The pressure seems to be really on Robert Mugabe. With hyperinflation and increasingly brutal suppression of the opposition he is rapidly becoming another Idi Amin or Samuel Doe. No one said anything when he massacred the Ndebeles in Matabeleland almost two decades ago and has been killing opponents ever since. Only since he took over white owned farms has the attention suddenly focussed on him. Who cares for a bunch of blacks getting killed anyway. After all we were so kind to them when we had them as slaves. All across Africa thousands of men are getting murdered, women are being raped and children forced into armed conflicts but apart from pious words and well intentioned hand wringing we get nothing. Why no regime change in Sudan inspite of the genocide in Darfur? Is it because the oil there is being controlled by the Chinese who are masters of genocide anyway. From Mao's Great Leap to ethnic cleansing in Tibet today the Chinese have perfected the art of killing and coercing entire populations. Their expertise is not limited to humans only but extends to the animal world. They consume every living thing including tigers, bears, civets even human foetuses. Many species face extinction because of their all consuming appetite. Sadly for us they are our neighbours.

So India is out of the cricket World Cup. Sony which is televising the matches stands to lose a lot of money as rates of commercials come sharply down. Criminals based in Pakistan and the Middle East will also lose a lot of money as few bets will be placed on the remaining matches from the subcontinent. Thankfully DoorDarshan will not be able to make money by robbing Sony and broadcasting Indian matches live without having paid for the rights. This was made possible by a court decision saying that this was in public interest. How a cricket match can be in public interest is hard to imagine but with India losing out such a crime has been averted. Public sector companies such as Door Darshan, BSNL ( telephone ) and MTNL ( telephone in Delhi and Bombay ) have looted the public for years. Until 15 years ago these were monopolies and charged huge amounts for rude and rubbishy service. Door Darshan had only two channels and showed how to use manure in farming during prime time. After Star started transmission it has more than a dozen channels but mostly still showing rubbish. There used to be a waiting list of at least four years to get a phone but now we can get one in a day because of competition by private players. Government companies should have given us the best service but they looted us for years. It is time that Indians booted these fellows out.

India and Pakistan lose to 'lesser' opposition and all hell breaks lose. Mobs go on the rampage and Woolmer is murdered. Walk into any ground during a test match and you will find empty seats all around but one day cricket is a different matter. The grounds are full of yobs who understand little of the finer points of the game and are out to make a nuisance of themselves. They are the same sort of people who go to a football match to fight. Huge bets are placed on matches involving India which means that any loss is not to be tolerated. Because of these idiots sports channels in India show cricket all day long. Star Sports used to show live rugby and other proper sports but since it has been taken over by ESPN we get cricket interspersed with rubbishy American games such as basketball where 9 feet tall freaks try to put a ball into a basket 10 feet off the ground. Most likely India will lose today to Sri Lanka and return home thereby depriving Door Darshan of millions in stolen income. I will not mourn.

Naxals slaughtered over 50 policemen in Chattisgarh while CPM cadres and police shot dead 12 villagers ( villagers claim the actual figure killed runs into scores ) protesting against land acquisition in Bengal. Two sides of the same coin. The reason behind both these events is the deep mistrust and total contempt that people harbour for the state. Common people feel totally powerless in today's India. Politicians, civil servants, the police do whatever they want without consultation or regard for the opinion or feelings of the people. Judges cannot be arrested or charged with any crime, they have to be impeached by Parliament which means they literally are above the law. Civil servants cannot be charged without permission of their superior officers which will never be given because the same superiors are also part of the chain of bribery. Politicians control the police so transfer any officer who starts taking interest in their criminal activities. Only the most abject foot licker will get to be the chief of police. The police are poorly paid and abused by politicians and their thuggish children that they have become totally demoralised and criminalised. Meanwhile we the people pay huge taxes for no returns. Even the dirt poor have to pay taxes. They may not pay any direct taxes but have to pay vast amounts in indirect taxes. Every time they buy anything they have to pay VAT, excise duty, import duty, education cess and God knows what else. Everytime they phone or switch on a light they pay service charge with cess. Everytime they watch a movie they pay entertainment tax. People are most dangerous when they have nothing more to lose. Are we getting there?

Thank you Moonlight. This is the tyranny of democracy. In the past we had kings who thought they were divine and could do anything they liked. However their power meant many others coveted their crowns and they could lose their lives at any time. Louis XVI and Charles I come to mind but there would be countless other examples. Then we had dictators who were just as nuts but without the crown. A lot of them also met premature ends such as Saddam and Ceausescu. With democracy we have no such recourse. Fellows get elected by foul means and claim to have the mandate of the people. It may be a couple of hundred hanging chads out of some 40% of the people who voted but it entitles you to start a war with hundreds of thousands of deaths. Mandate of the people. It allows Blair to support the same war against the opposition of 80% of the people but keep on lying that bombs in the London Underground were unconnected to the Iraq war. In India criminals stand for election because once in government they are in control of the police and can interfere with any investigation. People vote for one set of thugs not because they prefer this lot but because they have no choice and think the other lot may be worse. Politicians can vote any perk for themselves plunder the exchequer and hide behind national security. Tyranny of democracy. What is the solution?

I have said before that money raised by increasing taxes is being put into property and also being transferred abroad by hawala and then brought back through Mauritius and invested in the share market. This accounts for the phenomenal rise in both property and share prices in the last two years. On Friday, the 9th, the news broke that a Mr. Khan of Pune has three and a half billion rupees in Swiss banks which he transferred out through hawala route for the purpose of investing in shares. Some politicians are naturally mixed in it. By sunday the police were backtracking showing that the rot goes very high up indeed. Then we heard that the former Defence Minister in the BJP government Mr. Fernandes has said that he had been instructed by the then Prime Minister, Mr. Vajpai not to touch the Quatrocchi file. By the very next day he was claiming that he had been misunderstood and that Mr. Vajpai had been joking anyway. Soon as the Congress came to power the Central Bureau of Investigation defroze Q's assets held in London. Now that the Congress is in power they have not touched the Tehelka file or investigated the claims of buying coffins from an American company at exorbitant prices during the Kargil war. So it goes on. You scratchee my backee and I will scratchee your most honoured filthy backee. The putrid stink makes me sick but what can you do against people with no sharam or izzat. Last month an American diplomat claimed that India had been 'coerced' into voting against Iran at the IAEA meeting prompting Iran into cutting off gas supplies to India. So easy to blackmail these filthy criminals. This is not just a question of commissions or bribes, this is treason. Hang them I say.

Yesterday was World Women's Day and there were the usual people with usual laments about the condition of women in India. On the one hand there were interviews with powerful and successful women who were asked how they had become successful in a man's world on the other we were reminded about the pathetic condition of women married off at an early age, tortured for dowry by the in laws and made to bear children in poor health. There were constant discussions about the millions of girl children being aborted and how men are responsible for all the ills that befall women. Strangely no one talks about the responsibility of women themselves in improving their lot. A woman may be illiterate and helpless but she can talk. Very few men in India involve themselves in raising their children. This gives the mother total and uninterrupted control over how she raises her children. Surely she has unlimited opportunity to teach her children about the value of women and how women should be respected. She should be able to show them educated women around where she lives and on television as examples. Educated women should teach their unfortunate sisters what to whisper in their children's ears as they are growing up. Every time I read about dowry deaths in the newspaper I invariably find women in the torture and killing of an innocent young woman in the most gruesome way imaginable. These mothers and sisters in law are not mere helpless bystanders. They make no attempt to help the unfortunate victim. Instead they actively torture and very often are the ones to pour kerosene on the woman and light the final match. Until women admit their role in the condition of their sex there is no hope.

Yesterday was World Women's Day and there were the usual people with usual laments about the condition of women in India. On the one hand there were interviews with powerful and successful women who were asked how they had become successful in a man's world on the other we were reminded about the pathetic condition of women married off at an early age, tortured for dowry by the in laws and made to bear children in poor health. There were constant discussions about the millions of girl children being aborted and how men are responsible for all the ills that befall women. Strangely no one talks about the responsibility of women themselves in improving their lot. A woman may be illiterate and helpless but she can talk. Very few men in India involve themselves in raising their children. This gives the mother total and uninterrupted control over how she raises her children. Surely she has unlimited opportunity to teach her children about the value of women and how women should be respected. She should be able to show them educated women around where she lives and on television as examples. Educated women should teach their unfortunate sisters what to whisper in their children's ears as they are growing up. Every time I read about dowry deaths in the newspaper I invariably find women in the torture and killing of an innocent young woman in the most gruesome way imaginable. These mothers and sisters in law are not mere helpless bystanders. They make no attempt to help the unfortunate victim. Instead they actively torture and very often are the ones to pour kerosene on the woman and light the final match. Until women admit their role in the condition of their sex there is no hope.

The annual circus called the budget has come and gone. As usual the tax and loot party has been true to form.
Many more services will now come under tax and the Education Cess has been increased to 3%. This will naturally increase cost of services to consumers and industry. All utilities will go up adding to our bills. Already there is heavy taxation on air travel, now there is going to be a cess on air tickets to fund upgrading of small regional airports. Needless to say most of the money will be plundered and people will end up poorer. The joke is that the government is very worried about inflation and the effect it will have on the upcoming election in the biggest state, U.P. In an attempt to reduce inflation it has cut duties on patrol, edible oil and a host of other goods including pet food. Having reduced excise on certain commodities it has increased service tax as though this will have no effect on the economy. The stupidity is mind boggling. When will these people understand that taxes increase prices and inflation. To control inflation the Reserve Bank has increased interest rates and will increase them further in the future. With increasing cement prices, service tax on builders and increasing interest rates the housing market is in for some interesting times. A similar asset price bubble happened around 1995 when speculation in the market reached fever pitch. In 2000- 2001 house prices dropped by around 60% and a lot of people were wiped out. People have such short memories. The Sensex is dropping. Will the housing market follow suit?