A. Raja, the telecom minister involved in the 2G spectrum and license scam, has been "raided" by the CBI. The headline in the news report says it all - that the CONgress hopes this raid will "ease pressure" on them: from the public, the media, and the courts. The CBI found nothing incriminating, of course.
In any case, the extent of corruption is far too wide - and there is very little that the CBI can accomplish. In the case of the foodgrain scam I referred to yesterday, they will need to file at least 5000 chargesheets. Add CWG, Adarsh, and all the land scams being unearthed, not to mention cases like the Sohrabuddin fake encounter - and the CBI will be stretched beyond its limits. There is the added fact that, in the history of independent India, precious few have actually been convicted in corruption trials.
The CBI is staffed by cops. There is another report I found the other day - that the Supreme Court is pushing for "police reforms." In particular, they are calling for a "separation of law and order from the investigation of crime"; and second, for an "independent directorate of prosecution." What this means is that, as of now, our cops are basically lathi-wielders, that crimes are not properly investigated, and further, that public prosecution is weak. This is why criminals roam free.
But even if investigation and prosecution were top-class, what about our courts? It is no secret that our courts are unable to deliver timely justice. There is a humongous backlog of cases. If we look into the reasons for this, we find The State and its innumerable agencies are litigants in most cases and, further, that the enormous amount of legislation our socialists have passed has been a major cause of litigation. This is particularly true of legislation that violates Property - like "land reforms" and "rent control." Thus, even if all these corruption cases were to be taken up by the courts, justice would take ages. The "system" is not working. And we all know that, don't we?
Why has the entire system collapsed? I discussed this some weeks ago in a post titled "Their Greatest Error: Morality." In that post, the issue was the corruption case pending against the newly-appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner - the Anti-Corruption Commissar of our The State. While he was "food secretary" of the government of Kerala, this dude imported palm oil for the "public distribution system" - and attracted corruption charges.
My point was that, if the importation, distribution and sale of palm oil had been left to traders, if there was no food secretary and no public distribution system, then such cases of corruption could never have arisen. I traced the fault back to Jawaharlal Nehru, who said "profit is a dirty word." Thus, it is this "socialist" bias that is the root cause of all corruption. It is this that has caused the entire system to collapse.
I argued for a State that is "limited" by Constitution to "the protection of life, liberty and property."
The existing socialist Constitution of India is the longest written constitution in the entire world. It gives The State a role in anything and everything - but it does not protect our Property. The IAS and IPS are protected by this Constitution - and, while they have been given no specific duties to perform, this Constitution contains a section titled "Fundamental Duties of the Citizen"!
Friedrich Hayek would have called this the "constitution of slavery."
Thus, we need a New Constitution - one that "limits" The State most severely, thereby restricting the scope of political and administrative corruption.
This New Constitution must guarantee the Inviolability of Property by State action - and that is the best guarantee of Liberty.
This New Constitution must also treat money as Property - and that will guarantee hard, "sound money." No more unlimited paper money creation by The State.
In such a scenario, the government will have "duties" - like the titling of land. There can be duties for city Mayors - like looking after the interests of street-hawkers and vendors and being responsible for the upkeep of all city and town markets. The building and maintenance of urban and rural roads should also be made the responsibility of specific public officials.
The New Constitution should debar The State from undertaking any business enterprise, entering any trade, on interfering in relative prices, either through subsidies or taxation.
There should be a constitutional "limit" on taxation. This will further limit the activities of the government.
Customs duties should be constitutionally forbidden - so international trade is free.
Some other cruel, modern taxes that are a form of "expropriation" rather than taxation should also be debarred - like income tax, death duties, and inheritance tax. In the Indian context, excise duties are a naked tyranny - and should be abolished.
The New Constitution should specify which taxes are legitimate - and this list should be small: property and land tax only.
Further, these should be locally collected and then only apportioned to higher levels of government - not the other way around as of now. This is in accordance with the Principle of Subsidiarity.
To ensure that the financing of government is limited to its tax revenues, there should be a constitutional bar on any kind of government borrowing. This will put an end to the corrupt practice of issuing government bonds - the "permanent, irredeemable debt" that citizens are now saddled with.
As far as the free citizenry are concerned, they will be happy inhabitants of a "private law society" based on Property, Contracts and Torts.
Banking will then be conducted under private contracts. Thus, depositors will be secure in their contracts - either "demand deposits" or "time deposits." Borrowers will be bound by loan contracts. Without any legislation, the great error in Peel's Banking Act of 1844 will be overcome - and 100 per cent reserves will become the norm for all demand deposits. The fraud of fractional-reserve banking will end. This will be free, private banking under the rule of private law.
In such a society, free from legislative interference, there is a "natural order" and a harmony of interests. Thus, there will be very little litigation. Very little "crime" - which can be treated as Torts and resolved quickly. Restitution, not retribution - which is the more civilised way.
All crimes will then be "crimes against the individual." There will be no "crimes against The State."
There will be no need for "public prosecutors." Nor any "public investigation." For law and order purposes, and traffic regulation on public roads, every Mayor can employ a small, local constabulary, paid for by local resources.
The "system" will actually work. There will be Justice.
I think, if Friedrich Hayek were to read my proposal above, he would have called it "The Constitution of Liberty."
Liberty, Property, Justice, Markets - and Civilisation. They all go together.
Very informative post. One of the fundamental duties of an Indian citizen is to " To safeguard public property and to abjure violence". Would it be too much if we expect the government to "safeguard private property".
ReplyDeleteAnyways the greatest damage to "public property" is committed by political parties and their "hired goons" in the name of "bandhs", "strikes", "dharnas" and what not.