return to his beloved Kabul today, he would be shell-shocked - his maajun would be illegal because of white-skinned firangi barbarians who don't know their hash from their elbows; and his booze would be illegal because of the Taliban!

Today, I must add that he would probably return to Ferghana in Uzbekistan, where his father once ruled. Perhaps in Uzbekistan you still get maajun - the candy made from hashish that Babur was so overly fond of. Perhaps.

Someday, I will fly to Europe again via Tashkent. This time, I'll pay for the visa - and visit Samarkand, Bukhara and Ferghana. These are the places where Babur grew up. Hope I get some maajun.

Babur Is My Hero #1

BJP propaganda has given Zahir Uddin Muhammad Babur (1483-1530) a bad name - one that this great Timurid prince does not deserve. Babur was not a Nadir Shah, a Ghori or a Ghazni - who killed, raped, looted and scooted. He ruled Delhi after defeating the Lodis at Panipat in 1526, in fair battle, but he had ruled many other places well before that - Ferghana, Samarkand, and also his beloved Kabul. Babur died in Delhi just four years after his conquest - and I doubt whether he had the time to travel to Ayodhya, tear down a temple and build a mosque in its place. At least, his memoirs, the Babur Nama, make no mention of this. But these memoirs are truly fascinating, particularly because they are so candid. Babur says, "The truth should be reached in every matter." In this post, I will focus on three aspects of Babur's life - his love for hashish, Kabul in his times, and his love for scholarship.

In page 10, while describing his grandfather's exploits, Babur mentions that the old man loved maajun - "candy made out of ground hashish, water, sugar and spices." In the index, there are over 10 entries under "maajun parties." Babur had them often. He gave up alcohol at 40 - but stuck to maajun till the end. Indeed, while minor skirmishes were occurring around Delhi as two sections of his army, one led by Humayun and the other by one of his generals, were fighting the Lodi brothers, Babur himself was enjoying a boat ride on the Jumna - tripping on maajun!

This is from Babur's days in Kabul, as recorded by him:

We marched at sunrise. Later, we ate maajun. While under its tranquilizing influence, we enjoyed wonderful fields of flowers. In some places sheets of yellow flowers bloomed in plots; in others, sheets of red flowers in plots, in some red and yellow bloomed together.

We sat on a mound to enjoy the sight. There were flowers on all sides of the mound, yellow here, red there, as if arranged regularly to form a sextuple. Flowers were in bloom as far as the eye reached. The flower fields near Peshawar were indeed very lovely.

That's MY hero: stoned, at dawn, tripping on pretty flowers.

Next, on Kabul:

Babur loved Kabul the mostest. When he died, he left instructions for his body to be carried from Delhi to Kabul to be buried there in his favourite garden. And there he lies today. I just hope the grave and the garden are well tended.

The Babur Nama reveals Kabul to be a cosmopolitan city - 7 languages were spoken there, and there was trade with the world around. There was a great deal of culture - of poetry, especially. Islam was followed "liberally" - and a wide variety of liquors were also drunk. The Mughals in India have a long history of boozing, with Jehangir even striking a gold coin showing him holding his drinking cup. Aurangzeb was the first - and last - Islamic zealot, and he destroyed the empire. I'm a big fan of Dara Shikoh myself.

But if Babur were to return to his beloved Kabul today, he would be shell-shocked - his maajun would be illegal because of white-skinned firangi barbarians who don't know their hash from their elbows; and his booze would be illegal because of the Taliban!

Lastly, Babur's love for scholarship: In the Babur Nama there is an entry relating to their conquest of a fort. Babur writes that when he entered the fort to inspect it, he went straight for the library, having heard it contained some good books. Finding them, he settled down to reading. He writes that he spent the entire night in the library.

Some great men have ruled Delhi - and Babur was the greatest of them all. Among the Brits, it was Charles Metcalfe. Now, midgets rule, in comparison.

Kalmadi Improves Indyeah's Image

Suresh Kalmadi, who organized the CONgresswealth Games and has claimed responsibility for the mess, has IMPROVED Indyeah’s image. He has proved to the entire world that what works in Indyeah is The Market – look at the Sensex – and what does NOT work in India is our The State. First class citizens in a third-rate country. The people are the resource; the government is The Problem. And Kalmadi is a long-serving CONgress MP from the disaster-city called Pune (formerly “Poona.”)

Moreover, it is important to note that voluntary exchanges in The Market are NOT “games.” Both parties gain in voluntary exchange – both thank each other at its conclusion: “win-win.” On the contrary, in games, you must defeat an opponent according to rules. India may be poor at most games - and our greatest past-time, cricket, is now mired in scandal - but we have a deep-rooted “culture” of peaceful, voluntary exchange, and this is our strength. Our society’s bane is our Predatory State.

The difference between market exchanges and “games” has been beautifully brought out by Ludwig von Mises in this section from his magnum opus Human Action: A Treatise on Economics. This is from Chapter VI on “Uncertainty,” from Section 6 on “Betting, Gambling and Playing Games,” pp. 116-17 in the PDF here. You can buy the book in India here.

This is what Ludwig von Mises writes:

Embarking upon games can be either an end or a means. It is an end for people who yearn for the stimulation and excitement with which the vicissitudes of a game provide them, or whose vanity is flattered by the display of their skill and superiority in playing a game which requires cunning and expertness. It is a means for professionals who want to make money by winning.

Playing a game can therefore be called an action. But it is not permissible to reverse this statement and to call every action a game or to deal with all actions as if they were games. The immediate aim in playing a game is to defeat the partner according to the rules of the game. This is a peculiar and special case of acting. Most actions do not aim at anybody’s defeat or loss. They aim at an improvement in conditions. It can happen that this improvement is attained at some other men’s expense. But this is certainly not always the case. It is, to put it mildly, certainly not the case within the regular operation of a social system based on the division of labor.

There is not the slightest analogy between playing games and the conduct of business within a market society. The card player wins money by outsmarting his antagonist. The businessman makes money by supplying customers with goods they want to acquire. There may exist an analogy between the strategy of a card player and that of a bluffer. There is no need to investigate this problem. He who interprets the conduct of business as trickery is on the wrong path. The characteristic feature of games is the antagonism of two or more players or groups of players. The characteristic feature of business within a society, i.e., within an order based on the division of labor, is concord in the endeavors of its members. As soon as they begin to antagonize one another, a tendency toward social disintegration emerges.

Within the frame of a market economy competition does not involve antagonism in the sense in which this term is applied to the hostile clash of incompatible interests. Competition, it is true, may sometimes or even often evoke in the competitors those passions of hatred and malice which usually accompany the intention of inflicting evil on other people. Psychologists are therefore prone to confuse combat and competition. But praxeology must beware of such artificial and misleading difference between catallactic competition and combat. Competitors aim at excellence and preeminence in accomplishments within a system of mutual cooperation. The function of competition is to assign to every member of a social system that position in which he can best serve the whole ofsociety and all its members. It is a method of selecting the most able man for each performance. Where there is social cooperation, there some variety of selection must be applied. Only where the assignment of various individuals to various tasks is effected by the dictator’s decisions alone and the individuals concerned do not aid the dictator by endeavors to represent their own virtues and abilities in the most favorable light, is there no competition.

We will have to deal at a later stage of our investigations with the function of competition. At this point we must only emphasize that it is misleading to apply the terminology of mutual extermination to the problems of mutual cooperation as it works within a society. Military terms are inappropriate for the description of business operations. It is, e.g., a bad metaphor to speak of the conquest of a market. There is no conquest in the fact that one firm offers better or cheaper products than its competitors. Only in a metaphorical sense is there strategy in business operations.

A good example of catallactic competition is music. Some musicians make it big, but all musicians co-operate in keeping the competition alive. The crooner at the local bar does not want to “equalize” the star; rather, she aspires to similar success. The competition is not destructive, as in war, or aimed at making the other party “lose,” as in games.

So, think about it. Something great has come out of the CWG: the world has got a clear and shining image of Indyeah – finally: that is, Market Works; State Doesn’t.

And if the “games” suffered, let us not fret too much, for survival is based on market exchanges, and in that department we are pretty good. Among the best, if I may add. In London, I once overheard a man say, “A Bania can buy from a Jew and sell to a Scot and still emerge with a profit.” Ha ha ha.

My Vision For India's Roads

In yesterday's post, I wrote about how the fiasco over the CONgresswealth Games illustrated how hopeless our Public Works Departments are. I joked about the need to import a PWD. Well, today there is a report in Mint that talks about our shoddy infrastructure, in which Indra Nooyi of Pepsico is quoted as saying:

If I use the word ‘appalling’, that would be a bit of an understatement...

The report talks about roads, electricity and water. In this post, I will focus on roads.

First: To privatize our highways, we need unilateral free trade as well as duty-free imports of used vehicles. This will give private businessmen the freight as well as traffic that they need to recover their huge investments in private highways.

Second: We in India do NOT need to develop highways like those in the West, which were all built in the 1940s and 50s. We can leapfrog into the latest and best. Thus, what we should first aim at are private "truckways" which are dedicated to hauling freight. Since most of India's freight is hauled by trucks, this will be a big hit - and truckways will sprout everywhere, thanks to the free trading scenario. These can all be shadow-tolled and truck companies can directly pay for their use of truckways. The private truckway owner can also decide on the quality of trucks to be allowed on his roads - thereby promoting modern multi-axle trucks that do not damage roads.

Third: Once trucks have been separated from the traffic stream, we need to think of modern roads for modern cars. These can be built by private highway operators on a Build-Operate-Own basis - and, once again, shadow tolls can pay for usage. All it requires is a tax on automotive fuels dedicated to a Road Fund. A small secretariat can handle the Road Fund and pay all the highway owners according to traffic carried.

Fourth: Wherever, because of low traffic expectations, private players are unwilling to build highways, this must become the job of The State. The funds to do so can come from wholesale privatization of the State-owned industrial sector. We need public money in roads, not steel plants, hotels and airlines - all loss-making, of course.

Fifth: To connect villages to market towns and to spread real estate development, we need local roads built, owned and maintained by local governments. I suggest that each district should have a Roads Commissioner who will be responsible for the task. This task should be constitutionally mandated. The constitution should state that each and every Property within India will be connected by a motorable, all-weather road, and the task will devolve upon the local district Roads Commissioner. The money can come from local taxes on Property - and Property titling will be the other constitutionally mandated task of the district administration.

Sixth: In urban areas, cities and towns, local roads and footpaths should be the constitutionally mandated task of Mayors, paid for by local taxes.

I think all this can be done without our malfunctioning PWDs and the ugly State highway monopolist, NHAI.

The "pattern" of these highways in a free market order will be one of "hubs-and-spokes" - that "natural" pattern of transport networks. The "golden quadrilateral" can be shelved. These basic roads linking the 5 metros will be surely built anyway, but there will also be coastal expressways, missed out by the State project of the "golden quadrilateral," which has emerged from the heads of planners and not businessmen.

This is my roads vision in brief. What do you think of it?

CWG... And Our PWD

The disaster that is the CONgresswealth Games (CWG) ought to bring into sharp focus the workings of our Public Works Departments. All the construction work that has been carried out so badly has been done by our PWD - including the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). Obviously, something is very wrong with these departments. The sorry condition of all our roads should have brought home this fact long ago - but, I think, a disaster on such an epic scale as the CWG should drive the point home. Quite obviously, if we are to build real roads in India, these PWDs cannot be entrusted with the job. That is, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) needs competition. I will write a post on my roads vision some other day. Today, let me share with you something I unearthed about the East India Company civil servant, James Thomason, who was the "father of public works" in India.

James Thomason was a Haileybury man - trained at the East India College in Haileybury where the HEICS officers were taught that "good government consists in leaving people alone unless they begin hurting one another." He began as a Settlement Officer in Azamgarh, settling issues related to the land, ownership and titles. He rose to become Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, staying in that position for ten years - until suddenly dying in office; "worn out, worked to death," Philip Mason reports. Mason adds the following about this "deeply religious" man:

He was the father of public works; more than any other one man he was responsible for the achievement of two great projects, the Grand Trunk Road and the Ganges Canal.... he founded the Engineering College at Roorkee which bore his name.

This Engineering College began with Civil Engineering as its principal focus - the "roads, bridges and canals" the British laissez faire Raj wanted to build in India as their "sovereign duty," having read Adam Smith well in Haileybury.

We think of the Grand Trunk Road that connects Calcutta to Peshawar as something built by Sher Shah Suri - as indeed it was. But it was James Thomason who converted it into a modern road, one that is the lifeline of North India till today. The Public Works Department under the British Raj built many excellent roads and many grand buildings - the mountain roads to Simla, Darjeeling and Nainital were among the best in the world then. The public buildings in Nude Elly where the CONgress rules from, including Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament House, were built by the British PWD.

What do we do with our PWD? I had a funny dream once - and even wrote an article on it - in which I ordered the Indian Air Force to bomb all PWD offices throughout India. But seriously, maybe we should import a PWD. Perhaps from Germany. Or Switzerland. Their PWDs sure know their job.

Politics - India's Bane

Pritish Nandy has an interesting blog post today titled "The Disgrace of Politics." He begins with these words:

No one knows how to misgovern better than those who rule over us. None of our problems are all that difficult to resolve. They look complex because they are tangled in self serving politics. Cut out the silly politics and they can be solved by a half wit. Contrary to all the rubbish we read, India’s actually an easy nation to govern. Our people are simple, trusting, ready to listen. Till you push them to the very edge. But who will they listen to? The people who rule us are mostly venal and self serving; they are more busy sharing the spoils of office than running India. That’s the problem.

So we have a solution - the only one, perhaps - and that is: Get rid of our The State. Say "NO" to socialism; say "NO" to democracy too. Let us live in a "natural order" of Private Property, Private Money and Private Law. Let us run our cities and towns ourselves, without "politics." We can hire a team of "city managers" to run cities under an elected Mayor - so we do not create a bureaucracy. And in our cities and towns, when we elect Mayors, let us disallow all our centralized, socialist political parties. Let there also be "company towns" - where a private company runs things - as in the cities of the Honourable East India Company. Then, let all cities and towns compete for citizens.

In the meantime, institute unilateral free trade and set all citizens free to seek survival in a Free Market. Politics is cut out. Let all goods and services currently provided monopolistically by our The State - like electricity, water and roads - the bijli, sadak and paani everyone is crying about - be provided by competing private firms. So, more politics is cut out.

The Lesson: More activities for our The State = more Politics. Conversely, more and more activities done by The Market = less Politics.

Thus, get our The State out of "education."

Get them out of "welfare."

Step-by-step get rid of our The State.

I would like to add a word of caution here: What Pritish Nandy calls "politics" is not the "public actions of free people" that this Greek word denotes. Politics in India is all about centralized, hierarchical political parties - and these are more like criminal organizations who conduct all their affairs in secret. We are fortunate in India that we have a lot of "free politics" - in journalism, among NGOs and so on. Our bane is the centralized political party - which is almost always a criminal gang.

Anyway, I liked Pritish's column. Well worth a read.

Someday, something's gotta give.

Villanelle For Our Time - On "Commonwealth"

Ladies and gentlemen,

As the CONgresswealth Games head for disaster in Nude Elly, I thought this song by Leonard Cohen would be inspiring:




Villanelle For Our Time
by
Leonard Cohen

From bitter searching of the heart,
Quickened with passion and with pain
We rise to play a greater part.

This is the faith from which we start:
Men shall know commonwealth again
From bitter searching of the heart.

We loved the easy and the smart,
But now, with keener hand and brain,
We rise to play a greater part.

The lesser loyalties depart,
And neither race nor creed remain
From bitter searching of the heart.

Not steering by the venal chart
That tricked the mass for private gain,
We rise to play a greater part.

Reshaping narrow law and art
Whose symbols are the millions slain,
From bitter searching of the heart
We rise to play a greater part.

Against The Word "Powerful"

There is a strange report in the ToI (and other papers) today about a US think-tank that has said "India is the third-most powerful nation in the world."

Further inquiry revealed the source of this assessment:

"Global Governance 2025" jointly issued by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) of the US and the European Union's Institute for Security Studies (EUISS).

So these are "security hawks" talking about "power."

Personally, I hate the word "power." I would like Indians to be free - free, that is, from the clutches of these powerful people. Power-crazy people. Control freaks.

But let us be sober in our assessment of our powerful netas and baboons: here is another report in the ToI of today that says a pedestrian overbridge being built for the Commonwealth Games collapsed.

This is NOT a Commonwealth Games. This is a CONgresswealth Games. The more we worship power, the more such people will be handling our affairs. We would be much better off without them.

No one would be powerful.

And every one of us would be free.

Utopia!

To drive the point home, let us look at the MOST POWERFUL NATION in the whole world - the US. What has their "power" got them?

I think it has got them a one-way ticket to HELL!

The US is getting screwed all over the world. Their economy is collapsing. There is a huge amount of social unrest looming - what with the Tea Party Movement.

Wouldn't the US be better off with a dollar linked to gold and a foreign policy based on non-intervention?

Just goes to show - these "security" hawks are a bunch of dumbasses. Power worshippers. Psychos.

Let us get rid of them.

Let us have the Right to Keep and Bear Arms - so we can be secure (and powerful) ourselves.

Let us have a Free Economy - so we can be rich.

And let us show the middle finger to the powerful in our God-forsaken country.

Hit The Coast, Jack!

An editorial in the ToI today talks about "Beijing's latest initiative to establish a direct rail link to Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong and help construct Sonadip deep-sea port at Cox's Bazaar... "

If we truly want North-East India to "develop" we must realize that the best way forward is to give the region access to the sea - via Bangladesh. This means unilateral free trade as well as unilateral free immigration with that country. Access to the sea is vital for the region's prosperity - and this means India must invest in highways and railways linking the cities of the North-East with the ports of Bangladesh. Mizoram and Meghalaya will be the first to benefit - being closest - but gains will fitler also to Arunachal, which is opening up its road links with China. If Arunachal is seeing its future in overland trade links with China, I am sure the rest of the region will see even greater benefits in trade by sea, through links with Bangladesh.

India today presents a strange picture of an "artificial order" because of trade restrictions. Our biggest cities are land-locked Nude Elly and Bangalore. Things were different 200 years ago - when Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Goa, Surat, Cochin and other coastal cities led the way. That is the age to which we must revert - to the "natural order" of Liberty, whereby all "natural advantages" are allowed free rein, and a deep-water port is definitely one such advantage: look at Hong Kong, Singapore, Hamburg...

I suggest a "big bang": Abolish the Customs Department.

Make the entire sub-continent the world's largest duty-free trading area.

Declare India a "catallaxy."

The economy will grow so fast that no statistician will be able to measure the growth rate.

So, shall we all hit the coast, Jack?

To Cry You A Song

I drank a lot of feni and beer this afternoon and, after a great lunch, sang my heart out. Here is the song I sang. Wish you were there. Wish I had a bass player to accompany me. Frederic Bastiat played bass, by the way. The song:


A Singer Must Die
by
Leonard Cohen



Now the courtroom is quiet, but who will confess.
Is it true you betrayed us? The answer is Yes.
Then read me the list of the crimes that are mine,
I will ask for the mercy that you love to decline.

And all the ladies go moist, and the judge has no choice,
A singer must die for the lie in his voice.

And I thank you, I thank you for doing your duty,
You keepers of truth, you guardians of beauty.
Your vision is right, my vision is wrong,
I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song.

La la la, la la la la la la la la la la la la,
la la la la,
la la la,
la la la,
la la,
la,
la,
la.

Oh, the night it is thick, my defences are here
In the clothes of a woman I would like to appear,
In the rings of her silk, in the hinge of her thighs,
Where I have to go begging in beauty's disguise.

Oh goodnight, goodnight, my night after night,
my night after night, after night, after night, after night, after night.

La la la
la la la la la la la la,
la la la,
la,
la.

I am so afraid that I listen to you,
Your sun glassed protectors they do that to you.
It's their ways to detain, their ways to defame,
Their knee in your balls and their fist in your face.

Yes and long live "The State" by whoever it's made,
Sir, I didn't see nothing, I was just getting laid.

La,
La la la la la la la la la la,
la la la,
la,
la.

la,
la la la la la la la la,
la la la,
la,
la.

la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la,
la la la,
la,
la... (fadeout)

PS: You can find many versions on YouTube - but not mine.

India Must Get Out Of Kashmir

In my opinion, marital rape is very much rape. If my woman was unwilling, I would sleep in another room. At worst, I would find another woman.

So, when it comes to political secession, I am a firm believer in the Principle. And it is a Principle. If some part of a nation wants to break away, they must be allowed to do so - peacefully.

[If you want to know more about the Principle of Secession in Political Theory, with concrete examples from history, read this article from the Journal of Libertarian Studies by Andrei Kreptul.]

In my view, there is no "political rule" in Kashmir right now. Over 100 young boys, between the ages of 9 and 17, have been killed by the State Police in the past 100 days. Many more have been injured. Even more are in jail. This is not "political rule." This is Maoism - "power flows through the barrel of a gun." I do not support such a government.

And what is Nude Elly planning to do in response? As this news report says, a 35-member team of MPs led by the Central State Police Minister are going to visit Srinagar for 2 days. The "heavyweights" on the team are Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley of the BJP - and the BJP is a party strongly opposed to the natural rights of Kashmiris. The BJP is strongly opposed to any dilution of the obnoxious Armed Forces Special Powers Act. So what will this team of MPs achieve? Nothing. It is just a show of India's phoney "democracy" at work. Note that there are no Kashmiri political parties in Parliament - other than the dynastic National Conference personally owned by the Abdullahs.

I visited Srinagar in 2002, as a guest of the youth organization HIMAYAT, and lectured far and wide. I was horrified by the experience. India is "occupying" Srinagar, not "ruling" it. My travelogue on Srinagar can be found in this collection online.

From the noises I am receiving, it seems that huge protests will meet the team of MPs when they arrive in Srinagar - unless the Indian Army steps in and starts shooting. In either case, there will be no "people-to-people" contact.

As a firm believer in urban local self-government, I think Srinagar has a bright future as a Free City. It is a beautiful place, blessed by nature. It used to attract tourists in the summer as well as in the winter. Exotic cash crops grow there - from saffron to hashish. If Lichtenstein, Monaco, Singapore, Macao and Borneo can be free cities, why not Srinagar? That is the direction this City must take - neither India nor Pakistan. Just Freedom for the City.

Many Indians may balk at this idea - especially because our Civics textbooks harp endlessly on the notion of the "unity and integrity of India." For them, I have an anecdote from my visit to Srinagar in 2002. The then Finance Minister of Kashmir inaugurated one of my lectures. Later, I asked him how much of his budget was met by local taxation. The answer: 10 percent. The remainder, he said, comes from Nude Elly - which means, from us. This is apart from what we spend on the Army presence there. This is ridiculous.

India must get out of Kashmir - and the right time to do it is NOW!

What Is To Be Done About Ayodhya?

In a few days, the Allahabad High Court will deliver its verdict on the "disputed site" in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid was felled by Hindoo mobs almost two decades ago, resulting in communal carnage.

Kalyan Singh of the BJP was then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP) - and he has just visited Ayodhya to re-ignite old passions. The good news is that the people yawned and turned away. This report concludes thus:

As he hopped from one temple to another, his small band of supporters tried to energise the local shopkeepers and bystanders with "Jai Sri Ram" and "Mandir yahin banayenge" slogans, but they got no response. "Because of so much security today, our business is down and pilgrims are staying away from temples, said Akhilesh Yadav, a sweetshop owner. "He has already done enough damage to Ayodhya in 1992. Why is he trying to create trouble now?"

What should be done about the disputed site in Ayodhya? In 2003, in a leader article in the Times of India, which is available here, I had opined that the site should be auctioned. I had then written:

There is no clear title to the site; there are various claimants, each possessed of little legitimacy; therefore, the site must be auctioned.

Today, I would like to add a few riders to this.

First and foremost - are the BJP / RSS the only "representatives" of the Hindu community? As the story above of Rajnath Singh's recent visit to Ayodhya indicates, the BJP seeks POWER by POLITICIZING the issue. This is power over public budgets. This is power over transfers and posting of the bureaucracy. This is power over licensing. This is actually what they want. Ayodhya is just their excuse. So, if there was an auction, in my opinion today, the BJP / RSS should NOT be allowed to bid for the site. Indeed, their leaders in 1992 should be prosecuted for arson.

Second - what about the citizens of the town of Ayodhya? We never seem to give them a thought. Ayodhya is a town that gains from pilgrims - who are very scarce today because of all the security hassles. If any decision is to be made on the disputed site in Ayodhya, I believe that the citizens of this town must be heard. It is they who have to literally "live" with the decision.

Since I wrote that article in 2003, India has seen the phenomenon of Narendra Modi - and I have made a drastic re-assessment of the BJP. Between the CONgress and the BJP, there is only black and a darker shade of black. Not much of a choice in this socialist democracy.

A thoroughly reformed man today, I think it would be best if the disputed site was converted into a monument for communal peace and harmony, a monument to the gods of all faiths, a memorial to all those killed in communal conflagrations. Let us seek the blessings of all the gods of all faiths - and let us de-politicize the issue, thereby nullifying the BJP.

I Disown This Publication

India's premier online bookstore, Flipkart.com, as I just discovered, is selling a book purportedly written by me called Busy Bee 4 Teacher's Resource, published by Macmillan Education of the UK in 2003. The book is priced at Rs. 581.

Funny thing is this: I have never written any such book, nor do I have any written contract with Macmillan Education of the UK.

I have had two books published by Macmillan India, and both are available from Flipkart.com:

First: Antidote: Essays Against the Socialist Indian State, available here, for Rs. 189 in paperback, published by Macmillan India in 2000.

Second: Antidote 2: For Liberal Governance, published by Macmillan India in 2003, available here in paperback for Rs. 280. The title given by Flipkart.com is Antidote 2: Columns for Freedom. I wonder how they got this title, for this was rejected by the Macmillan editor, in favour of the tame one - For Liberal Governance.

I have written to Macmillan India and they have promised to look into the matter.

However, what I want to publicly state on this blog is that I disown the book published by Macmillan Education of the UK in 2003, under the title Busy Bee 4 Teacher's Resource.

Don't ever buy that book.

As a true teacher's resource I recommend my Free Your Mind: A Citizen's Guide to Political Economy, available free online in its second edition here. If anyone wants to publish this as a book, I would be happy to write a third edition. This second edition is now available in many languages, including Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, Kyrgyz and Portuguese.

This post is for the record.

Say "NO" To All Reservations

Curfew has been imposed in Hisar, Haryana, just 250 kms from New Delhi. The reason: The Jats of this state have been violently protesting for "reservations" - what Americans call "affirmative action" - so that they have a quota of government jobs and seats in educational institutions for members of their community. Mobs of Jats have set fire to state-owned buses as well as private vehicles, including an oil tanker. They have attacked banks and ATMs, as well as police stations.

I am opposed to reservations - period.

It was Thomas Sowell's slim book Preferential Policies: An International Perspective that made up my mind for me. Sowell is an African-American scholar - one whose other books also have had a profound influence on me, particularly A Conflict of Visions: The Ideological Origins of Political Struggles. Thomas Sowell deserves to be widely studied by all serious students of Liberty.

In Preferential Policies, Sowell looks at discriminatory policies of all kinds, all over the world, from apartheid in South Africa, to anti-Tamil policies in Sri Lanka, to bumiputra policies in Malaysia favouring native Malays vis-à-vis the ethnic Chinese who possess superior entrepreneurial skills, all the way down to our own "reservations" for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. His penetrating analysis shows how such policies have divided nations and produced enormous strife. Sowell, I emphasise, is a black in America, arguing against "affirmative action." A very rare kind of scholar, indeed. Unfortunately, my copy of the book is not with me right now, or I could have produced some thundering quotes.

How do such policies harm society? Well, what they do is divide society along whatever cleavages already exist. They do not unite society. They tell members of certain targeted groups to organise themselves and take the political road to securing their economic future. Politicians gain; society loses. And we in India well know the harm that caste politics has done to us.

What is the other way?

The other way is The Market. If anyone wants to improve his economic position, then The Market should be the only arena open to him - not politics. There must be no "politicisation of economic life" - a term Peter Bauer often used to describe conditions in socialist India.

As far as government jobs are concerned, they are NOT a means of promoting "welfare." Rather, the government exists to provide specific services, for which it must recruit the best talent available - just as private firms do.

With reservations, we get second-rate civil servants, second-rate doctors, second-rate engineers and so on.

Anyway, the beneficiaries of such policies are always the top layer of these disadvantaged groups - never the really poor. In a free economy, there are greater chances for EVERYONE to improve his lot - as Dalits have found since "liberalisation" began in India in 1991. Reservations in a closed, over-regulated economy are pure poison.

As always, violence of this kind underlines the fact that a free society is best off when legislation is not used on it, when "private law" prevails, and when the government is "policy-less." In such a society, everyone knows that the path to social and economic success lies in hard work - not politics.

In my view, these Jats of Hisar are guilty of arson - and should be prosecuted.

Freedom Must Be Well Understood

Kashmir is on the boil - and my thoughts, as always, are with those who are fighting for Justice and Freedom against an oppressive and repressive regime. And it is the words of Frederic Bastiat that come to mind, for in his native France they had fought for freedom many times - and never found it. (I recounted the sad story in an earlier post.) But only because they never understood what freedom really means; the principles without which it cannot work. Bastiat said:

...only principles have the power to satisfy men's minds, to win their hearts, and to gain the consent of their consciences. They have asked us: "Do you wish to proclaim freedom simply out of platonic love of freedom?" I, for my part, reply, "Yes." Freedom may entail trials for nations, but it alone enlightens, teaches, and edifies them. Outside of freedom, there is only oppression, and friends of order should bear in mind that this is no longer the time, if there ever was one, when the union of classes, respect for the law, security of interests, and the tranquility of nations can be founded on oppression.

In France we love freedom very much, but we hardly understand it. Oh, let us try to understand it better! We shall not love it any the less.

The Statue of Liberty in New York harbour was donated by the French!

Not only France - many nations have fought for freedom and never found it. Foremost among them are the Cubans - and Che Guevara t-shirts are still to be seen all over the world. Yet the news from Cuba today is sobering. Asked if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting to other countries, Fidel Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore."

Another report in the news today, from the BBC, says that one millions jobs are being abolished in Cuba's public sector - and The Market is being freed up, so that these people can earn their keep through private enterprise.

Even the Americans, who started off so well, have "plunged into slavery," as Mises warned they would. The USA has become the USSA - no champion of Liberty at all, and much hated all around the world. Read this excellent piece by Ivan Eland of the Independent Institute. Eland concludes:

The founders of the United States, who are regularly idolized by most Americans, would roll over in their graves at the mutation of their traditional, peaceful, and restrained foreign policy into a militaristic, globe-girdling empire that is exhausting the country economically and ruining the republic that they created.

Thus, freedom has to be defended by each and every generation.

The Kashmiris fought against a bad King in the 1940s, under Sheikh Abdullah - but Abdullah was a staunch socialist. Thus, the central feature of Srinagar was named Lal Chowk - after Moscow's Red Square. What "freedom" did the Abdullahs usher in?

Take a look at the rest of India - at West Bengal, where the blood of martyrs flowed thick during the "freedom struggle," but Communists took over - and, today, Property is insecure, and Liberty is not to be found. Or take Gujarat, where masses fought behind Gandhi - but even a bottle of beer cannot be enjoyed there today.

It is therefore a very important question: After the freedom struggle - what?

It is here that the Philosophy of Freedom comes in, and must be seriously studied wherever the battle for freedom is being fought. Too often, martyrs have shed blood - but tyrants have taken over. To paraphrase Bastiat:

In India we love freedom very much, but we hardly understand it. Oh, let us try to understand it better! We shall not love it any the less.

This blog has a lot of free material on the philosophy of freedom, for those who wish to study it. I only hope this is used.

Think, Dear Editor

Just the day before yesterday, I had written "against eminent domain," citing an unthinking editorial in the Indian Express. Well, two days later, the editors of this newspaper are back on the same subject, but this time pretending to be on the side of the Property owner, for their editorial of today concludes:

...it is good that the landowner is being placed at the centre of the debate.

However, the editorial in question is actually on the side of our The State. The editors have written in favour of a "Haryana model" for just compensation in which the landowner will receive, per acre, Rs. 20,000 per year for 33 years, with an annual increase of Rs. 600, which is exactly 3 percent - while inflation rages at well over 10 percent. What will Rs. 20,000 buy in 33 years time? If I look back to 33 years ago, the year 1977, a litre of petrol was Rs. 3.50 then (it is over Rs. 50 now) and a motorcycle cost Rs. 5000 (it is over Rs. 50,000 now).

The editors hail Mayawati for applying the Haryana model of compensation to land acquisition cases in UP.

Let us not forget that this Haryana model of compensation will also involve the use of FORCE. The landowner will simply have to accept the "annuity" proposed by The State. Nothing will be voluntary.

My question to the editors of the Express is this:

Would you sell your prime property to me if I offered you similar terms - that is, Rs. 20,000 per acre for 33 years with an annual increase of 3 percent? Or, would you demand cash down?

Quite obviously, no editor of any paper would sell his land on such ludicrous terms. Thus, today's editorial in the Express is hypocritical. It recommends a medicine to farmers that the editors themselves would never swallow.

One further point: Would not the acceptance of such terms amount to accepting a "post-dated cheque drawn on a crashing bank"? Our The State is broke. The Haryana government, like the UP government, is broke. At the Centre, Chacha wants to borrow 3,50,000 crores. Will these governments even be there 33 years hence? And why should the taxpayers of tomorrow pay their debts?

The editors are not performing their most important function - which is, to THINK!

Agonda - or Why I Stress ROADS

In yesterday's post, I wrote that poor people do not need food from our The State - they need ROADS. Some of you, especially those who live abroad, may find this hard to believe, so let me tell you about the walkabout I did this evening.

There are many lovely beaches in South Goa - and Agonda is one of them. This evening, we drove there. Truly a beautiful place, with green hills bordering both sides. As in the Neil Young song:

Where the sun hits the water,
And the mountains touch the sky,
There's a beach that I will walk along some time...

However, today, we did not walk along the beach as we have always done. We ended up walking along an internal road, parallel to the beach - a road on which there were at least a hundred homes, just metres from the beach, a beach that tourists really enjoy staying on. The road was tarred for just a 200 yards or so, and for the rest, a couple of kilometres, it did not exist!

It took about half-an-hour to cover the entire length of the non-road - and it ended at a narrow bridge about 10 yards long. On the other side was the "main road." But the bridge was too narrow for cars - only scooters and motorcycles could cross. All along, I saw signs of POVERTY - so rare in Goa.

Now, think of what happens to the prices of Property right upon a beautiful beach if there is no road. Obviously, these prices would shoot if a road was built - and a new bridge installed. Within no time, poverty would vanish. This is, in reality, PRIME REAL ESTATE!

So what do our people need:

Property titles
Liberty
And Roads

This is MY prescription.

And as for food: I bought a pack of Maggi noodles from a small shop, opposite a small bar. Fish is plentiful in Agonda. I am positive none here want cheap rice or wheat from our The State.

Chacha's Advisor - On Food For The Poor

Kaushik Basu, formerly of Cornell University in the USSA, and student of Amartya Sen, is now Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India. Today, Mint is carrying a brief report on a paper he has penned on the "food problem": the fact that grain is rotting in government godowns while poor people are (supposedly) starving. I say "supposedly" because we are not receiving any reports of starvation deaths - and such reports haven't appeared in many decades. Allow me to quote the opening paragraph of the article on Basu's paper:

The government has been pulled up by the Supreme Court for allowing foodgrain to rot in its godowns while the poor go hungry. The judges have ordered the food to be distributed free. In response, the Prime Minister has said it’s impossible to supply free food to the 37% of the population below the “poverty line”. Who’s right, the politicians or the judges? Kaushik Basu, chief economic adviser at the finance ministry, has in this paper said that it’s perfectly possible to feed everyone in the country and the problem is the faulty food procurement and distribution system.

Methinks the only "perfect" way to feed everyone is via The Market. To me, there is NO ROLE for our The State in the business of food. If you visit our urban slums, you will find many vendors of food there - vegetables, fruit, fish, meat, snacks, tea and so on. Why should our The State be called in to waste truckloads of scarce tax revenue on this? And waste it is, for Basu is quoted as saying:

In the case of India, the release has fallen well short of procurement. The statement by a senior member of this government that, when it comes to hoarding, it is the government of India that leads the pack is not off the mark.

Why should our The State "procure" grains at all? Basu does not answer this question. Instead, he calls for "better procurement policy" and "better distribution policy" - including food coupons. Disastrous ideas, I think. I believe in a "policy-less government."

Frankly, I am sick to death of this paternalism our The State exhibits - and anyway, it is quite phoney. Our The State is actually inflating the currency - hurting everyone, especially the poor. To my mind, our The State needs to be drastically cut down - and the Ministry of Food as well as the Food Corporation of India must be abolished. And many more ministries besides. Once we have the budget under control, once we have taxes cut down, once we have nullified the public debt (and contracted no further debt) - only then can The State be made to perform its basic function of building roads. Basu is quoted in the last para of the report as saying:

Basu points out that we have, in the name of caring for the aam aadmi [common man], created a system where neither poor consumers nor poor farmers benefit. Worse, the present system creates wrong incentives that “hold back large segments of the population in agriculture, who actually deserve to move out to industry and manufacturing”.

Well, the division of labour cannot proceed unless there are good roads between areas of agricultural production and the markets for the produce, which are invariably in cities and towns. There is no other way. And there is no money for roads because of all this foolish spending. Basu knows that this spending on "food security" is foolish, for the report says:

On 1 April, the stock of wheat and rice with the government was 202% of the minimum needed under the buffer stock norms, at a time when price rise was forcing the poor to cut back on food. Basu points out scathingly: “If the reserves are never to be used, they may as well not be there.”

So let us get down to basics: Human beings "economize." They spend scarce resources on their most pressing needs and leave lesser needs unsatisfied. The State must do the same.

But just think about it: What if Roman Emperors had decided to "feed the poor" instead of building roads? What would have happened to their Empire? What would have happened to trade between all the regions? What would have happened to the Treasury?

So I agree with Basu where he says:

“If the reserves are never to be used, they may as well not be there.”

Yes, put an end to this "food security" nautanki tamasha (theatre of the absurd), this ugly joke on poor people in a poor country without any physical infrastructure whatsoever. With an infrastructure of roads, with cheap second-hand cars imported duty-free, and with ECONOMIC FREEDOM, the poor will feed themselves very well. Indeed, they will clothe themselves, house themselves and even enjoy recreation - just as they all possess mobile phones now. Adam Smith believed that the "system of Natural Liberty" would lead to "universal opulence." There is no other way. Their only hope lies in The Market. Let our The State build roads - and if they cannot do so, let us stop paying taxes altogether, abolish The State, and build the roads ourselves.

PS: For more posts on Kaushik Basu, including some critiques of his Hindustan Times columns, search this blog under his name.

Against "Eminent Domain"

Our socialist Supreme Court has made a decision in favour of "land acquisition" by The State for "public purpose" - otherwise known as the power of "eminent domain." The case pertained to an expressway project in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to be developed by a private company. But the precedent set has enormous implications, for Property is being fought for by farmers in West Bengal, and by tribals in Orissa as well.

There are two editorials I found on this decision.

First, in the Indian Express - which unabashedly hails this decision, calling it a "landmark moment." The title of this editorial says it all: "Right on Rights." They quote from the judgement:

The court said that “the scales of justice must tilt towards the right to development of the millions who will be benefited from the road... as against the human rights of 35 petitioners herein.”

Curious, ain't it? A socialist court calling Property a "human right"! Who are the biggest violators of all these useless human rights? - The State, and the State Police. Call a spade a spade, judge! Call property, Property!

However, the editors conclude on a strange note:

In the end, land acquisition is a political problem, and India’s politics must articulate a long-term, progressive solution.

Obvious conclusion, that, seeing the huge amount of turmoil looming ahead. Anthony de Jasay's ultra-slim book Before Resorting to Politics is a must read for India's opinion makers.

Let us now turn to the editorial in Mint, titled "Public purpose redefined." The editors say:

Most debates on the development versus land rights issue boil down to one polemical argument: the land and property of tribals and other marginal groups being “snatched”. The court’s judgement is refreshingly apolitical on the issue. So long as proper compensation is paid to the owners and the projects serve more than a small section of the populace, use of eminent domain power is justified.

At the bottom of the page, Mint asks this question:

Can eminent domain power ever be depoliticized in India?

They too conclude that there will be problems - especially, in India, of cronyism - and that these must be "sorted out by the people and the government." They surely see the political dimensions of the problem of insecure Property rights. They see mass uprisings ahead. Living in South Goa, I can say with confidence that the widening of National Highway 17 will never ever happen, because no Property will be given up for the project.

Let us now sit back and understand the importance of Property, why it must be the basis of the Law, and why "eminent domain" is another statist / socialist form of "legal plunder." Since this powerful term was coined by Bastiat, let me begin with his argument.

Bastiat puts it very clearly: Individuals have the right to their Property. Individuals do not have the right to take anyone's Property away by force. Now, individuals combine to make The Law. How can it be that this Law has the power to take Property away by force - a right that no individual possesses? Obviously, something fishy going on here.

Let us now turn to the matter of "proper compensation": First, under no circumstances can this mean "market price." Market prices apply only to properties that have a "For Sale" sign up on them. Where the owners are not willing to sell, the State must pay much more - to make them willing to part with what they own. I think a statutory compensation of three times the current market price should be the rule. Then, there is no "eminent domain"; rather, there is a "windfall gain" for anyone whose Property is being sacrificed for the greater common good - the "public purpose."

In this case, the Supreme Court has defended the "right to development of the millions who will be benefited by the road." Well, in that case, these millions must pay - and pay well. That, in my opinion, would be true Justice.

Liberty Now!

The ToI has goofed up real bad. An editorial on tourism advises our The State to do the following things - but never mentions the sweet word "Liberty":

It's well-known that many of our heritage sites are in a deplorable state of disrepair. The problem lies in haphazard management, divided between the Centre and the states. The possibility of a single nodal agency for preservation of all historical monuments along with the participation of private players in maintaining them needs to be explored. The future of the tourism industry lies in customising services. The government would do well to provide greater support to niche segments such as medical tourism and spiritual tourism by creating the infrastructure hotels, transport facilities, easier visa norms, etc to facilitate their growth. In the context of security for foreign tourists, a dedicated tourist police force is a good idea. An integrated approach whereby the tourism industry benefits from other sectors and vice versa is the way forward. The government should keep in mind that tourism generates more jobs for every rupee invested than almost any other sector. It's also more environmentally benign than, say, heavy industry.

First: Isn't there already an Archaeological Survey of India that "owns" and maintains all heritage sites - badly?

Second: Why should State support be extended for "niche segments" like medical and spiritual tourism? Why should the State build hotels? Why "transport facilities"? Why not just ask them to build roads? The rest the private sector can easily do.

Third: A "dedicated tourist police force"? What a ghastly idea! The Rule of Law should apply uniformly to foreigner and local alike - and when our own people are dying on the streets, what will this dedicated tourist police do to protect tourists who want to walk around our cities and towns. Ridiculous, really.

Now, why not ask our The State to just step aside - and let The Market do everything for tourism. Tourists come to enjoy holidays - to have FUN!

Our is NOT a fun country.

Everything is banned or licensed or overtaxed.

Why not a FREE MARKET? Why not LIBERTY?

The ToI talks about medical and spiritual tourism. What about ganja tourism? What about hash cafes? What about casinos and nightclubs, discotheques and dance clubs?

The critical point to remember is that The State is as clueless about how to keep the tourist happy as are the editors of the ToI. The only person who can anticipate in advance what a tourist might want is the ENTREPRENEUR.

So, some entrepreneurs are selling dope, others are setting up bars and restaurants, others opening massage services, still others, casinos, and so on and so forth.

Our The State is fucking up the happiness of most of these entrepreneurs.

Thus, tourists are getting screwed too.

So, get the message: Whether you are a foreigner in India or a domestic tourist - what you need to enjoy your holidays is LIBERTY!

So lets have Liberty right NOW!

And someone else please tell them to build decent roads. Tourism is about TRAVEL.

Travel in India is HORRIBLE!