There was no aam aadmi at independence. This was created in the last sixty years in four steps. Step 1. Keep people illiterate. More than half the people in the first Cabinet after independence were barristers educated in the UK and yet they do not seemed to have noticed that all children in the UK have to go to school compulsorily upto the age of 16 years. Step 2. Waste all tax collection on a huge army of donothing kleptocrats and ignore infrastructure. No roads, electricity, water or sanitation. If a man has to go to an open ground by railway tracks in the morning and bare the lower half of his body he loses his self respect and dignity. When he sees animals defaecating at the same spot with him he loses his humanity. Step 3. Keep saying ' India is a poor country ' and inflict crippling taxation on a list of ' luxury ' goods such as televisions, air conditioners etc so that they are beyond reach of all but a handful of citizens. After pressure of the WTO sales taxes have come down so new taxes called service taxes are being imposed. About fifteen years ago you would wait four years for a telephone connection and a call from Delhi to Chandigarh would cost Rs.100 per minute. Now every tea seller and his aunt has a mobile and a call to the US costs Rs. 5 per minute. This is giving too much freedom to the aam aadmi and is unacceptable so Service Tax was introduced at 8%. This has gone upto 12.5 % and may be pushed upto 20%. So everyone may own a mobile but fewer people will afford to use it. Step 4. Charity at tax payers expense. A politician will go to a village and announce free electricity or saris or televisions and the illiterate, dehumanised, despairing populace will come and touch his feet while he stands with hands upraised in benediction and a smile on his face ugly with debauch. The aam aadmi is here and politicians think they are Gods.