Just the other day, a proud and well-meaning friend raised strong objections to my having a “Donate” button on my blog. She said it seemed like I was begging for charity, hat in hand.
As a proud man myself, I confessed that I did not see things as she did. My blog was more in the nature of “street music” – and street musicians are not beggars. They express themselves freely in a public place, entertain the people, and accept whatever people “donate” – and most people don’t.
To buttress my stand, I made my friend listen to a YouTube track from Playing For Change, a new group that features street musicians from all over the world. In this track, titled “Blues Across America,” a blind black blues singer from New York begins by talking of the “self-worth” that street musicians possess. After hearing the intro and listening to the song, I think my friend got my point.
Over the last year or so, many, many people have been kind enough to donate money to Antidote. This money has been very carefully spent – not on ganja-charas, but on BOOKS. These books are vital to my knowledge base.
Allow me to list some of the precious volumes I have been able to purchase – and I would not have been able to purchase these had it not been for my donors. I paid $70 (including shipping) recently for Jörg Guido Hülsmann’s biography of Ludwig von Mises – and I am currently enjoying this great book to the hilt, and learning a lot besides.
I bought the original 2-volume set of Philip Mason’s Men Who Ruled India, 1953 edition, and these are the pride of my modest library.
I bought George Roche’s biography of Frédéric Bastiat – second-hand, for it is now out of print, and it was a great read; very inspiring too.
I bought the only history of the institution of Lord Mayor of London, a very instructive history for one who champions urban local self-government in India.
I bought a whole lot of great books from the Mises Institute – Hoppe, Böhm-Bawerk, Doug French on bubbles, etc.
For all of these, I am most grateful to my donors, and I hope they are also pleased to see how I have used their kindness.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Chacha's Ministers - In Error
While our great and illustrious prime minister’s leadership qualities are very much in doubt, two of his important ministerial colleagues are also up to no good. I am referring to Anand Sharma, cabinet minister for commerce and foreign trade, and Shashi Tharoor, junior minister for foreign affairs. Let us begin with Sharma, who replaced Kamal D Nutt some time ago.
A news report says that Sharma’s ministry has just sanctioned 500 crore rupees on export subsidies – after spending 1500 crores this fiscal year on that head already. The logic seems to be blatantly “mercantilistic” – the doctrine that exports are “good” for an economy while imports are “bad.” Exports increase earnings while in the case of imports money flows out. It is not seen that when money flows out, goods flow in – goods that are usually not available domestically.
This is why the mercantilists of old lambasted the Honourable East India Company – for they were exporting gold while importing spices. These spices were not necessities; they were luxuries and fripperies, and the mercantilists felt England was losing wealth in these deals.
It was Adam Smith, no friend of the EIC, who first exploded the myths of mercantilism. He showed, in the Wealth of Nations, that a nation’s wealth is not its stock of gold bullion; rather, national wealth is the sum total of the consumption, possessions and properties of the people. Thus, cheap imports increased national wealth.
It is best to look at the issue from the viewpoint of a village economy, the kind in which I now live in southern Goa. Here, there are but a few shops, and all the goods they stock and sell come from the world outside our village – they are “imports.” Do these imports damage the village economy, or are they the most important sources of material advancement for all the villagers? Indeed, the villagers flock to these few shops every day, to buy the things they need. They could not survive without these imports. Like wheat, which does not grow in these parts. Or textiles. Or whatever. Without these imports, we all would just be living off fish, rice and coconuts – and feni, of course.
Thus, as in the case of Kamal D Nutt, who stridently opposed imports and championed exports, wrecking WTO negotiations in the bargain, so too with Anand Sharma – they are mercantilists. Since Sharma is a lightweight politician with an important portfolio (as is Chacha) it must be presumed that mercantilism is basic to CONgress ideology. Like all their other policy preferences, from NREGA to “right to education, to the proposed “right to food,” these are all avenues by which CONgress con artists steal public money from the treasury.
Export subsidies are theft. If a manufacturer cannot sell abroad in free competition, nor locally, he should shut down and change his business. The impoverished masses cannot be asked to pay for his business to “succeed.”
On the other hand, cheap Chinese toys are good for the poor Indian (and his children), just as imported mobile phones and cars are good for all of us. May we import wines and cheeses, too. Indeed, may India become the world’s largest duty-free trading area. They used to say “Fly, Buy, Dubai.” May the world soon say “Fly, Buy, India.” That is the India we must bring about – by rejecting Chacha’s mercantilism.
I recommend this Mint editorial of today that is critical of those Indian firms who demand protection from Chinese imports.
Onwards to Shashi Tharoor.
I believe ministers must WORK. Tharoor just “tweets” – whatever that is. And he courts controversy and thereby hogs media attention – undeservedly. What work should be assigned to the junior minister for foreign affairs?
Tharoor is an old UN hand – and the UN is the world’s largest bureaucracy. Similarly, the foreign affairs ministry’s biggest bureaucracy is the passport office – and it is a mess. Ask me, for I am having a great deal of trouble getting my valid passport renewed, to the extent that the documents the passport office is demanding are not even required as per their website – as, for example, an “address proof” when the old address has not changed. I think quick and easy passports are very important in this globalized world – and Tharoor would do the nation great service by using his bureaucratic prowess to streamline this department. Let him be judged by his work, rather than his silly tweets.
A news report says that Sharma’s ministry has just sanctioned 500 crore rupees on export subsidies – after spending 1500 crores this fiscal year on that head already. The logic seems to be blatantly “mercantilistic” – the doctrine that exports are “good” for an economy while imports are “bad.” Exports increase earnings while in the case of imports money flows out. It is not seen that when money flows out, goods flow in – goods that are usually not available domestically.
This is why the mercantilists of old lambasted the Honourable East India Company – for they were exporting gold while importing spices. These spices were not necessities; they were luxuries and fripperies, and the mercantilists felt England was losing wealth in these deals.
It was Adam Smith, no friend of the EIC, who first exploded the myths of mercantilism. He showed, in the Wealth of Nations, that a nation’s wealth is not its stock of gold bullion; rather, national wealth is the sum total of the consumption, possessions and properties of the people. Thus, cheap imports increased national wealth.
It is best to look at the issue from the viewpoint of a village economy, the kind in which I now live in southern Goa. Here, there are but a few shops, and all the goods they stock and sell come from the world outside our village – they are “imports.” Do these imports damage the village economy, or are they the most important sources of material advancement for all the villagers? Indeed, the villagers flock to these few shops every day, to buy the things they need. They could not survive without these imports. Like wheat, which does not grow in these parts. Or textiles. Or whatever. Without these imports, we all would just be living off fish, rice and coconuts – and feni, of course.
Thus, as in the case of Kamal D Nutt, who stridently opposed imports and championed exports, wrecking WTO negotiations in the bargain, so too with Anand Sharma – they are mercantilists. Since Sharma is a lightweight politician with an important portfolio (as is Chacha) it must be presumed that mercantilism is basic to CONgress ideology. Like all their other policy preferences, from NREGA to “right to education, to the proposed “right to food,” these are all avenues by which CONgress con artists steal public money from the treasury.
Export subsidies are theft. If a manufacturer cannot sell abroad in free competition, nor locally, he should shut down and change his business. The impoverished masses cannot be asked to pay for his business to “succeed.”
On the other hand, cheap Chinese toys are good for the poor Indian (and his children), just as imported mobile phones and cars are good for all of us. May we import wines and cheeses, too. Indeed, may India become the world’s largest duty-free trading area. They used to say “Fly, Buy, Dubai.” May the world soon say “Fly, Buy, India.” That is the India we must bring about – by rejecting Chacha’s mercantilism.
I recommend this Mint editorial of today that is critical of those Indian firms who demand protection from Chinese imports.
Onwards to Shashi Tharoor.
I believe ministers must WORK. Tharoor just “tweets” – whatever that is. And he courts controversy and thereby hogs media attention – undeservedly. What work should be assigned to the junior minister for foreign affairs?
Tharoor is an old UN hand – and the UN is the world’s largest bureaucracy. Similarly, the foreign affairs ministry’s biggest bureaucracy is the passport office – and it is a mess. Ask me, for I am having a great deal of trouble getting my valid passport renewed, to the extent that the documents the passport office is demanding are not even required as per their website – as, for example, an “address proof” when the old address has not changed. I think quick and easy passports are very important in this globalized world – and Tharoor would do the nation great service by using his bureaucratic prowess to streamline this department. Let him be judged by his work, rather than his silly tweets.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Give No Chance To UID
Back in sunny Goa again, and it’s great to be out of freezing Delhi.
Today’s lead editorial in Mint is a paean to Chacha’s unique identity card project to create biometric ID cards for a billion people – but I find it difficult to agree with the editors’ view on this.
They conclude that this ID project is the only way by which direct cash transfers can be given to the poor:
Oh! The poor. The poor. If only everyone would just leave the poor alone.
In reality, in all our cities and towns, the poor are EXPLOITED by the functionaries of The Chacha State. They never receive anything; rather, they are coerced into coughing up their surpluses to Chacha’s corrupt bhateejas (bribes, in other words). Indeed, if one were to hear their prayers, they only ask to be left alone. They want NOTHING from The Chacha State, not even cheap credit. They just want to be left free to earn their keep in our urban markets. We must heed this prayer. They must be granted Liberty.
And they need titles to their urban and rural properties. Millions are stuck in rural poverty because they have no titles to their lands, and so must occupy and guard them personally. The landless who migrate to cities for better opportunities fare no better when it comes to clear titles to their urban dwellings. While I was in New Delhi, the papers reported that Chacha was demolishing slums – in this bitter cold.
My talks with Bablu Das, “property dealer without property,” and his neighbours revealed that they possess all kinds of identity and address proofs. They have ration cards, voter ID cards, electricity and gas connections – but no titles. It is titles they need – not another ID card. This UID project is in the interests of The Chacha State and its State Police. Ultimately it is not in the interests of the poor.
The editors mention what is wrong with our “social welfare” programmes these days:
I would say CLOSE DOWN ALL THESE WASTEFUL EXPENDITURES.
Invest all the money in roads – capital assets from which all can benefit. And then give the civilian administration just one task – property titles.
Say “No” to the UID.
That said, the main article in Mint today is also noteworthy – Manish Sabharwal’s call for an “eradication of India’s green jobs.” I recommend this read.
On the same subject, my reader is also recommended this interview with Barun Mitra of Liberty Institute, in which he says that combating poverty is more important for poor countries than combating climate change.
Yeah. Bugger green jobs. Bugger climate change. Tackle poverty. This requires Economic Freedom, roads and urbanisation, and property titles.
Say no to the UID, which will only benefit the State Police (and sundry IT companies who are Chacha’s latest chamchas).
Today’s lead editorial in Mint is a paean to Chacha’s unique identity card project to create biometric ID cards for a billion people – but I find it difficult to agree with the editors’ view on this.
They conclude that this ID project is the only way by which direct cash transfers can be given to the poor:
“The truth is that given India’s grating inequalities direct cash transfers are the only way out. The successful execution of UID is key to that end.”
Oh! The poor. The poor. If only everyone would just leave the poor alone.
In reality, in all our cities and towns, the poor are EXPLOITED by the functionaries of The Chacha State. They never receive anything; rather, they are coerced into coughing up their surpluses to Chacha’s corrupt bhateejas (bribes, in other words). Indeed, if one were to hear their prayers, they only ask to be left alone. They want NOTHING from The Chacha State, not even cheap credit. They just want to be left free to earn their keep in our urban markets. We must heed this prayer. They must be granted Liberty.
And they need titles to their urban and rural properties. Millions are stuck in rural poverty because they have no titles to their lands, and so must occupy and guard them personally. The landless who migrate to cities for better opportunities fare no better when it comes to clear titles to their urban dwellings. While I was in New Delhi, the papers reported that Chacha was demolishing slums – in this bitter cold.
My talks with Bablu Das, “property dealer without property,” and his neighbours revealed that they possess all kinds of identity and address proofs. They have ration cards, voter ID cards, electricity and gas connections – but no titles. It is titles they need – not another ID card. This UID project is in the interests of The Chacha State and its State Police. Ultimately it is not in the interests of the poor.
The editors mention what is wrong with our “social welfare” programmes these days:
“Today there are well off persons who are part of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. State governments, that actually implement most such schemes, simply have no wherewithal to monitor them. Various departments and agencies of these governments are handed money and it then disappears. The truth only surfaces years, if not decades, later in the reports of the public accounts committees or those of the state auditor generals. The poor remain what they always have been—poor. When the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi said the poor don’t even get 15 paise of every rupee spent on them, this is what he meant.”
I would say CLOSE DOWN ALL THESE WASTEFUL EXPENDITURES.
Invest all the money in roads – capital assets from which all can benefit. And then give the civilian administration just one task – property titles.
Say “No” to the UID.
That said, the main article in Mint today is also noteworthy – Manish Sabharwal’s call for an “eradication of India’s green jobs.” I recommend this read.
On the same subject, my reader is also recommended this interview with Barun Mitra of Liberty Institute, in which he says that combating poverty is more important for poor countries than combating climate change.
Yeah. Bugger green jobs. Bugger climate change. Tackle poverty. This requires Economic Freedom, roads and urbanisation, and property titles.
Say no to the UID, which will only benefit the State Police (and sundry IT companies who are Chacha’s latest chamchas).
Friday, January 8, 2010
A Memorial For Chacha
Our great and illustrious leader, Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi, speaking at a conference of expatriate Indians, “promised that his government would improve infrastructure.” I wonder why they don’t make such promises to resident Indians. Perhaps because “democracy” here is a farce.
My friend Professor Cris Lingle, speaking at the Centre for Civil Society recently, said that in China, a dictator had the incentive to usher in policies which would make the people rich – so they would not overthrow the oppressive regime.
He added that in India, democracy has created the perverse incentive to keep people poor – so they would forever be kissing the butts of politicians and their baboons.
There is no better way to keep the people poor than to deny them roads, electricity and water. Especially roads. Our The Chacha State has systematically employed a “scorched earth policy” towards rural Indians by keeping them disconnected from cities and towns – and their bustling markets. I have a old humorous column on this scorched earth policy here.
Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi is of course much, much older than me. But even I recall my undergraduate years in Delhi University (1974-77) studying Economics (Hons.). Even then, a common term employed by teachers and students when referring to India’s problems was “infrastructural bottlenecks.” These bottlenecks have been with us for ages. Chacha should know. Those days, he designed the Economics syllabus.
However, the older you get, the more you think of your mortality – and how people will remember you after you are gone. Our aged Communist leader, Jyoti Basu, is very sick these days. How will Calcuttans remember him after he has gone? How will India remember Chacha?
Well, I think the best memorial for Chacha & Co. is the great big mess called New Delhi. While Chacha was promising infrastructure to expats, I was ferrying my mother to Connaught Place – and we couldn’t reach. We had to turn back after an hour’s struggle. This entire city is gridlocked – the famous “infrastructural bottleneck.”
I was thinking of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), the great English architect, while contemplating this post. He is famous for having designed and built London’s grand St. Paul’s Cathedral. He is also buried there. And his gravestone reads:
Which translates as:
So, if you seek Chacha’s memorial, look around your city and town, at all the “infrastructural bottlenecks.”
They are the true memorial to The Chacha State.
My friend Professor Cris Lingle, speaking at the Centre for Civil Society recently, said that in China, a dictator had the incentive to usher in policies which would make the people rich – so they would not overthrow the oppressive regime.
He added that in India, democracy has created the perverse incentive to keep people poor – so they would forever be kissing the butts of politicians and their baboons.
There is no better way to keep the people poor than to deny them roads, electricity and water. Especially roads. Our The Chacha State has systematically employed a “scorched earth policy” towards rural Indians by keeping them disconnected from cities and towns – and their bustling markets. I have a old humorous column on this scorched earth policy here.
Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi is of course much, much older than me. But even I recall my undergraduate years in Delhi University (1974-77) studying Economics (Hons.). Even then, a common term employed by teachers and students when referring to India’s problems was “infrastructural bottlenecks.” These bottlenecks have been with us for ages. Chacha should know. Those days, he designed the Economics syllabus.
However, the older you get, the more you think of your mortality – and how people will remember you after you are gone. Our aged Communist leader, Jyoti Basu, is very sick these days. How will Calcuttans remember him after he has gone? How will India remember Chacha?
Well, I think the best memorial for Chacha & Co. is the great big mess called New Delhi. While Chacha was promising infrastructure to expats, I was ferrying my mother to Connaught Place – and we couldn’t reach. We had to turn back after an hour’s struggle. This entire city is gridlocked – the famous “infrastructural bottleneck.”
I was thinking of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), the great English architect, while contemplating this post. He is famous for having designed and built London’s grand St. Paul’s Cathedral. He is also buried there. And his gravestone reads:
Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice
Which translates as:
Reader, if you seek his memorial – look around you
So, if you seek Chacha’s memorial, look around your city and town, at all the “infrastructural bottlenecks.”
They are the true memorial to The Chacha State.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
On Cars... And Roads
With New Delhi currently hosting the Auto Expo, the news and the views today are mainly focused on cars. Mint has an editorial titled “Green cars, not green politics,” which makes eminent sense. The ToI has an editorial that looks at traffic in our cities, and concludes:
I think if traffic is to be scientifically managed, the Bajaj autorickshaw must go. It is this vehicle that complicates matters on our city streets. With India now emerging as a global “hub” for manufacturing small cars – the ToI editorial is titled “Hub of small things” – it is vital that these modern cars replace the silly autorickshaw. Only then will it be possible to manage traffic properly in our teeming cities. Of course, roads will have to be built on a war footing – but you read about that on this blog quite often, don’t you?
The only point that I would like to add today is the statistic quoted in the ToI editorial – that car sales are expected to grow at 16 per cent this year. Such growth has been a normal feature in the years past as well. As this trend continues, it is vital that we wake up to the fact that a sea change has occurred in our lives and on our streets, a change that The Chacha State has not noticed – that fact that more and more Indians are car owners. Volkswagen, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota and Nissan-Renault have all unveiled plans to manufacture more than 100,000 cars annually in India. This is apart from the even bigger plans of Maruti-Suzuki. If the Central Planner wishes to think ahead – a basic function of the planner – then he must think of roads for all these cars.
Roads, more roads, and even more roads – that is what I recommend from the public kitty. We can then manage traffic, achieve a modicum of road safety, and even decongest our cities and develop satellite townships. All this depends on a roads vision – something The Chacha State sorely lacks. Therein lies the rub.
Traffic in most cities is nightmarish, with the World Bank estimating that city traffic has grown by 15 per cent a year for the last decade this when car penetration in India is a low 10 per 1,000 population, as compared to 500 per 1,000 in developed countries. Unless the government acts quickly to close the infrastructure deficit, the dream of mobility for all will quickly turn into a gridlocked nightmare.
I think if traffic is to be scientifically managed, the Bajaj autorickshaw must go. It is this vehicle that complicates matters on our city streets. With India now emerging as a global “hub” for manufacturing small cars – the ToI editorial is titled “Hub of small things” – it is vital that these modern cars replace the silly autorickshaw. Only then will it be possible to manage traffic properly in our teeming cities. Of course, roads will have to be built on a war footing – but you read about that on this blog quite often, don’t you?
The only point that I would like to add today is the statistic quoted in the ToI editorial – that car sales are expected to grow at 16 per cent this year. Such growth has been a normal feature in the years past as well. As this trend continues, it is vital that we wake up to the fact that a sea change has occurred in our lives and on our streets, a change that The Chacha State has not noticed – that fact that more and more Indians are car owners. Volkswagen, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota and Nissan-Renault have all unveiled plans to manufacture more than 100,000 cars annually in India. This is apart from the even bigger plans of Maruti-Suzuki. If the Central Planner wishes to think ahead – a basic function of the planner – then he must think of roads for all these cars.
Roads, more roads, and even more roads – that is what I recommend from the public kitty. We can then manage traffic, achieve a modicum of road safety, and even decongest our cities and develop satellite townships. All this depends on a roads vision – something The Chacha State sorely lacks. Therein lies the rub.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
When A Student Nails The State
Inflation is the hot topic of the day, with Mint warning in an editorial that “the virus is spreading.” So far, all talk had been of “food inflation,” but now, the editors of Mint say, prices of metals – gold, copper, aluminum – are showing a dangerous rising trend. The newspaper is also carrying an interview with Pawan Munjal of Hero Honda, who is quoted as saying that he is “concerned” about rising commodity prices, especially of steel and rubber.
What do you make of this?
We all know what the economists employed by The Chacha State have to say on the subject. Here is a report from last week quoting Kaushik Basu:
Basu added:
But there is good news in the face of all this mendacity. A young student from Kerala, Shanu A, has published a perceptive piece on inflation and nailed the real culprit – The Chacha State and its central bank. They are the real cause of inflation, he says, and the only cure is sound money. Shanu calls for gold.
You can read Shanu’s piece here – and I recommend it to all, especially students. You guys are the future – and Chacha & Co. are screwing up the future. This para is noteworthy for its forthrightness:
So I am happy to rest my pen today. It is deeply satisfying when the youth take over. Well done, Shanu.
What do you make of this?
We all know what the economists employed by The Chacha State have to say on the subject. Here is a report from last week quoting Kaushik Basu:
India does not need to tighten monetary policy now and risk stalling a nascent economic recovery as inflation pressure was mainly caused by high food prices, the chief economic adviser to the finance ministry said…
Basu added:
Right now, it is a sector-specific intervention that is needed, which is in food sector and that is what the government is doing…
But there is good news in the face of all this mendacity. A young student from Kerala, Shanu A, has published a perceptive piece on inflation and nailed the real culprit – The Chacha State and its central bank. They are the real cause of inflation, he says, and the only cure is sound money. Shanu calls for gold.
You can read Shanu’s piece here – and I recommend it to all, especially students. You guys are the future – and Chacha & Co. are screwing up the future. This para is noteworthy for its forthrightness:
Inflation is purely a monetary phenomenon, no matter how hard the statists try to evade that fact. Intellectuals and politicians would want the public to believe that inflation is an act of God, over which we humans have but no control. Inflation however is a policy, and as any policy, it can be halted. Our government goes on with its inflationary policies because it wants to tax the public, but lacks the temerity to resort to it in so explicit a manner. Inflation is in fact a hidden tax everyone pays irrespective of their incomes. It is a tax, which hits the poor more than it hits the rich. The sections hit most by inflation are orphans, widows and the elderly who live on the buying power of life insurance policies, pensions and annuities. Inflation leads to a re-distribution of wealth from the poor to the state and its parasites.
So I am happy to rest my pen today. It is deeply satisfying when the youth take over. Well done, Shanu.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
For Private Law... And Private Guns
I’m back – with a column in Mint titled “For a private law society.” My reader knows that this blog stands for private law. Here is an opportunity to read about this concept. The article concludes:
Now, talking about protection, it is an inescapable truth that ordinary, law-abiding folks in our country need their own private guns to protect themselves. They cannot depend on the mercenary and predatory apparatus of the State Police to defend them: “A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.”
Thus, it is horrifying to read that our The Chacha State is drawing up plans to make legitimate gun ownership even more difficult for us. Abhijeet Singh of Indians For Guns, a society of which I am an old member, in his recent blog post, addresses the issue. There is also an excellent article by Vikram Kona titled “Right to Protection: A Fundamental Responsibility and Failure of the Indian State” to be found here. Abhijeet says that today is the LAST DAY for citizens to petition The Chacha State against this tyranny. So, if you care for your own safety, do your bit.
Note that Aristotle thus defined the difference between a monarch and a tyrant: the monarch protects his people; the tyrant has to protect himself from them.
Indians For Guns are calling for a “partnership” between civilians and the State. Vikram Kona says:
The prescription is as follows:
Note that a “private law society,” the subject of my column in Mint today, fits in neatly with private guns, for the citizenry to effectively protect themselves and their properties.
Onwards to a brave new India.
[PS: I was not on a holiday the last week. My computer was down, and it was the engineers who were on chutti. Rukawat ke liye khed hai – if you remember your Doordarshan - and a happy new year >:)]
Law is a very serious thing. It is the protection for every individual. Today, especially in socialist India, the law is but naked coercion, offering zero protection.
Now, talking about protection, it is an inescapable truth that ordinary, law-abiding folks in our country need their own private guns to protect themselves. They cannot depend on the mercenary and predatory apparatus of the State Police to defend them: “A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.”
Thus, it is horrifying to read that our The Chacha State is drawing up plans to make legitimate gun ownership even more difficult for us. Abhijeet Singh of Indians For Guns, a society of which I am an old member, in his recent blog post, addresses the issue. There is also an excellent article by Vikram Kona titled “Right to Protection: A Fundamental Responsibility and Failure of the Indian State” to be found here. Abhijeet says that today is the LAST DAY for citizens to petition The Chacha State against this tyranny. So, if you care for your own safety, do your bit.
Note that Aristotle thus defined the difference between a monarch and a tyrant: the monarch protects his people; the tyrant has to protect himself from them.
Indians For Guns are calling for a “partnership” between civilians and the State. Vikram Kona says:
Whenever the State found itself with insufficient resources to deal with the problem at hand or expedient to its goals, the State did recruit the help of civilians in various forms. Post 1962 Indo-China War, the government initiated Civil Defence Training programmes, providing arms training around the country to raise a last line of defence. Even today, the Sashastra Seema Bal regularly provides arms training to villagers at the borders to fight and harass the enemy soldiers in case of an invasion. At different times, governments in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir armed citizens with government supplied guns and ammunition to fight terrorists! Right at this moment, the government of Chhattisgarh actively supports, arms and equips a counter insurgency movement called Salwa Judum. These examples make it evident that civilians can be trusted to bear arms, be proficient in their use, help preserve peace and security, protect the country, and still remain law abiding.
The prescription is as follows:
The Government must realise that empowering law abiding citizens is not detrimental to peace, stability and security of the country. Au contraire, such proactive measures would fill in the lacunae in governance effectively and efficiently. No one advocates an unregulated, free-for-all arms market. Criminals must be prevented from acquiring firearms but on the other hand, if a person is eligible to vote, has no criminal back ground and is mentally stable, that person should be eligible to get a firearm license without having to go through the bureaucratic rigmarole designed to deny and disarm rather than empower and enable the law abiding. The Government must define the licensing procedures clearly and implement them speedily, fairly, and transparently, without fear or favour. Private initiative should be encouraged in the firearms industry, to introduce an element of competition that is essential to counter the evils of monopoly. This will enhance the quality of products available to consumers and ensure that they are available at reasonable prices. Ban on imports of firearms for civilian use should be lifted for the same reasons and also to make high quality self-defence tools available.
Note that a “private law society,” the subject of my column in Mint today, fits in neatly with private guns, for the citizenry to effectively protect themselves and their properties.
Onwards to a brave new India.
[PS: I was not on a holiday the last week. My computer was down, and it was the engineers who were on chutti. Rukawat ke liye khed hai – if you remember your Doordarshan - and a happy new year >:)]
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