A Fisherman, That Nut Gandhi, And Other Nuts I Hate

It was late last evening, and we were both tired, so instead of embarking on our regular stroll to one of the beaches, we decided to stop at a sheltered cove. There, sitting on the rocks, we watched the angry colours of the sunset reflected upon the calm waters of the Arabian Sea.

A man appeared – a man wearing nothing more than a ragged pair of shorts, carrying nothing more than a small fishing net bundled up under one arm. He stepped into the shallow waters and waded out a few metres, after which he cast his net. When he hauled it in, there was nothing in it, so he waded out a little further and cast it again.

“This is a fisherman with no Capital,” I commented, “all he has is a net – but no boat.”

She replied, “So what? He doesn’t want to catch too many fish – just two or three for himself and those he has to feed at home.”

And I said: “That’s what you call ‘self-sufficient’ – without any marketable surplus; producing for one’s own consumption, unable to perform any exchanges in The Market by which to obtain even a small portion of the surpluses of others. Thus, he is condemned to eternal poverty. This is Gandhianism for you.”

I  continued: “Actually, in reality, it is worse than that. It is Gandhianism combined with Communist-Environmentalism – for, on the one hand, the poor chap has no Capital; and, on the other hand, he has no Property either because of the Coastal Zone Regulation Act. Property by this shaded cove would be extremely valuable today and who knows which rich Western tourist would decide to buy it for Big Bucks and build himself a winter holiday home.”

“You and your eternal Economics,” she said, “Can’t you ever talk about something else?”

“It’s not Economics,” I replied in my defence, “It’s actually Anti-Economics. Economics is my Passion. Anti-Economics is my Hatred. I hate Gandhianism, Communism, and Environmentalism.”

“Talk of love, not hate,” she said, quoting the Cohen song.

"Men are from Mars and women are from Venus," I thought of saying, but didn't, for it is a cliche. But there might be some truth to it, to do with hormones. Chemicals matter - like good old THC, or alcohol. Ha ha.

Free Cities: India's Alternative Future

It is quite apparent today that our Central State is collapsing; that Chacha Manmohan cannot stop the tide; that Rahul and Sonia Gandhi are non-entities; that the BJP is clueless and quite evil, too; that the Commies are zeroes; and all the other parties are bereft of any real ideology other than the same old CONgressism. Yet, this could have been predicted by any good historian. After all, the Roman Empire collapsed for similar reasons - the pre-eminence of the Fuhrer Principle (of a Supreme Leader); the absense of free enterprise; excessive interventionism and all the consequent corruption; and, finally, inflationism and the debasement of the currency. It is for these very reasons that the USSR collapsed. And, I daresay, it will be for these very reasons that the USSA will collapse too. What is wrong in History cannot work in Practice.

But then, what is wrong in Theory cannot work in Practice either. The Gandhis and their CONgress are biting the dust because their Mahatma was completely wrong in Theory. His aversion to modern machinery and technology was stupid Luddism - and put India back by half-a-century or more. His distaste for alcohol has corrupted modern Gujarat - as I wrote about while touring there a month or so ago. Similarly, his vision of an India comprising "self-sufficient village republics" is nonsensical - because the "division of labour" is maximised in cities and towns, as the higher populations there make for bigger markets: you cannot even run a chai-shop successfully in a sleepy, vacant village. Thus, we in Indyeah need to embrace a VISION of the future that is proven right in History, in Theory, and in Practice. We can be a nation that is a League of many thousands of free-trading and self-governing cities and towns - all competing for business and citizens. Something like the Hanseatic League of Olde Europe.

There are many reasons for us to proceed on this path urgently - for one, our people are predominantly poor and deserve much better. And second, the "developed world" is going to go through hell soon. The USSA, the EU, Japan and China are headed nowhere but hell - only because of massive State interventionism and inflationism. Do read this extensive interview with Bill Bonner that appeared in The Daily Bell, an online publication favouring Austrian Economics and Free Markets that I found today on LewRockwell.com; it will tell you that, if we get things right - get our act together, as they say - we could make this Hindustan of ours truly sarey jahan se achha.

Bill Bonner, in the interview cited above, is introduced as a "hard money maven" - and the most important issue facing our nation today, and each "competing city" comprising it, is the issue of "sound money." Austrian economists have always held that to be COINS of gold and silver, while they have treated paper notes as "money substitutes." If we get our money right, and free our economy - laissez faire, laissez passer, laissez aller - then the world's hard Capital will come into our rock-solid banks. Our currency, now based on gold, will appreciate against all the fiat paper currencies of the rest of the world, and our poor will become big consumers of cheap imports - and prosper.

As the great poet put it, "Into this Haven of Freedom, my Lord, let my country awake!"

Rats - And The Sinking Ship

The photo accompanying this post is from Jaitapur on the Konkan Coast just north of Goa, where a State-owned nuclear power plant is slated to come up. This photo appeared in Outlook, and shows our State Police meting out rough treatment to locals opposed to the forcible seizure of their lands, and also opposed to a nuclear facility in their area for reasons of safety. The report in Outlook says this about the Central State's choice of Jaitapur as a site for a nuclear power plant:

But in 20 years, as many as 92 quakes have been recorded here [Jaitapur], with the severest of them in 1993 measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale. The region is officially seismically marked as Zone III — Zone V being the worst category. And despite the elevation of the site on a plateau, concerns about a tsunami refuse to fade. It is perhaps keeping this in mind that Commerzbank, the German bank backing the project, pulled out even before the Japanese crisis, citing the “sustainability and reputational risk” involved.

There is another report, this time in Tehelka, which chronicles abuses of power by the State Police - who seem to be on the side of our The State and not The People, and must therefore be looked upon as Predators, not Protectors. The report begins saying that "lock-ups, prisons and court cases have become an integral part of the lives of Jaitapur’s residents." The opening para ends saying that this "scenic village" has been turned into a "state of dystopia."

[Dystopia is the opposite of Utopia: that is, a place where conditions of life are dreadful.]

Tehelka goes on to say that Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code (relating to unlawful assembly) has been in force in Jaitapur since August, 2010, in order to "maintain peace." They say false cases have been lodged against activists opposing the nuclear power plant. They add that the latest from the State Police is the arrest of 14 persons including a prominent nuclear plant opposer, Dr. Milind Desai.

The new chief minister of Maharashtra - who took over when the last chap was replaced by the CONgress High Command in Nude Elly because of his direct involvement in the Adarsh building scam - is the very same fellow who flanked Chacha Manmohan when he signed the nuclear deal with Sarkozy: Prithviraj Chavan, who then Minister for Science and Technology in Nude Elly. Tehelka says Prithviraj Chavan is "the PM’s point man for the Jaitapur plant and all other new n-plants coming up in the country." Thus, the new CM is very keen on seeing the project through.

However, when this chief minister visited the area, 10,000 locals turned up to meet him, shouting, “No nuclear power, no nuclear plant.” Writing about this public appearance of the CM, Tehelka says:

In front of a gathering of 10,000 Chavan had no choice but to listen to them, but he was visibly annoyed sitting on the dais, helpless.

When he finally spoke, Chavan stressed in an uncharacteristically aggressive tone the ‘misconceptions’ and misleading reports the locals were made to believe. He invoked national pride and the competition with China to justify the successful completion of the project, but appeared to have ignored local sentiment.

Thus, this new CM is an agent of Nude Elly - and a traitor to his own Maharashtrian people. Nude Elly, on its part, has committed High Treason against these simple and innocent village folk - as I wrote in a recent post.

In any case, electricity production by our The State should be opposed by all right-thinking citizens - if they desire regular, uninterrupted power supply. Electricity must be privatised - and private power producers will choose the fuels that are cheap and safe. Full liability will apply to them in case of accidents. This is what ought to be.

Let us turn to the people at the top - in Nude Elly. A timely column by Pritish Nandy - who has also been a Rajya Sabha MP (Shiv Sena!) - is titled "A ship about to sink." Here are some chosen quotes:

The Indian Political Philharmonic Orchestra must be the world’s most amazing cacophony of rogues, rascals and robbers. 

But now, enough is enough. Neither [Manmohan] Singh nor Pranab Mukherjee, nor anyone else is capable any more of saving this Government. It’s neck deep in its own sticky sleaze.... Look at Singh, wan and waylost.

But that doesn’t mean they are not malevolent. These are people who are destroying India from within. They are not just robbing you, me, and the exchequer. They are destroying institutions, subverting laws, vandalising our heritage and history, and trying to build a dazzling, amoral edifice of crime and corruption unprecedented in the nation’s history. It’s a scary scenario that could turn the land of the Mahatma into one gigantic Gotham City with a flyover to hell.

I had begun this post with the abuses of power being committed by the State Police against innocent people - and they are the rats in this sinking CONgress ship.

I am now even more convinced that every citizen should get himself a gun. We must all be fully capable of defending ourselves - against the State Police, who are our oppressors.

My ideal is India before the Police Act of 1861 - ironically, the very same year that Rabindranath Tagore, the poet who dreamed of an India "where the mind is without fear and the head is held high," was born. Till then, the "civilians" of the East India Company ruled without police support. All that these HEICS civilians did was maintain land records up-to-date and settle disputes.

In England, there were no policemen till 1829, when Sir Robert Peel established the Bobby of London - who remains unarmed.

And in good, old America, every town elected its own Sheriff - while every citizen was armed.

There is the other ideal too - of the Anglo-Saxon tribes of old, who had no notion of crimes other than "crimes against the individual," which were treated as Torts. I wrote about this "superior justice" of restitution (as against the retribution of today) just the other day.

Enough of these rats of the State Police. Let them go down with the sinking Pirate Ship of State. Let us be free. And let us be secure with our own arms.

The Superior Justice Of "Blood Money"

The news from Pakistan says that CIA contractor Raymond Davis was pardoned and freed after the victims' families received "blood money" under Sharia law. Davis killed three people.


There are two kinds of Justice in such cases - restitution (as with all torts - and blood money); and retribution (jail or execution, in which the victim suffers for his crime). 


When there is restitution, the victim gets financial compensation.


With retribution, the victim gets nothing - and society pays taxes for the prosecution, trial and detention of the perpetrator.

Retribution is an old, primitive kind of justice - eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth logic.

Restitution is more modern and sophisticated - and reflects "economic man."


I liked Lew Rockwell's comment in favour of blood money in the Davis case. He writes:

The CIA hit man who shot and killed two Pakistanis, and was responsible for the automobile homicide of another, has been let off after the US paid “blood money” to the families of the bereaved. “Diyya” or blood money is a provision in Sharia law. Ancient German and Anglo-Saxon law had such provisions as well. Let’s compare. In the US, the family of a murdered man is not compensated; rather, they are taxed to help maintain the killer in an outpost of the very expensive prison-industrial complex. In Pakistan, the survivors have the choice of seeking compensation rather than punishment. Widows and children will then not be left destitute. Now, which is more civilized?

Ancient Anglo-Saxon law had nothing called "crime" - in the sense of "crimes against the King" or "crimes against the State." There were only "crimes against the individual" - and these were treated as Torts, and fines were levied on perpetrators, so that victims obtained compensation.

Things changed after the Normans took over. Greedy Norman kings legislated certain acts as "crimes against the King" - only for fiscal reasons; that is, to pocket the fines for themselves.

Thus, slowly, the "natural order" under which the Anglo-Saxon tribes lived was radically altered, till we now have crimes, police, prosecution and punishment - while victims get nothing. Frankly, I think the old days were much better.

A good history of the old days can be found in Bruce Benson's The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without the State - which you can buy here. Great book; well worth reading.

Delhi's Treason Against The Konkan

The nuclear disaster in Japan has brought into sharp focus the fact that the nuclear power plant slated to come up on the Konkan Coast, in Jaitapur, just north of Goa, is fraught with grave risks. No wonder both the prime minister as well as his environment minister are making noises about "additional safeguards." This is pure bull, of course. In truth, Nude Elly is guilty of treason against the people of the Konkan.

The word "treason" is defined as "breach of faith or disloyalty." So, there can be treason by the people against their sovereign. Or, as in the present case, it can be the other way around - treason by the sovereign against the people. Let us begin with the facts of the case.

The nuclear power plant slated to come up in the Konkan is in an ecologically sensitive area. The plant was hurriedly cleared ahead of the visit of French president Sarkozy - because the principal supplier is the French firm Areva. The environmental clearance was also hurriedly given.

And there is more: Parliament has passed a Civil Liability Bill pertaining to nuclear accidents that limits the damages nuclear suppliers have to pay in case of accidents. Thus, the lives of the people are being sold cheap - to foreigners. If anything, this is High Treason.

As far as the local people are concerned, they are all up in arms against the project - they are opposed to the forcible seizure of their lands, and they are opposed to the project also because of the grave threat of a nuclear accident in the future. As far as the latter is concerned, their fears seem totally justified today.

Jaitapur is in the Ratnagiri area, famous for its Alfonso mangoes - the world's best mango. If there is an accident, there won't be any Alfonsoes for 100 years. Tourism in Goa will also be affected.

As far as the central ministry of environment is concerned, its principal activities in the Konkan are:

1. The Forest Department, that owns all unowned land, and

2. The Coastal Zone Regulation Act, by which central bureaucrats virtually own and control all beachside property.

In view of the High Treason committed by the Central State's environment ministry against the people, it is my view that both the Forest Department as well as the CRZ personnel should be thrown out of the area.

All unowned land should be opened up for "homesteading" - so that the region urbanises, and develops. There are no cities here between Mumbai and Goa (550 kms), nor any cities between Goa and Mangalore (350 kms). This, while there are three cities in the 150 km stretch comprising Goa.

Thus, there is immense potential for many more cities, towns and beach resorts. This includes many free trading port cities. This is surely preferable - to have human habitation and real estate development instead of low-grade iron ore mining.

To achieve this urban and tourism potential, the Konkan region should also practice unilateral free trade - and send the Customs Department back to Nude Elly, where they get their orders from.

Let us not forget that the central State's highway project completely bypasses the Konkan Coast. Today, because the existing "notional highway" is is such bad shape, loaded trucks are carried up and down the coast on the Konkan Railway! This itself is proof that a "truckway" dedicated to freight-hauling trucks can easily come up in the private sector - on "free land." Further, a regular highway for passenger cars and buses - for the tourists - can also be built for profit by entrepreneurs. Thus, this region does not need anything from the Central State and its "planners."

I am also of the firm opinion that the Central Legislation prohibiting narcotics should be annulled in this region. Then, tourism will boom because tourists will be made blissfully happy - "cannabliss," as they say. Ganja farmers will also prosper, with a new, legitimate cash crop.


Recommended readings:

1. My previous post on the need for fully empowered mayors running all cities and towns.

2. Another post addressed to the bourgeoisie of urban India, recommending New Public Management for the provision of civic services, and also suggesting that we must seriously re-consider paying taxes to the Central State.

Policeman Of My Own Soul

In his excellent travelogue through the Holy Land, From the Holy Mountain, William Dalrymple tells the unlikely story of a Greek monk he met in a monastery in the deserts of Judaea, who told him that he had been a policeman back in Greece, that he had quit his job and said goodbye to all his friends and relatives, and had retired here to be "the policeman of his own soul."

Brought to mind something I read the other day in Cato's Letters, published by two "independent Whigs" in London in the 1720s, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. The particular essay from which the following quote has been extracted is titled "Arbitrary government proved incompatible with true Religion, whether Natural or Revealed":

Happiness is the chief End of Man, and the saving of his Soul is his chief Happiness; so that every Man is most concerned for his own Soul, and more than any other can be:  And if no Obstruction be thrown in his Way, he will for the most part do all in his Power for his own Salvation, and will certainly do it best; and when he had done all that he can, he has done all that he ought: People cannot be saved by Force...

Yes, the world is corrupt - and India even more so. As for me, I wish to stay far, far away from all this corruption - and save my own Soul from it.

Policeman of my own Soul - that's me.

To The Bourgeoisie Of Urban India

Urban India is an almighty mess - which is why I prefer to live in a village; a village with most urban facilities, like a tar road, water, electricity (erratic, but not too bad), telephone and internet. To me, every Indian city and town is unlivable.

In an interesting ToI  article on the "revolutions" sweeping North Africa and the Arab world, Vikram Singh Mehta notes four important trends of today, of which only the first and the fourth are worth anything. So here is his fourth forecast, on urbanisation:

Finally, the world is fast urbanising. It is estimated that three-quarters of the global population of nine billion in 2050 will be living in cities. Given that current decisions on urban planning and urban infrastructure will hardwire energy demand, water consumption and environmental condition for decades to come, the quality of urban governance today will be a crucial determinant of the quality of human lifestyle in the future. 

Now, let us read his first bit of trend-spotting in our own country - in public politics:

First, the people are restive. They are not happy with established institutions of governance. They want greater transparency and accountability. Technology is part cause and consequence of this restiveness. It has empowered people by providing them access to multiple sources of information and the ability to connect with each other. The consequence of empowerment is a questioning of the existing social contract and the amplification of unpredictable behaviour. The state is on the horns of a dilemma.

So, the public is "restive," and the primary issue is urban self-government, a subject in which I can rightfully call myself an "expert." 


In the meantime, elections are being held for the municipality of Panjim, Goa's capital city. One of the candidates is the "education minister." 


Democracy cannot solve the problem - unless each city and town reverts to democracy as practised in an earlier age, when only those with Property worth above a certain threshold value could vote to elect a governing council for their fair city. There is no "one correct way": You can have a strong mayor - weak council system or vice versa. Or you can hire "city managers."


In my view, a city council elected by Property owners should select "city managers" to execute the rest. According to the tenets of New Public Management (NPM), the city government "provides" services but does not "produce" them. Everything is "contracted out." So, there are strict contracts between the city and providers of services like garbage collection, roads and footpaths, tramways, sewerage, street-lighting, security and the like - without any personnel being hired by the civic administration. This is the lean and mean civic administration that can cut down budgets, liberate government employees en masse so that they can find a better future in The Free Market, and also deliver the goods.

The great advantage with NPM is that the city manager, after finalising all his contracts, has plenty free time to actually go around checking that his contractors are performing their tasks as they are supposed to; and, if not, he can take action against them. With conventional bureaucracy, the man-on-top spends most of his day on "bureau inputs": personnel matters like leave, promotions, discipline and so on; purchases and the like. He therefore has no time to inspect "bureau output." He can never know whether his street-sweepers are actually cleaning the streets. And if they are not doing the job well, there is precious little he can do about it, since he too is bound by rules.

NPM became the wave when Public Choice theory conclusively proved that bureaucrats are "self-interested": that is, just as businessmen are "profit maximisers" and consumers are "utility maximisers," bureaucrats are "budget maximisers." Bureaucracies were no longer seen as "benign." It became necessary to cut them down - and NPM was the way. Nations that took to NPM realised that Big Government is bad; that the bigger The State, the poorer the Society; for governments spend wealth, while businessmen produce wealth - by producing and exchanging goods and services in The Market. 


With NPM, India's cities and towns can obtain basic services employing just a handful of good people. The "knowledge failure" of Central Planning will be solved because mayors and their NPM-wallahs will apply local knowledge to local issues and problems. There is no other way.


Inverting the pyramid in this manner also means that the question of paying taxes to our The State must be seriously re-considered. If the Principle of Subsidiarity is strictly applied, then each city and town should be collecting "contributions" from the local bourgeoisie for running that place. From these resources higher orders of government must draw their funding, through negotiations, for performing essential tasks that the lower institutions are unable to perform on their own.


The Central State's JNURRM is not going to solve anything - and Kamal D Nutt is the minister.


Local elections like the one taking place in Panjim will not work either.


About New Public Management: It is a growing movement in the world of practical Public Administration all over the western world. Thus, such "experts" can be hired en masse from the international skills market.