Look Who's Unstable

The government of India has set up a Population Stabilisation Fund. I got the news from this article by Naveen Jindal, a young CONgress MP who seems stuck in old, misconceived ideas. In this article, Jindal suggests that the government should sterilise 1,00,000 poor couples every year. He seems to think that if this is done, and the population is "stable" - in the sense that births and deaths cancel each other out and there is no growth in human numbers - some great "good" will be achieved. He wants India's human population to be "manageable."

However, I wonder exactly what resource India is running out of that such a drastic course of action - and such public expenditure - is deemed necessary.

Is India running out of food? Or are our granaries overfull?

Is India - a vast country - running out of land?

In truth, we are wasting foodgrain - because of State mismanagement. Indeed, we ought to call this "criminal mismanagement."

What about land? - for in India, our The State is the biggest landlord. All "unowned" land is by default State Property. How is our The State "managing" its own landholdings?

I have been living in the Western Ghats for over six years now - and there is so much vacant space here that I do think it is criminal the way in which the cities and towns in this region are so "overcrowded." This overcrowding has nothing to do with "overpopulation," in the sense of a "shortage of land." Urban overcrowding, throughout India, has to do with "mismanagement" by our The State: they have not built roads into the surrounds so that satellite towns and suburbs can grow. Roads are a State Monopoly.

In the Western Ghats, there is abundant free space. Abundant. Even super-abundant. If you fly Mumbai-Goa, you will see hundreds of virgin beaches. If you drive anywhere in the area, you will pass through miles and miles of virgin forests. But Mumbai, Panjim, Margao, Mangalore - all are "overcrowded." Urban land is therefore unaffordable to the poor - and Jindal suggests we sterilise them! He calls it "management." The government he belongs to calls it "stabilisation."

Interesting report in the ToI today on the Western Ghats - that this government has just issued 49 leases for iron ore and bauxite mining; that too, in a declared "eco-tourism district"! They cannot manage the cities - this we well know - and they cannot manage the jungles either. They want to "manage" the population!

Stabilisation!

This word, "stabilisation," is also being used by the finance ministry and the central bank nowadays - especially because of runaway inflation. They found one way of stabilisation alright - they simply changed the price index! But why are we suffering from such high inflation? Only because they are "managing" the currency. Inflation is a purely monetary phenomenon. It occurs because they are issuing too much currency and creating too much credit - "mismanagement." The only cure is private money - gold and silver - which no government can create out of thin air.

In the same vein, population must be a "private" matter - and couples must "manage" their own fertility.

Government land must also be privatised - so that ordinary people can "homestead" it, thereby creating Property, instead of our The State digging out red mud for exportation.

Stabilisation?

It seems fairly plain to me that what is really "unstable" in this country are the mental faculties of our rulers. They are, technically, "mentally unstable." They don't know how to think.

And, of course, they want to teach!

And you, the sheeple, let them. You willingly pay the "education tax." A recent editorial in the ToI is titled "Release the Stranglehold" - referring to the control these mentally unstable people have over "higher education."

Professor Roger Waters needs to tour the country again.

And as for Naveen Jindal - he's "just another Prick in The House."

So here are some new lines for my song:

The boys sing -

Hey! MP!
Leave our balls alone!

And the girls cry -

Hey! MP!
Leave our eggs alone!

And all the boys and all the girls sing together -

All in all, you're just another,
Prick in The House.

To conclude, here is a quote:

I never could believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden. : Richard Rumbold

Recommended readings: My old essay, titled "Population Causes Prosperity." Read it online here. Another brief essay of mine I recommend is "Bungalows for All: A Critical Assessment of India's Human Habitat," available online here.