Continue With Rural Development? The Same Old Crap! Or Urbanisation Powered By Unilateral Free Trade?

What is the greatest threat to our lives: Terrorists or Maoists?


I would say: ROAD TRAFFIC!


200,000 people die on our unsafe roads every year, and many times more are seriously injured.


But at a a national workshop on rural development programmes in areas most affected by the Maoist movement, our Central State Police Minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, said that Maoists are a bigger threat than terrorists - while forgetting all about road traffic deaths, of course.


The news report says:

In the first eight months of this year, the number of civilians killed by Maoists is 10 times more than those killed in terror attacks, he [Chidambaram] said at a national workshop on rural development programmes in areas most affected by the rebel movement.

The one-day "workshop," held in Nude Elly, was attended by all the top brass connected with "rural development": first, the Rural Development Minister, Jairam Ramesh, a political flyweight, Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh; there was Montek, who heads the Planning Commission, the "economist"; there was minister for road transport and highways C.P. Joshi and tribal affairs and panchayati raj minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo.


The Annual Budget for rural development is 87,800 crore rupees. (One crore is 10 million.)


The news report says:

The rural development ministry is the nodal agency for development schemes, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Indira Awas Yojana, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and the National Rural Livelihood Mission. It has been allocated 87,800 crore rupees in the year to 31 March to implement these programmes. This includes the allocation to the department of drinking water and sanitation.

s.

But, obviously, all this SHIT is not working - because it cannot. Economic Law cannot be violated. Economic Law says the "division of labour" - which is the "specialisation" by which wealth is created - is maximised in cities and towns, because there are bigger markets there, because population density is high. A tea-shop in Pondicherry earns much more than a tea-shop in the jungles of Jharkhand - and it is not surprising that there are migrants from Jharkhand to be found in Pondicherry (I met two young boys) as also in Nude Elly. In Nude Elly, in fact, girls from Jharkhand are to be found working as housemaids. They have their own church in Green Park, where they meet their fellow Jharkhandis on Sundays, worship, socialise, and exchange news.


Nothing much can be achieved by spending 87,800 crore rupees on Rural Development. It is just "pork barrel politics." Corruption. It is interesting that chacha manmohan s gandhi bravely told the audience at this workshop that "there must be 'zero tolerance for corruption' in the implementation of schemes intended for these regions." Then how come he "tolerates" so much corruption in his own Cabinet?


There is ANOTHER WAY - and that is URBAN DEVELOPMENT, that too, along the twin coastlines, powered by unilateral free trade.


So, imagine a libertarian politician at the helm making a speech to the Jharkhandis:

Ladies and gentlemen,

There is NO HOPE for you in these jungles. If you want to progress, you must shift to where the MARKET beckons - and that is the COAST. So, go, all you tough young men and women, go to a coastal town or city of your choice and engage in free international trade. Come home with your profits - and return again.

For those who cannot go or do not want to go, government handouts are NOT the solution. Government CANNOT create jobs. But government can DESTROY jobs - by overtaxation, by restrictive licensing, and by the OUTRIGHT BANNING of trades.

Your trades in MAHUA and HANDIA are banned because of the previous government. We are setting them FREE - alongwith ganja. Sell these lovely drinks and smokes to tourists. Let there be mahua plantations instead of tendu leaf collection. Smoke cigarettes. Smoke ganja.

And remember: If you want tourists to come, there must be PEACE. No tourist will come to where he can get SHOT! That is why there are no tourists in KABUL these days.

So say OM SHANTI. And let there be peace.

Oppose the Maoists - tooth-and-nail. They are zeroes even in CHINA!

It is either Capitalism - which requires peace.

Or Communism - which requires WAR.

Choose ladies and gentlemen.

(Wild cheering.)

Get my drift, dudes?


MORONS ON TOP!

Garbage In, Garbage Out

The Constitution of India, the longest written constitution in the world, has a chapter mandating the "fundamental duties of the citizen." But it says nothing of the fundamental duties of The State it establishes, nor any limit to its powers, for it does not even guarantee the citizenry security in their properties. Even as I write, the Socialist Supreme Court is discussing the merits and demerits of forcible "land acquisition" by our The State.

In all our cities and towns, there is garbage all over the place. Their is dirt, filth and stench. Flies and mosquitoes proliferate - causing disease and even death. Many die of dengue fever in Nude Elly every year, a disease caused by a particular kind of mosquito.

In the meanwhile, our The State pretends to look after our health. There is a Ministry of Health, whose last incumbent, a political flyweight from Madras, banned smoking in public places; and this includes "private places" like restaurants and bars. 

But there is so much garbage in public places!

I discovered another such pretension yesterday as I examined my bottle of Carlsberg beer. The label says: "By Appointment to the King of Denmark." In other words, this sovereign recommends this fine beer to his subjects - and to the world at large. However, just alongside this solemn proclamation, our The State has FORCED the manufacturers to add their mandatory warning:

Consumption of Alcohol is Injurious to Health.

This displays ignorance; not only medical ignorance, but also historical ignorance. In the old days, no one drank water in the cities of Europe, because the water was full of germs. They drank beer - which is boiled before fermentation. They drank wine.

In India, our people do NOT drink beer or wine - because these have been overtaxed; and these high taxes have encouraged tipplers to go for hard liquor instead. Hard liquor on a daily basis is most certainly injurious to the health. You don't need a doctor to tell you that. You know how sick you feel the morning after.

Indeed, as I was travelling from Madras to Pondicherry, I passed the State-owned arrack factory. I remembered the stench from the old days. I drank this arrack once, with some rickshaw-wallahs in Madras - and it was horrible. If trade was free, arrack-drinkers would have Sri Lankan arrack, which tastes better than any Scotch whisky. Take my word for it.

Beer and wine are consumed by poor people in the West. Anthony Sampson, in his The Anatomy of Britain, records that when Labour Party meetings are held, beer is served, while when the Conservatives meet, it is champagne that flows. I read a biography of Michaelangelo once, in which it was mentioned that this great sculptor survived on wine and bread when he was poor.

Let us move on to tobacco. This is something new in India, for we have always been smokers of ganja, which is non-addictive and good not only for the health, but also the mind. It delivers the smoker a "mild euphoria": that is, it makes him "happy." It also expands the mind, which is why sadhus, while lighting a chillum, say "Alakh! Khol de Teesri Palak." Translated: "Shiva! Open my Third Eye." It is the Philosopher's Drug.

Our The State has prohibited ganja and charas - something even the Brits did not do - while unleashing tobacco upon us. And there too, it has FORCED manufacturers to place ugly "health warning" signs on cigarette packets:

Smoking Kills.

But flies and mosquitoes kill too. And they are caused by garbage.

Tobacco does NOT kill. Deng Xiao Ping smoked 90 cigarettes a day - and lived a long and happy life, during which he transformed China, throwing out Maoist Communism and replacing it with (flawed) Capitalism. 


And there is much more to tobacco than ITC cigarettes. There are cigars and cigarillos; there is pipe and rolling tobacco. All these have been blocked entry into our markets by the Customs Department. Personally, I prefer cigarillos to cigarettes - but here in India, you never get them.

I perceived this great hypocrisy on the part of our The State while in the swank Rajiv Gandhi Airport in Hyderabad. There, they did have two tiny "smoking rooms" for people like me. I pointed out to my fellow smokers there that the Hyderabad region is famous for its tobacco. I also pointed out that the last Nizam of Hyderabad chain-smoked the cheroots that his subjects produced. These locally made cheroots are NOT available in this airport. Meanwhile, the poor masses are smoking awful bidis. Open a bidi sometime and check out the tobacco within it, both quantity and quality. If cigarettes were not taxed, no one would smoke bidis. And if they could freely sell their mahua and handia, no forest-dweller would waste time picking tendu leaves.

In either case, we are dying on the streets. Over 200,000 Indians (and quite a few tourists, too) are killed on our unsafe streets and "notional highways" every year. This, while the State Police are working ever so hard on VVIP Security. They are working hard on "security concerns" that range from the Taliban to all the jehadis and terrorists and Maoists and Naxalites. Yet, they cannot look after our health on the streets. 

Making our streets safe requires no "intelligence." It does not require universal ID cards. It does not require phone tapping or e-mail interception or all the other kinds of snooping that these cops of ours are so good at. It requires Science. We must import experts in this Science. We must import experts in road design and engineering too.

And as for the Socialist Constitution of India - it is garbage itself. It needs to be dumped. We need a constitution that mandates duties for mayors - like the collection of garbage and the protection of life on the streets.

We are a very clean people. Our bodies, our homes, our kitchens - they are always spic-and-span. In Pondicherry, they wash the pavement outside their homes every morning and decorate it with a pretty rice-paste design. It is a crying shame that all our cities and towns are such a complete mess. 

This was not the case in British times. Sir Bartle Frere, while Governor of Bombay, received a letter from Florence Nightingale congratulating him on the fact that Bombay had a LOWER death rate than London! In Calcutta, the streets were WASHED every morning, and there are still to be found the hydrants installed for the purpose. Of course, these are no longer working.

Let us then think of a New Constitution. One based on the Inviolability of Private Property. And one which prescribes duties for mayors of cities and towns - while leaving the people Free. 

Free to smoke whatever they like. Free to drink whatever they like. Free to engage in commerce with the world outside. 

Free!

Liberty - From Here To Eternity

The State does NOT create wealth; rather, it destroys it. In the England of old, the King was never rich, but the merchants of the Olde City of London were fabulously wealthy. They were not selling computers, cars and the like those days. But the fishmongers, the grocers, the vinters who imported and sold wine - these were rich beyond belief. Edward II once had only 2 shillings in his treasury. And as for Henry V, when he went to battle at Agincourt, he had to pawn his jewels with the merchants of the City to raise the necessary funds. Thus, during the send-off ceremony organised for him, the Lord Mayor sat on his right - which is why, till this day, the Lord Mayor of London is second only to the King.

In India, we think the King - or The State - will create the wealth. He will make steel. He will give us "employment." This is a great delusion. This great delusion is multiplied by the fact that The State produces the money - paper notes. Today, Mamata Banerjee is running to the Centre for funds - from Pranabda. The Centre has no funds; all they will do is print more and borrow more. Similarly, here in Pondicherry, I just read that the government of this tiny city has borrowed 4,400 crore rupees (44 billion) from the Reserve Bank of India - and cannot pay it back. With so much money, the city could be built anew. Here, there is so much commerce on the streets - too much commerce, too little street. A sum of 4,400 crore rupees could have built so many miles of broad thoroughfares. Where has the money gone?

In my view, everything begins with "self-help." We must NOT look to the Centre, to Nude Elly, for its "funny money." The merchants of London gave the King his taxes; they did not seek his assistance in running their affairs, building their streets, or other civic facilities. So, each city and town must raise its own internal resources - in gold - and elect its own Mayor, an honest and honourable man, to perform the essential tasks of maintaining a city so that commerce can transpire peacefully. The purpose of a city is commerce.

There were no "political parties" in England - not until the 17th century. In India, our political parties are all gangs of anti-socials - which is what socialism is all about. The Lord Mayors of London were all wealthy merchants themselves, among the wealthiest men in the world. But if you look at chacha manmohan, sonia gandhi, beta rahul, advani, sitaram yechury - none are creators of wealth. They are all wealth destroyers. All these parties must be abolished.

There is only ONE legal principle required to obtain Liberty for all - and that is the Inviolability of Property. If Property is violated by private persons, it is either theft or trespass. Ditto for whatever local government the people set up to run their cities and towns. The local government is established to protect Property, not to violate it. If this Principle is followed, all will be well. Perfect order will prevail along with perfect Liberty. 

The Principle of Property applies even more so to money - for money must be tangible Property and not a paper note.

As far as public thoroughfares are concerned, they are "public property" and they should not be obstructed by private persons. It is the task of the local government to ensure that all thoroughfares are kept clear of obstructions. This is not happening now. Not in Nude Elly - and certainly not in Pondicherry. Every city and town mayor must focus on this issue - roads and traffic regulation. This is much more important than the RAW and IB and their "security concerns." Over 200,000 people die on our unsafe streets every year, and many times more are injured. The IPS are as much a disgrace as the IAS. Both "services" must be abolished.

Outside the cities, lies the countryside - and here, apart from roads, what matters most is the provision of clear Property Titles. This must be done by the people through their own, new agencies, using GPS technology. The patwari system is a complete failure under IAS maladministration. It must be abolished. 

Since cities are NOT self-sufficient, and all the needs of the city come from outside, it is in the interest of the city to see that outlying farmers, for instance, can easily bring their produce to market. These arrangements can be organised by collaboration between each city and its outlying villages. In this manner, real estate development will also occur in the rural areas, benefiting all. Satellite towns will also develop.

It must be noted that England till date does NOT possess a "written constitution." Such a device is totally unnecessary. A bunch of jokers crowded into a room cannot agree on anything - and the end result is disaster for a billion people. A written Constitution is required to establish and then "limit" the government set up. This has not happened anywhere in the world - including the USSA. 

All that is required is the Principle that Private Property is Inviolable by all. If this is "public opinion" then none can use force to take away either the Liberty or the Property of anyone else.

A city mayor - and some "aldermen" or "councillors" - are not rulers. They do not "make law" as legislatures do. They are just like the governing body of a club. That is all each city and town needs. They must find their own people - because everything depends on the use of "local knowledge." If it is your city, then your people must look after it. I also believe trained and experienced city administrators can be hired from abroad - and they should.

This, in brief, is all that a "constitution of liberty" is all about. Private property, private law and private money. Liberty - and perfect order. Peace. Prosperity. Of course, foreign trade should be unilaterally freed - and the cities and towns on the coast should do this on their own. It is in their own interest to do so. The Customs Department should be abolished.

I am also of the view that all the tax arms of the socialist State should be done away with. Local taxes should be raised in each city, from owners of Property - and they alone should be entitled to vote for the mayor and aldermen. Universal suffrage is a disaster. In either case, you need Liberty more than the empty vote. No one in Nude Elly can open a beer bar - but they can vote! What sense does that make?

The motto of the Olde City of London is domini dirige nos, which translates to "Let God be our Guide." That is the motto of Liberty. They did not say "let the King be our Guide" - as we stupid Indians did.

Here in Pondicherry I awoke to the sweet sound of the muezzin's call of prayer - "Allah ho Akbar." This, too, means much the same. That God is Great, that God is our Guide, that no King and no Man can order us around. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, like the Lord Mayors of London, was a merchant, as was his wife Khadija.

With this, we can rid our nation of the pernicious disease of "politics" - and those who call themselves "politicians." Like the word "democracy," all these words are meaningless these days; or their meanings have been completely distorted. These words come from Ancient Greece, and they meant other things there.

I delivered a lecture once at the YMCA in Mangalore titled "Politics: The Root of all Corruption." When we chose Socialism and Statism, we politicised everything, and thereby corrupted everything. 

Virtue comes from The Market. When markets are free and Competition is fierce - everyone tries harder and harder to keep his customers happy. Towards this end, they "study the happiness" of the public. This is something no State ever does. All the State does is give you the Big Stick - up your ass. Get rid of that stick - and you will be free. Fix your cities and towns, free your markets, and you will slowly but surely be able to rebuild this shattered civilisation - if that word can still be applied to this sub-continent. Just keep one Principle in mind - that Property must be inviolable.

There arises the question of "unowned" things - and these should be free for "homesteading" on  a first-come-first-served basis. This includes things like radio spectrum, virgin forest lands, oil and gas fields etc. The principle here is "finder's keepers" - something all schoolchildren know only too well. 

And as for me, I have no interest in the "trappings of authority." I am awaiting for the members of my reggae band - The Ganjeras - to arrive so we can start rehearsing for an album and maybe even a show. Our first number planned is "Veeru Was A Good Man" to the tune of Bob Marley's "Johnny Was A Good Man." Let the sandalwood tree be Free! 

The Philosopher's Stone

After those horrible weeks in Orissa, it was sheer delight to be in tiny Pondicherry - and civilisation. Shops, shops and more shops, bars and restaurants, masses of people everywhere, and even lots of bright neon lights. 

This small city was built by the French, the roads all neatly arranged in a "grid pattern." The central market area is called Grand Bazaar - and in 1985, I served briefly as the head of Grand Bazaar Police Station. I always recall those days, and those years, for I spent close to three years here, because while I headed Grand Bazaar PS, there was NO CRIME reported. During those years, I noticed that the people are all "god-fearing and law-abiding" and that a "natural order" prevailed. I saw that something was seriously wrong with Thomas Hobbes' view that without The State there would ensue "a war of each against all." There was no such war in Pondicherry. There was only one murder - of an MLA, and that is "political crime." Also, I personally saw the local police tear up the "history sheet" of a newly appointed CONgress minister! I found police work so boring, that I even resigned, but that's another story.

Today, I walked down these streets and their bazaars again, where perfect order prevails, wearing a t-shirt saying:

DON'T STEAL.

The Government Hates Competition.

Today, after over 20 years of "private investigations," a long "intellectual journey," I have found out why this natural order exists. It is so simply because we are all "rule following animals." Apart from religious and cultural rules, we follow commercial rules - and this results in a "commercial culture." Pondicherry exemplifies this culture as, indeed, does any place in this vast sub-continent. The existence of this commercial culture is what civilisation is all about, with its cities, their markets, and all the shops. A "nation of shopkeepers" is really what we are.

Yet, even here, as elsewhere, the truth of what my t-shirt says is evident. Much of the place, especially the commercial areas, is a mess; and traffic is worse than hell itself. In my time, most people rode cycles; today, they have progressed to motorcycles. No one has thought of tramways because I presume they have to apply to some "planner" in Nude Elly for permission. All the "political parties" are centralised, as is the IAS-IPS bureaucracy. All report to Nude Elly. And what an almighty mess Nude Elly is!

I strolled along the Beach Road promenade last night, as I used to do with my dog those long years ago, and passed the Governor's house, with its cannons mounted at the gates. There was a diesel generator on! And it is this The State that produces electricity! Sure enough, the electricity failed in my hotel. I passed a dental college set up by this State, which also runs a University and many schools. I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt saying "Studying Sucks!"

This is the fundamental error our nation has made. We have not sought Prosperity, Peace, Order and Knowledge in The Grand Bazaar; rather, we have asked the guys with the guns, with cannons at their gates, to deliver these to us. Error. The fact that these guys are clueless has already been brought out in previous posts.

Today, what I would like to add is that the guys with cannons at their gates, whether here or in Nude Elly, are issuing wrong commands to their own staff, their personnel. In the liberal scheme of things, the State does NOT command The Market. Rather, it commands its own staff to see that enemies of this market order are brought to justice. This is NOT happening. From Nude Elly you just hear nonsense about free rice for the poor and free and forced education for all, and, of course, the MGNREGA-bullshit; you never hear of all the important things that must be done in each of our cities and towns by the local people themselves, who possess the "local knowledge." They give orders to close down shops at 10pm. They give orders to harass smokers. They don't do any "useful work." This is particularly true of the Traffic Police. And this is true all over India.

Note that the masses of people roaming around in the bazaars are NOT "organised" into any "society." They are truly a "cosmos" of individual stars, an "order without design." Socialists wanted to organise and regiment such a cosmos into what Nehru called a "socialistic pattern of society" based on economic equality. It is from that point on that the guys with the guns got it wrong. And from Chacha Nehru to chacha manmohan it has been a long, downhill journey. As BR Shenoy asked of these planners, way back in the 1950s, is India to achieve "planned progress or planned chaos"? Today, it should be obvious, this IS planned chaos - especially on the streets, and we are fortunate if there are any streets at all, because these guys want to make steel and fly planes - and, of course, "educate" all the kids. 

Over my dead body, I say. For I was one of those "miseducated" kids myself. On my very first day at Hindu College, Delhi University, in 1974, there to study for a BA degree with Honours in Economics, I was taught The Theory of the Vicious Circle of Poverty. This says that poor people and poor nations are destined to remain poor forever - unless they receive outside aid, which can come from their own State, or from "foreign aid."

This was taught to me and millions of other Indians almost exactly 200 years after Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), in which he said we are all blessed by our creator with "a natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange." You see little children exchanging toys and other things amongst each other: like "give me some of your chips and I'll give you a sip of my cola." The instinct to trade is "natural." In my boarding school, we boys even developed our own "medium of exchange" - our money - and these were marbles. If you wanted something from someone else, you gave him some marbles, and different kinds of marbles had different values. That is the miracle of the trading, human mind. It needs NO COMMANDS.

The idea of a "command economy" is what has made this into a Predatory State. The commander is evil. He is possessed of two great big evil eyes. And a great big evil mind. If you want to survive, if you want your children to survive - the same children they call the "population problem" - and, most importantly, if you want this wonderful civilisation to survive, all these cities and towns, these shops and markets, these evil people must be overthrown.

Forthwith! 

If I may add, poverty is a HUGE MOTIVATOR. Poor people always struggle hard to succeed, while the children of the rich usually get addicted to luxury and vice, idling their lives away. A great big fortune made by one generation is usually completely dissipated by the next two, rarely built upon. I hope you see what a great big lie they taught me, on my very first day in class, under the head of "Economic Theory."

Song of the Day: Van Morrison's, here.

The Haunted, Frightened Tree Of Complete Ignorance

Vaclav Klaus regaled me with the story of how some World Bank - IMF "economists" phoned him when he assumed office as President of the Czech Republic, seeking an appointment so that they could offer him "advice." He told them he knew more Economics than them, and did not need their advice. Fuck off from Prague, dudes, he told them. Return to Washington DC or wherever the fuck you came from.

Sonia Gandhi has a National Advisory Council (NAC). She needs advice. Why does she need advice? Because she is Ignorant. According to Shekhar Gupta of the Indian Express, these "darbari jholawallahs" of the NAC are "IAS dropouts and retirees." These guys have dreamt up a new scheme for promoting "rural livelihood." But markets are in crowded cities and towns - not in the vacant countryside. As Adam Smith said in the very first chapter of the Wealth of Nations, "the extent of the division of labour is limited by the size of the market." The Principle of the Division of Labour, by which we all specialise, is what Ludwig von Mises called the "principle of cosmic change and becoming." Each of us chooses to "become" someone - singer, dancer, actor, writer, whatever. We do not all sit in villages and spin yarn for our own use. We are NOT "self-sufficient." We specialise - and this requires physical marketplaces in physical cities and towns.

While Sonia Gandhi and her darbari baboons dream of a rural utopia, it is worth noting that all our cities and towns are disasters, including Nude Elly. These socialists built three cities in the past 60 years - while the Bris built 80 "hill-stations" in 50 years - and all three are State Capitals: Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, and Bhubaneshwar, where I am now located. 

I travelled around Bhubaneshwar a fair bit by auto-rickshaw yesterday, and the broad roads lined with trees are all for The State, just like Nude Elly. I asked the driver to take me to the Central Commercial District - and there was none. At least the Brits built Connaught Place, grandly designed. 

In Bhubaneshwar, the streets where shops are located are all disasters - and this affects the poorest of the poor, who eke out their "livelihoods" on the streets, since they cannot afford proper shops. They sell bananas, coconuts, pakoras and what not - this is the division of labour. And you cannot sell coconuts where there is no market - which is the vacant village.

Population causes Prosperity - in cities and towns, and their markets.

While Sonia Gandhi and her darbari baboons dream of rural schemes by which huge amounts of fraudulent money will be spent by younger IAS baboons, the fact remains that poor people from villages are continuously coming to these ghastly cities and towns - and getting fucked. See the jhugggis of Nude Elly, the slums of Bombay and Calcutta, and from my train window I saw the poor of Bhubaneshwar too, trying to survive in huts by the railway track. All around is ABUNDANT UNOWNED LAND.

There is the metaphysical - and there is the physical: cities and towns are our Fixed Capital. City and Town Roads are Social Capital: they are "public thoroughfares" and hence "collective property." They are NOT investing in these because they know not what Capital is, the life blood of Capitalism. Rather, they are "consuming capital" - which is the highway to "de-civilisation." The Professor of Economics at the IAS Academy in Mussoorie is a Marxist - as I reported on the Barkha Dutt Show many years ago.

There is "authority" - and sometimes there comes about the total absence of authority, because of Ignorance. The Delhi Development "Authority" is NOT an acknowledged "authority" on anything: just check out the disaster called Vasant Kunj, built and designed by a bunch of assholes. Similarly, the National Highway "Authority" of India is NOT an "authority" on highways - which would be Gabriel Roth. Our National Highways are all "notional highways." The Traffic Police know nothing of the science and technology of traffic management. Everything about The State is marked by complete and total Ignorance. From top to bottom. And they want to teach your children!

The Science of Economics is the most important science for humanity to know and understand. I am proud to be an Independent Authority in this science.

And as for our The Corrupt & Ignorant State Devoid of all Authority - I have only pure contempt. You look at human society with the "evil eye" - the buri nazar. You desire not that each Indian youngster "becomes" what he or she wants to become. You desire only that they become your servants - that is, "government servants." So you want to employ "the masses" in your "work schemes." You are inventing work in villages - and stealing all the money through your "political and bureaucratic organisation" - while, simultaneously, you are hurting all livelihoods in cities and towns. In Bombay, girls can't dance free. In Nude Elly only The State can open booze shops. In Bhubaneshwar I saw many "musical bands" who had set up their counters on a roadside. One said "Brass Band." And one actually said "ROCK BAND." There are no bars in the city where live music is played. What is "knowledge"? And how much of it comes from schools, and books?

If the CONgress is so ignorant, the Opposition is even worse. The BJP's slogan remains the metaphysical - a God, and his Temple. As if any God can be found in temples. I smoked a chillum with a sadhu in Gangotri. He told me the people worshipping at the temple there were fools, and God is found in solitude, in peace, and in the Holy Smoke. Instead of the metaphysical Lord Ram the BJP has given us Narendra Modi at the top and Dara Singh at the bottom. They are as evil and ignorant as the CONgress; maybe worse. And then we have the Commies - the most Ignorant people ever born. Democracy is also metaphysical. The "power of the vote" is no power; and most people don't vote. So there must be someway outta here. And that lies in Liberty.

I conclude this post with two quotes Peter Bauer ended his essay on "The Disregard of Reality" with - an elegant essay penned on the disaster mainstream Economics has become, written towards the end of a long and productive life championing Liberty for the poor of the Third World. The first is from Pascal, and it goes:

"Let us labour at trying to think clearly: herein lies the source of moral conduct."

And the second is from George Orwell, a socialist hero who did see the horrors of statism:

"We have sunk to such a depth that the restatement of the obvious has become the first duty of intelligent men."

The Chakra... And Our Civilisation

In Juggernaut Puri, everything revolves around the chakra - the wheel. The road servicing this area is named Chakratirtha Road - which means "the pilgrimage of the wheel." The skylight in my room in a quaint, old hotel is shaped like the chakra. And I bought a souvenir of carved stone of this chakra. There are 16 spokes around the hub - and the base is held up by 10 elephants. Which means the ancients understood that the power of the spoked wheel was greater than that of 10 elephants. There are other figures holding up the chakra that I bought - and these include strange monstrous creatures as well as pretty dancing girls. I think dancing girls must have been big in our ancient civilisation - for the first hall in the Sun Temple of Konarak is the Hall of the Dancing Girls. But no music and dance on the streets of Puri - or should I say "non-streets."

It rained a bit last morning - and the whole town flooded up. Funny how excavations of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro reveal elaborate storm-water drainage systems - that too, in a desert, where it could not have rained much. Today, our civilisation lacks storm water drainage - it floods up in Nude Elly, where it rains twice a year, at most; and it floods up in Mumbai, too, where the monsoon hits with predictable certainty. So what could be different about Juggernaut Puri.

Read a strange article by the "RTI activist" Aruna Roy trying to define "civil society." I think it might be better if we first tried to define "civilisation" - a word based on civitas, which means "city." If our cities have collapsed, so has our civilisation. And as for "civil society" - it is a meaningless socialist concept. The market order is based on individualism - and it is what Hayek called a cosmos, just like all the individual stars in the night sky, a perfect "order without design." Indeed, one of Hayek's most important books is titled Individualism and Economic Order. 

Aruna Roy is part of our "political society." All her "activism" has resulted in more jobs for the baboos - and there are now "Information Commissioners" everywhere, with their offices and big bungalows, their peons and chaprasis, and their dowdy Ambassador cars. Similarly, Kiran Bedi is "political society" - and Anna Hazare rules a little village, not a city, and it is reported he whips all those who drink alcohol in his "political domain." A real "civilian" would be the owner of the village pub, a "publican." We have none of these.

None of these "civil society activists" have anything to with "civilisation" - which means an amorphous collection of individuals peacefully co-existing in a city, serving customers, surviving thereby, and enjoying life. The emphasis is on "enjoying life" - and the essential reading on civilisation is Plato's Symposium, a word that means "drinking party." Plato tells the tale of one such drinking party that Socrates attended - and, sure enough, there were "flute girls" in attendance. Do read Symposium sometime. It will tell you what is civilisation, or, what was civilisation. We don't possess it anymore - at least not in India.

The Kiran Bedi - Anna Hazare nonsense will also create another government office. They will entrench "political society." We must focus on the root word "civilisation."

And we must also focus on the chakra - the wheel. Our people need wheels - and roads. I had to go out in an auto-rickshaw into town in the morning drizzle - and I got wet. What kind of silly vehicle is this - so open to the elements, and so uncomfortable? Is this "civilisation"? This silly vehicle hogs the non-streets of all our cities because it is "licensed" by The State - and Rahul Bajaj is an MP, a member of "political society."

Last evening, over some whiskies followed by (excellent) Royal Challenge beer, I tried smoking some of the bullshit grass my taxi driver brought me. And I thought of the guy who invented the chakra, the spoked wheel. It struck me that this unsung hero must have had some good chillums to smoke while pondering over the problem. If you remember your Sherlock Holmes, you will recall that for Holmes, a major mystery was always a "three pipe problem." To design the chakra must have taken three or four good chillums, I thought. After all, the chillum was invented long before the wheel, and ganja has been smoked in India from long before the temple of Juggernaut Puri was built. 

Enough of this bullshit grass, and this bullshit town. I am off today, by train, to Sambalpur, in the west, in the jungle, where the ganja is famous, and where Nehru built the Hirakud Dam. That was Nehru - the Dam Builder, unhappy to just sit by and "watch the river flow." Nehru's The State has persisted in blocking everything our free society could be. It was Nehru who established the "license-permit raj." This was his damned Dam Vision.

There are these dams everywhere, and even in Canacona, South Goa, I found a Big Dam (serving no ostensible purpose). 

I hate dams. I like free flowing rivers. I am a Freedom Man - that's how lucky I am.

The Sun No Longer Shines On Konarak

Took a taxi ride to see the Konarak Sun Temple, 40 km from Puri. Within a couple of kilometres we were out of city limits - and the slums.

Then, we passed some "residential localities" of the middle class - but no markets there, and poor inner roads. No space for the automobile. Or servants. 

And then, the JUNGLE started. All jungle between Puri and Konarak. Forest Department warning signs about deer crossing. Casaurina trees, cashews too - but all jungle.

Finally, reached a sort of roadside town - quite a shambles - with a statue of Biju Patnaik pointing in the general direction of The Sea. But there is no promenade for tourists. A municipal functionary operating a roadblock took 10 rupees tax from me.

A few minutes later, we were near the famous temple - and a cop had to be bribed to drive inside. Another 10 bucks for a ticket - and I made the fortunate decision to hire the services of a guide. 

The Sun Temple in Konarak is built on 24 "spoked wheels" - each with a massive "hub." That is, two hub-and-spoked wheels for every month, representing the phases of the moon. They worked as "sundials" too, my guide told me, and you could tell the time by them.

The temple is elaborately carved - but not too well maintained. Scaffolding all over the place, and many "new stones" that are out of place and ill-designed, obviously by our The State. What is interesting is the representation of the "stages of life" - with animals cavorting for the children, sexual enjoyment for the adults, and metaphysical speculation for the aged. Metaphysics has been the bane of Indian philosophy.

One interesting mural showed a day in the life of a noblewoman - she wakes up and stretches, bathes, helped by servants, and then rides out on a horse to hunt! 

No hunting allowed any more  in Orissa - a heavily forested State of the Federation. Why not deer ranching in the private sector? Barun Mitra is going gung-ho about tiger farming; but I think we should begin with deer. And ganja farming, of course.

I enjoyed a venison steak at the Ikea showroom in the outskirts of Frankfurt-am-Main. The photo accompanying this post is of deer hunters in the USSA.

I must mention what the noble-woman did after the hunt - well, she enjoyed her man. The Good Life! In three or four different positions.

My guide smoked ganja - and we shared a couple of chillums in the unkempt temple gardens. Some other chaps joined us - sellers of precious stones, which seems to be a big "street business" here. This is also "knowledge" not taught in school. The gemstone sellers commented how ganja was a "good nasha" - and how alcohol was killing the people. My guide scored some ganja for me - which did the trick this morning, somewhat.

But the Sun is not shining on this Tourist Destination. The crowd at the Sun Temple was immense! That too, on a Monday evening. All along the road, people have opened dhaba-type shacks. I even found a Cafe Coffee Day - and enjoyed a cappucino. I thought of Goa, where, all along the NH 17, you find establishments calling themselves "Bar & Rest" - the Goans are too susegaad to use the full word "Restaurant"! - but here on this jungle highway there are no bar & rest signs. No Freedom. No road. No wheels. Abundant Space.

I thought a Great Idea would be to rig up a private consortium that would build a sea-side train ride between Puri and Konarak - and develop commercial property all along. The crowd of Bengali tourists would love it. Maybe some would buy Property here for their retirement. This would be real "development" - coming from The Market, an Institution of Free Society that socialists like Biju Patnaik could never comprehend. And they never looked towards The Sea; they only looked towards Nude Elly - for "planned development funds": all the "funny money" of the RBI. Funny money that loses value even as I write.

You might as well burn your Macroeconomics textbook too.

It rained on the return journey - and all was cool. Not violent rain like the Goan monsoon, but a gentle drizzle, with blowing gusts of cool wind. It was nice driving through The Jungle, but when we reached The City all was a mess. Can't enjoy the weather in The City. 

Saw a guy with a t-shirt saying "My idea of a Balanced Diet is a Beer in Each Hand" - but I find the beer here prohibitively priced. For the price of one beer I bought a 180ml bottle of Seagram's Royal Stag IMFL whisky. It costs much less in Nude Elly. It costs even less in Goa. So the poor drink chullu. Smoke bidis. And horrible ganja. And their savings are eroded by Inflationism.

What the fuck!

You might as well burn your Microeconomics textbook too.

It is the Science of Economics you need to know - as developed in the Tradition of the Austrian School.

So stay tuned to this blog, where I will elaborate key principles each day.

Jagannath Puri - Revisited - On The Ganja Juggernaut

I am now in Puri - the premier beach resort on the East Coast. Here, the oldest hotel is the BNR - named after the private Bombay-Nagpur Railway that first connected wheels to this place, and the rich people of Calcutta built their holiday homes here. Then, in those early days, BNR built a hotel in Puri. Now, it has been privatised, and my driver said it belongs to a relative of the former railway minister, Laloo Yadav.


There are many ancient holiday homes near my hotel - one, in fact, owned by the CONgress MP from this area, the son of Nandini Sathpathy.  Yet, this place is a mess. This dude ought to be made Mayor of Puri - instead of MP. And, he smokes ganja. All Oriyas do. They have a festival when all three gods are worshipped - Brahma, Visnu and Shiva - and the offerings are paan, betel and ganja. The ganja is for Shiva. There are many Shiva temples here.


I got ganja from a legal shop just 5 minutes ago. You cannot do this in Goa. Orissa can compete - positioning itself as the Ganja Capital of the Free World. Also, there is no Coastal Zone Act here - my hotel is right on the beach, as is the MP's, just around the corner from mine. But the place sucks. Goa is far, far prettier. Here, they have made a mess of their city. 


The mess starts from Bhubaneshwar. My taxi ride was slow and uncomfortable. Many a traffic jam. And there was no bridge over the railway crossing that must date back to BNR times.


No road to the beach resort.


And no beach road either.


No Marine drive.


The city needs a Mayor - like all Indian cities do.


But I love the Freedom - to be able to buy and smoke ganja without police harassment.


Freedom!


Tomorrow, I will watch the sunrise across the sea. 


And smoke a chillum while doing so.


Enough of Goan sunsets.

New City, East Coast, Same Old Story

I am now in Bhubanashwar, the capital of Orissa - a very old civilisation. I am close to the Sun Temple of Konarak and the beaches of Puri. But I don't see any tourists about. Although ganja is legal here. I bought some from a legit shop - and the up-market hotel I checked into didn't serve beer: LICENSE! What a change from Goa - where beer is legit and ganja isn't. Is this the same country, with one parliament, and the same laws?

The scenery from the train window was wonderful throughout - starting with the splendour of the Western Ghats through the rocky landscape of the plateau right through to the quiet beauty of the Eastern Ghats. What a beautiful country we live in, I thought. And how much free space - abundant is the word to describe how much land we possess to live in. I saw so much unowned, uncultivated land - including all the mountains, each and every one.

My travelling companion was a naval officer whose village lay, he said, 25 kms out of Bhubaneshwar. He said he owned 7 acres of "agrilcultural land" - and added that the going rate for such land was about Rs. 1,25,000 an acre. He added that you cannot build a residence on such land - LICENSE!

I noticed that all the cities and towns I passed through were uniformely ugly and overcrowded: Dharwar-Hubli, Bellary, and the coastal cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa I passed through in the morning, like Vizianagaram.

The naval officer disembarked at Khurda Road - just 15 short of Bhubaneshwar. I saw only open land all through this 15 km journey. And when I arrived in Bhubaneshwar, it was overcrowded and traffic was impossible. Chaos, Dirt and filth. And there is no road to the upmarket hotel I now live in - just a patlee gullee. And there is an E-Class Mercedes parked within. I asked the guy how does the car get in and out. He grimaced. The morning newspaper was full of ads for cars. And Bhubaneshwar is a "new city" - like Chandigarh and Gandhinagar. 

Made me think that we suffer from the predatory rule of "urban development authorities" that are entirely unelected - and these monopolise the supply of urban (residential and commercial) land as well as roads. We are being squeezed dry by these twin administrative monopolies. This is where we need "democracy" - so I champion urban self-rule and not grameen swaraj - which is nonsense. 

The newspaper contained a photo of some urban "demolition" going on in nearby Cuttack. Same old story.

There was also a story of some "land acquisition" in and around the port of Paradip by The State for the Korean firm Posco. Why does Paradip, the deepest port in India, only export iron ore and bauxite, and import nothing? Why can't Property be Protected and why can't Posco buy land?

The train offered me an opportunity to think up an example of the Primacy of Private Property. I had a reserved berth in a 2AC compartment. My temporary property right was protected by the guard - and no one was allowed to infringe my absolute right to possess that berth undisturbed.

Yet, there were thousands of poor people hanging out of two unreserved 2nd Class compartments ahead of mine. What would have happened if Property did not exist? Obviously, everyone would have occupied everything and chaos would ensue. In a communist society a "comrade" would come up and demand the keys of your car in the name of "brotherhood." It is this "brotherhood" that is stealing land outside Paradip. It is as if my railway guard had allowed all the unreserved 2nd-classwallahs to take over my berth. What is the "Role of the State" in a Free Society? To protect Property? Or to prey on it?

"Peace, Freedom and Justice are the three blessings of Civilisation," said Bastiat - and that Justice is ultimately founded on the Principle of the Inviolability of Private Property. And the value of "agricultural land" increases with roads. People spread out - and there is lebensraum. Overcrowding ends. There is no "population problem." Bollocks! This is a shortage of roads.

This is the Predatory Urban Development (or should we say "Destruction") Authority.

The fourth blessing of Civilisation is beautiful cities. Think about it. And compare our current civilisation to that of the ancients.

Read about Baba Ramdev's "call to arms." Give him Haridwar, I say. Let him be the Mayor of that Holy City - where you can freely smoke ganja-charas on the ghats, with all the other "holy men." Why then, maybe I'll drop by in Hardwar to have a smoke along the Ganga.

Bum Lehri! Tere Jata Se Ganga Behri!

India - As A "Nation Of Shopkeepers"

Continuing from where I left off yesterday, let us note that expanding commercial space is "economically sustainable" in the precise sense that this will not require any welfarism; no freebies will have to be doled out to "the poor." Rather, it will enable millions to earn their own living - and further, these self-supporting people will pay taxes instead of huftha. This is precisely what happened in Singapore.


When Singapore gained independence in 1964 (shortly after Nehru's death) the city-state was poor. The area now known as the Central Business District (CBD) was a place where over 200,000 street hawkers and vendors plied their trade. Lee Kwan Yew then readied a "design" for the place by which the CBD would be hawker-free - but he also designed residential areas on the fringes of his territory, and built special markets for re-locating the CBD hawkers there. Today, these very hawkers are tax-paying middle class citizens. 


In Singapore, furthermore, street food is big business - and a great tourist attraction. There is really nothing much in Singapore worthy of tourism; but they have created their city in such a way - shopping, food and drink, Sentosa Island, underwater park and the zoo - that millions of tourists, including lots of Indian tourists, flock there year after year.


In other words, all this is eminently feasible. It just needs sensible city management. This needs mayors with budgets and authority. It needs Subsidiarity - so that mayors can keep local taxes, and are more important than the Central State or the Federal State. We in India need to re-build all our existing cities and towns, and also create many, many more.


I may add that I am no great fan of Singapore's "authoritarian capitalism" - to borrow Cristopher Lingle's phrase. But Lee Kwan Yew has built Singapore into what it is today, while our rulers have destroyed each and every city and town - without exception.


Welfarism is "economically unsustainable." All welfare is about "consumption" - not "investment." In the final analysis, we in India need Capital investments - and roads are Social Capital. Roads are also "collective property" in the sense that everyone can use them. (I am not referring to highways, which can be private, from which those who do not pay the toll, or who use inefficient vehicles like bullock-carts, can be kept out.) 


Thus, roads are the collective property we need - not Air India, SAIL and ONGC. If we privatised the entire public sector, there would be enough money to invest in world class roads. These roads would lead to a re-building of our urban areas, especially all the satellite towns. They would be much more commercial space for all, including all those who are hawkers today. In time, I am confident, all traders would own proper shops.


I have myself seen this happening in a posh South Delhi market. When the market was built in the 70s (Delhi is a "new city"!) there was a chap there who sold salt peanuts from a pushcart. His peanuts were good, his customers liked what he sold, and today he owns a little shop in that very same market.


Of course, New Delhi is a very bad "model." This "planned, new city" has almost no commercial space. There are lots and lots of "parks" - but there are very few markets. The Mughals built Chandni Chowk, the Brits built Connaught Place, but these jerks only built Nehru Place - a disaster. In Delhi, zoning rules are flouted openly - there is no other way - and huftha rules.


These socialist jerks only thought about "housing." They never thought of The City as a commercial hub. Thus, they never built any commercial spaces - like markets. Hence the disaster.


Today, they are talking "welfare." That is NOT what we need. We need cities and towns - and markets. We also need housing - and there is enough space for that. But people will buy houses only after they have earned enough through market activities.


So why just Bengal? The whole of India can be a Nation of Shopkeepers. 


"Into that haven of freedom, my Lord, let my country awake."


Amen.

Bengal - As A "Nation Of Shopkeepers"

While some have concluded, quite correctly, that the West Bengal elections were won and lost on the issue of Private Property, this blog took the point further and argued that, for the new regime, road-construction must be a top priority, because roads automatically increase the value of lands they link to. Oddly enough, the news has it that the Mamata Banerjee government has 35 ministers - but no mention is made of a roads minister!

Today, there is another piece of news from Calcutta that suggests roads must be top priority. Referring to Calcutta's street hawkers, this news report concludes with the following paragraph:

The Chief Minister said she had been holding discussions with officials concerned for improving the traffic system that would entail, among other things, widening of some roads without evicting hawkers on the pavements.

Why are there so many street hawkers in Calcutta? Two reasons: First, Calcutta is the only Big City - and so it attracts migrants like a magnet; and second, these migrants cannot afford to buy shops. How will roads help?

With roads into the surrounds, satellite towns would develop, and more and more commercial property would be built, bringing down the cost of shops. In time, more and more of these hawkers would become regular shop-owners. That is the direction in which Bengal must proceed - build roads so as to urbanise aggressively; and put an end to zoning rules so that commercial property grows without any legal restrictions.

The West was also like this. I recall visiting the ancient City of Cologne in Germany some years back, and walking about its markets with a local journalist who told me that, in the olden days, one of the legal responsibilities of the City Mayor was to oversee the smooth conduct of all business on the streets: that is, business conducted by street hawkers and vendors. 

My guide told me that in ancient times, poor people from afar would travel to Cologne to sell their wares in its markets - and the Mayor had to look after their interests. But now, said my guide, everyone owns a shop - and this legal responsibility has recently been deleted from the duties of the City Mayor. The same can happen in West Bengal - a state that has many big cities and towns apart from Calcutta. Economic progress ought to mean that street-hawkers become shopkeepers.

Of course, western cities still have informal markets and street hawkers can still be found - as in Amsterdam - but these are run by quite prosperous folk, and they rake in bigger profits than regular shopkeepers because tourists prefer to shop in such informal markets. And overhead costs in informal markets are quite low.

It is also my opinion that aiming for a Bengal that is a "nation of shopkeepers" would totally destroy the appeal of Communism, which has held the average Bengali in its thrall for decades - and encouraged him to become a government clerk: a baboo. Indeed, the very word is Bengali. 

Bengal was the first province in India to be ruled by by the British - and it was Napoleon who ridiculed the British by calling them "a nation of shopkeepers." Napoleon preferred France to be "a nation of patriotic soldiers" - but it was Britain and not France that emerged victorious. It was the nation of shopkeepers that ruled the world. Mises says something noteworthy about these shopkeepers - and the civilisation they begat:

The much abused shopkeepers have abolished slavery and serfdom, made woman the companion of man with equal rights, proclaimed equality before the law and freedom of thought and opinion, declared war on war, abolished torture, and mitigated the cruelty of punishment. What cultural force can boast of similar achievements?

The Brits built all the great markets of Calcutta - the very old "New Market" was built by Sir Stuart Hogg - and a section of it is still named after him.

Bengal has voted for poriborton - or "change." Let that change first emerge in ideology. Let Capitalism replace Communism.  The common people of West Bengal, the peasants and the workers, swallowed all the commie propaganda - and lost. Lost badly. For them, I have another noteworthy quote from Mises:

There is but one way toward an increase of real wage rates for all those eager to earn wages: the progressive accumulation of new capital and the improvement of technical methods of production which the new capital brings about. The true interests of labor coincide with those of business.

So, it not only Private Property that matters for Bengal's future. It is the entire Capitalist prescription that needs to be implemented - beginning with Free Trade, so that all the swanking new shops will have shelves overflowing with the best goods from all over the world. Calcutta Port must become a very busy port. Since this is a river port, some deep water sea ports must also be found.

And add Sound Money to the list - for the same news report quoted above talks about Mamata Banerjee's "rice for 2 rupees a kg" scheme for the poor in Jangalmahal: the area where Maoism / Naxalism is rife. This may be necessary now, for where there is no peace there can be no market. Peace is another prescription for Bengal - if she wants Capitalism.  But so long as this cheap rice is paid for by printed paper rupees, it makes no sense - for the cost of everything else rises: inflation.

Thus, the poriborton that Bengal needs is just this: 

Communism must be replaced by Capitalism.

No more a "nation of baboos."

From now on, let Bengal be a Nation of Shopkeepers!


PS: Part 2 of this post can be read here.