To begin, the proponents for CSR assert that "hunger is India's greatest problem" and they quote the fucking World Bank "measurement" that since 90 percent of Third World people survive on less than $1.25 a day, they must be hungry. I wonder if any of these bozos have ever walked the streets of our cities - like I do. This morning, for instance, here in Pondicherry, I breakfasted on 5 steaming hot idlis and one fat dosa for just 15 rupees (20 cents) from a roadside stall opposite the railway station - and that should keep me going till sundown. Lots of poor and hungry customers were being fed via the "division of labour." None had to buy "cheap rice" from our The State, nor did they have to grind it, steam it, fry it, or make coconut chutney. Just 15 rupees - and clean, healthy food at that.
But if we were to really examine the conditions under which these businessmen and women work to stave off real - and not imaginary - hunger, we will surely discover that the "health inspector" (there was a huge Public Health Department building nearby) preys on them, as do other predatory government agencies. This is a Predatory State - from Top to Bottom.
There are other problems such people face as well. For example, these food stalls never get water supply. They have to carry water from far distances. Further, if commercial space was increased, its value would fall - and these stall-owners would graduate to shops.
Nearby was a very wide open drain that the French built to separate the "white town" from the rest. Even in the 1980s when I lived here I often told people that this should be covered and the space gained thereby used for shops - because the commercial areas were, even then, overcrowded. No one has thought of this during these 25 long years - while fools fed on fucking World Bank data feel concerned about "hunger."
Every single "philanthropist" arguing in favour of CSR has a deep desire to "educate the poor" - but these people do not need to be taught by Anu Aga or Shiv Nadar how to make idlis and dosas. Anu Aga - who sits on the National Advisory Council (NAC) that hangs around sonia suggesting ways and means of widespread "capital consumption" writes that she wants to educate the poor so that her engineering firm can hire trained people. In which case, she ought to set up a Thermax Engineering College - which is all that Thermax knows. Shiv Nadar writes that he is setting up a Shiv Nadar University to teach "arts & sciences" - but he doesn't say that State Universities should be shut down and top-notch foreign universities freely allowed to set up shop - for shop it is, and education, we all know, is a Big Business, and has nothing much to do with philanthropy.
There are some goras on their side as well - the head of Dell computers, some woman from Hewlett-Packard, and some "management guru" totally ignorant of even the basics of Market Economics. I recently bought a Dell laptop and threw it into the sea! Shouldn't these people focus on creating better products - as Steve Jobs of Apple is doing. I have earlier written how both Azim Premji as well as Bill Gates are engaged in "false philanthropy."
Then there is Mahindra Motors writing about how they renewed a forest near their plant in Nashik. But forestry and timber could be Big Business for the poor. Imagine sandalwood, ebony, teak, rosewood and mahogany being freely grown instead of being State Property. And shouldn't Mahindra's own products be better? I recently drove a Mahindra Scorpio jeep my friend owns - and gave up! Felt like a bloody truck!
There is also a "measurement" of CSR provided by the Tata Institute of Social Science (and another by KPMG). What has this Tata Institute ever contributed to our understanding of society? And have you ever taken a ride in a Tata Indica - as I did from Madras Airport to Pondicherry? Incidentally, the library at the Delhi School of (Mathematical) Economics is named after Sir Ratan Tata.
We have also had a Birla Institute of Technology co-existing with the Ambassador car. Not to mention a Bajaj Institute of Management.
To understand what can really help the poor, you must read ALL of Peter Bauer, who was a "development economist" who toured the entire Third World, observed the poor in markets - especially "informal markets" - and wrote about what he saw. It was he who said something very important about Third World poverty - and that is:
Poverty indicates just one thing - the absence of economic achievement.
He then went on to add:
Economic achievements are made in markets.
All these corporate types who profess to being philanthropic ought to read Samuel Smiles' Self-Help, written in Victorian England - a book that outsold the Bible, and fired the Japanese in their catch-up with the West. It tells the stories of many, many people of humble origins who struggled against great odds - including poverty - and rose to incredible heights through sheer effort, perseverance and dogged hard work. Such books are positive motivators - and I am proud to say that I personally edited and wrote a foreword to an Indian edition of this great book, published by Liberty Institute many years ago.
Poor people need Liberty. They need Property - including commercial property: shops. They need roads. They need modern modes of transportation, especially urban transportation. And they need encouragement. They do NOT need this patronising and condescending CSR bullshit - that too, from a bunch of CRONIES of our The State, who do not want to compete with foreigners themselves, and want to keep on selling second-rate "capital goods" to our poor people. Such people deserve to be DISGRACED.
We have had endless people faking concern for the poor - from Nehru to Manmohan to Sonia to all the NGOs put together; and now we have these rich bozos who know nothing and want to "educate" poor people who are already possessed of knowledge valuable in the market. They never utter the sweet word LIBERTY! - only because they fear it. They thrive on the misuse of State Power: the "customs barrier." Which is why I tell all poor people - never buy swadeshi; always buy videshi. Buy the best. Unilateral free trade - for the poor, against all these bozos. I have no sympathy for these bozos. All my sympathies lie with the poor.
The only true friend of the world's poor was Peter Bauer - and do read my eponymously titled tribute to him.
In the end, if there is anything that everyone needs to understand, it is Economics. It is this vital subject that is being mistaught by our The State in India, as I pointed out yesterday. If these CSR bozos go about "educating" our people, with State support, it will be DISASTER!
To conclude, let me quote Ludwig von Mises:
Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that economics cannot remain an esoteric branch of knowledge accessible only to small groups of scholars and specialists. Economics deals with society's fundamental problems; it concerns everyone and belongs to all. It is the main and proper study of every citizen.
I hope you get the reason for my strong moral outrage.
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