Rukawat Hatao!

The Central State's finance minister has just announced that these socialist jerks of the CONgress whom our extremely naïve ancestors - who were all singularly unlettered in Economics - placed at the "commanding heights of the economy," have yet to take a decision on allowing foreign direct investment into the supermarket - or "retail" - sector. Over 10 years have gone by since Big Time foreign investors first applied - and the State of Rukawat ("obstruction" in Hindi) continues to mull over their proposals. Which means, in India, to sit on the files. And keep on sitting. Sitting on the files - as they get bulkier and bulkier. And we all know why they do this, don't we?

In the meantime, many business schools teaching retail management have already opened up (such as this) - and many thousands of graduates have already been trained for such jobs.

Various questions arise - especially for GenNext - and below is the most important one:

Should our The State have any role in such decisions? Or should they just occur "automatically"? Any foreigner who wants to invest in India can do so, buy land, build shops and stores, hire people and so on, without requiring State approval of any kind. Should the future be laissez faire, laissez passer or not?

While our youth think over their response to the above question, let me list some basic truths of Economics to guide them along:

First: In a country that is predominantly poor, supermarkets can never wipe out small stores and informal street-hawkers because poor people never buy in bulk. They receive their wages daily, and buy their needs in small quantities to last them short periods of time. That is why 70% of all shampoo sold in India retails in small sachets costing just one rupee (one-fourth of a US cent). Supermarkets will sell shampoos in big bottles - and will cater to car-owners who will purchase a month's supplies at one shot. Supermarkets will sell cigarettes by the carton; the poor man will buy his cigarettes from the street-vendor, one cigarette at a time. Supermarkets will sell booze in 750 ml bottles and cases of them - while the poor man will buy his 180 ml "quarter" every evening from a small liquor shop. So, the market segments are different; they do not clash. There is not even the remotest reason to fear that big-time organised retailers who operate supermarkets will wipe out small and informal traders.

Second: The State's "concern" for the informal sector and the street vendors comprising it is false. These are preyed upon by State functionaries - from both the police as well as the municipalities - in every Indian city and town. Everyone knows this. This is "common knowledge" throughout India. Over 10 years ago, Madhu Kishwar made huge noises about this State predation on street hawkers in Delhi with a documentary that filmed some horrendous scenes - and the noise became so deafeningly loud that the then Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, responded by issuing a note calling for a "national policy on street vendors." Of course, nothing has come of it. It is just another file - and some other socialist jerk is sitting on it. Meanwhile, this open predation continues - that too, throughout India.

Third: The State's faux concern for small shopkeepers and street-vendors is false at another level as well - for this very same State was quite happy to run State-owned supermarkets and shops when it could. In Delhi's Connaught Place you can still see the Super Bazaar of our The State. There are also quite a few Kendriya Bhandars in Nude Elly that steal business from ordinary shopkeepers.

Fourth: Since India is predominantly a nation of poor people who work at low pay, it follows that the ONLY method of raising wages permanently is by allowing in foreign Capital: the more foreign Capital allowed in, the merrier, for the higher will average wages rise. So, to take the example of retailing, a shop assistant in a small store may get one or two thousand rupees per month - but if the same girl was employed by a supermarket, her salary would be much higher, perhaps ten thousand, only because she would be combining her labour with lots of Capital, like bar-code readers and computers, and so her productivity would be much higher as well. This applies equally to the Gandhian charkha - and hence the chowkidar outside the gates of a modern spinning factory earns many times more than a dude who spends all his time on a charkha.

Fifth: The Central State's finance minister cited above is running a hugely "deficit budget": he not only has to print money to pay State bills, he is also borrowing to the tune of Rs. 3,50,000 crores (3,500 billion rupees). This is the "Monster's Budget" - as I called it in an earlier post. All this will end up "consuming capital" - and screw up the economy. Private investments will falter. Public expenditures will be mainly on "welfare" - so, this money will be "consumed," and not "invested." All this will hurt India's teeming poor: the masses.

Thus, what is really in the "public interest" is that foreigners be free to open supermarkets (or anything else) - while our The State be closed down! Then, graduates trained in retailing will be immediately well employed. And all this Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)  ditch-digging to "create jobs" will end.

This is because these foreigners will INVEST their own resources in order to see that we are supplied with better goods and services, while our The State will make it its business to CONSUME our own resources - by borrowing them, and also by fraudulently creating new money via the printing press. In the former case, Capital will combine with labour, improving productivity and raising wages - and also keeping customers happy. In the latter case, precious Capital will be foolishly wasted by baboos, impoverishing us all.

In any case, at least the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) ought to be shut down pronto. They have never "promoted" any foreign investment. They are part and parcel of all the obstruction - the State of Rukawat.

Rukawatein Hatao - aur gareebi apney aap hutt jaayegee.

That is: Remove all the obstacles (including the Customs Department, Excise licenses etc.) - and poverty will be eliminated too, on its own.

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