Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy resigned from Parliament yesterday because the Congress did not allow him to become Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh after his father, Mr. YSR Reddy died in a helicopter accident last December. In a letter to Congress President, Mrs. Gandhi he asks,' What mistake did I commit?' Mr. Reddy is so anguished because he sincerely believes that the Chief Minister's post is family property to be passed down from father to son as some family heirloom without bothering to consult the people. He has also resigned from the Congress and will be forming his own party. In Tamil Nadu Mr. Karunanidhi's entire family, including sons and nephews, has some position in state or central government. His daughter is in the Rajya Sabha. When Mr. Lalu Prasad was charged in the fodder scam he appointed his unelected, illiterate wife as Chief Minister of Bihar. Most glaring of all, our most revered Prime Minister has not been elected but has sneaked in through the Rajya Sabha to keep the chair warm. In Mexico drug gangs are fighting to the death to gain control of each other's turfs for the immense wealth that it brings. At least drug dealers can and are being killed by the army. In India, political gangs also fight turf wars because that gives them control of state or central exchequer and five years of unlimited opportunity to loot. They are more dangerous because they also control the police and will easily eliminate anyone daring to challenge them. This makes us the largest ' democracy ' in the world. Great.

The subprime crisis in the US started with the collapse of Lehman Brothers causing hundreds of people to lose their jobs and starting a global crisis but CEO Richard Fuld received $ 22 million in salary and bonuses. Seems that the bank was faking its accounts to hide the extent of its exposure. In the UK the Royal Bank of Scotland would have failed if the government had not taken over 70% of the bank effectively nationalising it but CEO Fred Goodwin walked off with a pension of 342000 pounds at the age of just 50 years and a tax free lump sum of 2.7 million pounds. The previous Greek government was also fudging its figures to hide the extent of its debts. The Irish government chose to nationalise its banks to prevent their collapse and effectively turned private debt into a sovereign one. These governments have enacted severe austerity budgets cutting public sector jobs and pay, freezing pensions and raising taxes. In the UK students took out a huge procession of November 10 to protest the trebling of college tuition fees. None of the bank officials or politicians have been asked to pay for the losses they caused. The common refrain is that banks need to attract the best brains. Well, if the brains were that best they should not have caused the meltdown. Common sense says that the basis of capitalism should be meritocracy which means success is rewarded and failure punished. But in the case of bankers their criminal stupidity is rewarded while the taxpayer picks up the bill and ordinary people suffer. Communism died because it perverted to oligarchy. Capitalism has become shameless greed. Eat cake by all means but not at the cost of people's bread.

The CBI has arrested eight people for giving loans to builders after taking bribes. They include the CEO of LIC Housing Finance, Ramachandran Nair, General Manager of Bank of India, RN Tayal, and deputy General Manager of Punjab National Bank, Venkoba Gujjal. Seems that builders are unable to sell properties because of the stratospheric prices of property in India but are unwilling to reduce prices to clear their inventory. They have been solving the resultant drop in cash flow by borrowing from banks to run their day to day business. All banks have been quick to clarify that there is no risk to themselves because the money has been lent against property which makes the loans completely safe. However, that is assuming that property prices stay at the same levels or rise further. Indian banks have a total exposure of $ 22 billion or Rs. 1 trillion in loans to real estate companies. Their confidence is based on the fact that at least half the price of a property is paid in cash or black money so people will not default on their housing loans whatever the hardship for fear of losing so much money but if builders are unable to clear their stocks they will inevitably run out of cash. If banks try to foreclose on their loans and sell off so many properties prices will crash.This happened in the US, in Ireland and in Spain and it would be stupid to think that it could not happen here. They are dishing out valium to investors so that they do not dump real estate and banking stocks and foreign investors do not panic. Meanwhile how did such high profile sarkari fellows get arrested? Did they not pay off politicians and civil servants properly? Silly boys.

British newspaper, the Guardian has discovered that British born muslims are fighting in Afghanistan. This means that people who are British citizens, claim all social facilities that Britain provides and travel on British passports may be killing British soldiers. The Guardian interviewed a Taliban fighter who lives in east London working as a minicab driver and comes to Afghanistan to fight for three months. This man claimed that there are many like him in Britain who come to fight for jihad and also collect money for the Taliban. Mohd Siddique Khan, Shazad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain who bombed the London Underground on July 7, 2005 were all born in Britain of Pakistani origin. Major Nadal Malik Hasan who shot 13 people dead and injured another 32 was born in US of Palestinian origin. He is now on trial and the prosecution is asking for the death penalty. He was influenced by Anwar Al Awlaki, of Yemeni and American descent, who carries dual citizenship and is hiding in Yemen from where he preaches fiery sermons encouraging muslims to kill Americans. In a recent sermon he has said that since all Americans are devils it is alright to kill any American at any time anywhere. Presumably he includes women and children. The lesson is clear. Muslims do not owe any allegiance to their country, do not have any sense of friendship or love for the people they have grown up with and will not hesitate to kill innocents to go to

' paradise.' If India is to survive we must cut all contacts with Pakistan, not allow any Paki to enter our country and extensively mine our border so that not even a fly cannot get across. Time to stop lying or face 26/11 again.

Speaking in UP, Congress President Mrs Sonia Gandhi said yesterday, ' ....... we know that corruption is the worst malady facing our nation and is, therefore, also the biggest hurdle in the path of our development.' Amen to that. Er, but the FIR filed by the CBI in the CWG scam does not include Kalmadi and the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit was rewarded with a trip to Japan at taxpayers' expense. The Supreme Court was displeased with the CBI for not questioning A. Raja in the 2G scam pointing out that, ' The CAG reports deserve highest respect.' These reports were highly critical of the role played by Mr. Raja in the awarding of 2G licenses. In fact, the CBI asked for 45 more days to present a detailed report on the 2G scam, desperate to stop the Supreme Court from monitoring its investigations. While Amit Shah is being harassed Mr. Sajjan Kumar is free to enjoy life. It is not enough for these thieves and murderers to resign from office protesting innocence. We want to see these filth in jail for life or being hanged. When in power 6 years ago the NDA blundered by not investigating and punishing all the crimes committed by the Congress in the past, such as Bofors, Union Carbide, petrol pump allotments and many more, and are now paying the price. Next time they come to power they should use all the state machinery to go after the Congress just as the Congress is doing now. In fact the NDA should start straight away in Bihar and Karnataka and build on it. It is not because the NDA consists of saints but criminal politicians stabbing their opponents may be the only way we will get rid of them. Political gangs fight each other, we count the corpses. Great fun.

A New York court has issued summons to Maj Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Director General of the ISI since September 2008 and his predecessor Naddem Taj who was Director General 2007-2008, as well as Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. This is in response to a case filed by relatives of Rabbi Gavriel Noah Holtzberg and his wife Rivka who were shot to death in the Mumbai attacks of 26/11. Pakistan has been taunting India with insulting demands for evidence and has even had the audacity to ask our investigating officers to give evidence before a Paki court. A US court will be more difficult to evade. A Texas court has just found previous Republican House majority Leader, Tom DeLay guilty of money laundering and conspiracy. He was known as ' The Hammer ' for his ability to persuade others to his point of view and was extremely powerful till his arrest in 2005. Bill Clinton had to appear before a court during the Monica Lewinsky scandal while still the President of the US. It will be interesting to see how Pakistan tries to wriggle out of this one. Clearly Pakistan cannot allow these scum to be questioned because that could lead to a lot of embarrassing disclosures involving the entire Paki government. That would in turn embarrass the US government as well and lead to questions about US aid to Pakistan. It will be impossible for the Pakis to play the old game of not knowing where the scum are hiding, as they have been doing with Osama bin Laden since 2001, because ISI chiefs do not hide in caves. At the very least the Pakis will waste vast sums of scarce dollars in lawyer fees. Any injury to the Pakis is of joy.

Japanese Justice Minister, Minoru Yanagida resigned following comments in which he ridiculed his own job. He said that as Justice Minister he needed to remember only two responses in reply to questions from other lawmakers. These are, ' I do not comment on specific cases ' and ' We are dealing with the matter appropriately based on law and evidence.' His colleagues in the Diet were outraged and demanded his resignation to which he complied. Compare this to India where Mr. Kamraj used only one word, ' parkalam ' ( which apparently means

' wait and see ' ) to every question throughout his entire career. The previous Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama resigned because he had broken his election promise that he would remove the US base in Okinawa. Junichiro Koizumi stepped down after completing his term as Prime Minister even though he was very popular. President Lula of Brazil is stepping down after two terms with a popularity rating of over 80%. Sadly, in India, politicians will cling on to office even when caught red handed in various crimes. They will try anything from bluster to fake tears to bribing legislators. They make you cringe that anyone who looks human can be so disgusting that you want to crush him under foot. Occasionally they may be comical as when Mr. Ashok Chavan, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra ' offered to resign ' when implicated in the Adarsh Housing scam. What he probably meant was that I will do anything if you find anyway to let me hang on. The reason is that all politicians want to loot the maximum they can and will sink into any cesspool to continue. Sadly they do not even die.

I am filled with admiration at the brilliant strategy adopted by the Congress, helped by the free loading press and the stupid opposition. The opposition is disrupting parliament in their demands of forming a Joint Parliamentary Committee, JPC to investigate the 2G scam but the Congress is adamant in its refusal. In the last 25 years there have been 4 JPCs which have been a complete waste of time. By refusing a JPC, which is to its advantage, the Congress is using opposition morons to keep public focus solely on the 2G scam. This is creating an enormous pressure on the DMK which will be the Congress ally in assembly elections in Tamil Nadu in 6 months time. The Congress will have an easy time dealing with a softened DMK on seat and power sharing. Any stain on the Prime Minister prepares the stage nicely for the foot licking Congress faithful to clamor for Mr. Rahul Gandhi to very reluctantly take on the chair of the prime minister and save a very grateful country. Mr. Gandhi has maintained a thunderous silence on all corruption issues so far. Meanwhile public focus on the 2G scam means no focus on the preceding Rs. 1 trillion Commonwealth Games scam in which Congress members were the main players. So far not one Congress person has been indicted, the only person the CBI lackeys have uncovered is one Sudhanshu Mittal, a BJP member. So brazen is the sense of security of the Congress that Delhi Chief Minster, Sheila Dikshit, surely a prime suspect, has just returned from a junket to Japan with a posse of thieving civil servants. Surely her passport should have been impounded. The Congress has to be the most brilliant syndicate in world history.

If you are paid to waffle then that is what you will do. For months the US has been hysterical about China's currency manipulation but are too scared to do anything about it. They can easily fix the exchange rate of dollar against the yuan at any level they want for all imports from China but this will make imports very expensive. Retail giants, such as WalMart, will go ballistic and the people will blame the government for the inflation. So instead they keep on hectoring China to raise the exchange rate of the yuan so that the US exports can increase while they can shrug their shoulders and blame China for the resulting inflation. Naturally China refuses to play the game. Moving on. Pascal Lamy, the Chief of WTO, is here in India for talks on how to resume progress of the Doha round which has been stalled for over two years. Rich countries want poorer countries to open their markets without committing to same level of openness themselves. They want to continue pouring subsidies on agricultural products making them artificially cheaper and want to export them freely to every country. Poorer countries got badly stung at the Uruguay round and are naturally playing hard ball. While all this waffling is going on countries are quietly negotiating Free Trade Agreements or FTAs in bilateral talks. The EU and NAFTA are huge FTAs which have been running for many years. India has already signed deals with Singapore and ASEAN countries and is in talks with the EU. Mr. Obama failed to conclude and agreement in Korea two weeks back. With rich countries struggling with recession protectionism will happen. The poor will pay the price of all the waffle.

To understand the exponential increase in corruption in India perhaps we should turn our attention to Italy. Few countries in the world can boast of such famous criminal organisations as the Sicilian Mafia, Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Apulian Sacra Corona Unita, Neapolitan Camorra and, perhaps the most feared today, the Ndragheta. Italy also has the distinction of a succession of extremely corrupt Prime Ministers. Mario Andreotti was accused of being involved in the 1979 murder of a journalist, Mino Pecorelli who was investigating his role in the kidnapping of former Prime Minister, Aldo Moro. He survived on appeal. Bettino Craxi was sentenced to 27 years in jail for corruption but avoided justice by escaping to Hammamet in Tunis in 1994 where he died in 2000. He never returned to Italy. However, none of the previous Prime Ministers even comes close to the list of charges against the present incumbent, Silvio Berlusconi. He is thought to have entered politics to escape bankruptcy and evade charges of corruption at which he has been spectacularly successful. He has been accused of mafia collusion, tax fraud, corruption and bribery of police officers and judges. David Mills, husband of UK Cabinet Minister Tessa Jowell, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for having taken a bribe of 400000 pounds from Berlusconi. So far Berlusconi has been able to escape justice by shamelessly changing the statute of limitations for bringing charges. However his sex life, especially with juveniles, is catching up with him. He may finally end up in jail as the ' bunga bunga ' Prime Minister. Our Prime Minister may be alright but what about others.

Chen Xiafeng, a female student at Hebei University in central China, was hit by a Volkswagen sedan driven by 22 year old Li Qiming who was drunk at the time. Ms Chen died the next day. When security officials tried to stop him he is said to have shouted, ' Li Gang is my father.' Li Gang is the local deputy chief of police. As is usual in China authorities tried to suppress the news but it spread on the net and father and son have apologised on local television. People are incensed and a woman has started a poetry competition where every poem must include the line ' Li Gang is my father.' Children of powerful parents are contemptuously called ' guan er dai ' or ' fu er dai ' meaning the next generation or spoiled brats. In India this is such common occurrence that it would probably make a couple of lines in an obscure inside page of newspapers. Biti Mohanty is still free years after raping a woman because his father is chief of police in Orissa. Manu Sharma was allowed out on bail at the beginning of his sentence for murder and would continued to enjoy freedom if he did not pick a fight at a nightclub. His sense of entitlement probably let him down. A few months back the son of a UP politician shot at the manager of a night club in Delhi because his sister's purse had gone missing. Nothing happened to him. Nanda, who killed 7 people one night in the famous BMW case, got away with a derisory 2 year sentence. You can see it on the streets. If a fellow is pulled over by the police for driving too fast or jumping a red light he instantly gets on to his cell phone and hands it over to the policeman. Next instant he is waved on. India, a nation of criminals.

A five storey building in east Delhi collapsed last Tuesday killing 66 people and injuring another 71. Seems that either the whole building was constructed illegally or extra floors were added for which there was no permission. A few months back a building in Kolkata caught fire killing dozens of people. Again two extra floors had been added illegally by the landlord. A judicial probe has been ordered into the collapsed building in Delhi which will take years and cost millions to come to any conclusion by which time everyone would have forgotten about the incident except families of the dead who will be running around looking for justice. How can anyone build a five storey building without coming to the notice of officials? Clearly large sums of money changed hands as is always the case in India. The reason is the phenomenal price of property. It is not just sleazy criminals who are grabbing land but even so called respectable people. A visit to Vasant Kunj in upper class south Delhi will immediately show that every building constructed by the DDA has illegal constructions. The buildings are four storey each with flats on each floor. The owners of the third floor flats have all constructed extra rooms on the roof thus adding at least Rs. 5 million to the value of their flats. Whether the buildings have strong enough foundations to carry this extra weight is not known and Delhi, being in a grade 5 earthquake zone, is a disaster waiting to happen. The illegal constructions are visible to all but nothing has been done to stop them. At the very least these people should be made to pay market rate for the extra rooms. Sadly every government fellow is a thief.

Indian newspapers today are full of scams carried out by criminal politicians and thieving civil servants. These scams did not happen in one day but were incubated over a period of years. So what was the Dear Leader doing for the last six years when the crooks were looting the country. The freeloading, foot licking press is always writing fulsome tributes about the honesty of the Dear Leader and his knowledge of finances but is it enough to be honest if you have no honor? The Capo was brought up in a culture where The Family must have power. To lose power is to sleep with the fishes. Therefore, the Capo will do anything to stay in power. Give 80% pay rises to completely useless, parasitic civil servants without asking for accountability, forgive debts of all farmers so that they will accumulate more debt knowing they will be forgiven again and start any number of social welfare schemes to allow criminal politicians and thieving civil servants to loot tax payer money. But should the Dear Leader, who is constantly being praised as the world's greatest expert on finance, capitulate to the Capo just to hang on to his chair? It is his famed honesty which allows him to shield these criminals allowing them to go on looting the country. If he had any honor he would expose every detail of every scam and make sure that the incompetent investigating agencies did their jobs meticulously. If he had any honor he would prepare his resignation letter and offer to submit it unless allowed complete freedom to catch the culprits. He does not dare do this because the Capo will be angry and he will lose his chair. Honesty without honor is the worst crime.

The European Union is in a great deal of bother. Greece has already received a bail out and now Ireland is under pressure to request a similar deal. The Irish are resisting because the government is reluctant to be seen to be handing over sovereignty to the EU before an upcoming election. And therein lies the problem. The EU was expanded too fast for political reasons to tie in countries of the former Soviet block. Although the USSR broke up and Russia is now a democracy the european countries, probably with US prodding, hastened to knit these countries tightly into their group. Countries were allowed to join the common currency, the euro, while retaining independent governments with local political pressures. Lessons learnt from the disaster of the UK, when Norman Lamont tied the pound sterling to the German deutschmark, were forgotten. The collapse in house prices in Ireland has meant that prices are now lower than the mortgage and people are unable to repay leaving banks with a pile of debts. Could a similar thing happen in India seeing the unreal prices of property? Not right away. Indians are shy of personal debts. Credit card use is minuscule and half the price of any property is paid in cash or black money. Having paid so much in cash an Indian will make any sacrifice not to lose it. With over half the economy in black the RBI has no hope of controlling inflation unless it raises rates to slow down growth. Delhi recently trebled circle rates. If the whole country increases circle rates to approximate real value black money will disappear. Speculative buying will end causing a collapse of prices. Luckily we are blissfully ignorant.

An auction of Bernie Madoff's possessions fetched $ 2 million dollars. This money will go into an asset forfeiture fund of the department of justice and will be used to pay off victims of his Ponzi scheme for which Madoff has already been sentenced to 150 years in prison. In complete contrast Ramalinga Raju has just gone back to jail after the Supreme Court cancelled his bail. Even though he publicly confessed to defrauding Satyam of billions of rupees more than two years ago his case is yet to come to court. Like all scoundrels in India he was allowed out on bail to enjoy the five star comfort of a private hospital. He has been allowed special privileges in jail including television, newspapers, easy chairs and private kitchen facilities. This is in Andhra. Meanwhile in UP the Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati apparently told a closed door meeting of her party that the Congress had offered to withdraw the Taj corridor and disproportionate asset cases against her if she came to a power sharing deal with them before the 2004 general elections. Even before the Adarsh Housing society scam in Mumbai has been fully exposed comes the allegation of further misuse of army land. Seems that senior officers colluded in a deal in which army land was sold off to a pharma company. After a public outcry lasting many months telecom minister Raja resigned reluctantly yesterday. He was able to hold out for so long because his party, the DMK, is supporting the Congress government at the center. Since independence the Congress has become synonymous with corruption in this country. Terrorists do not pose as much threat to India as does Congress.

In an article in the Sunday Times of India noted activist, Ms Aruna Roy is angry that the middle class in India is against MGNREGA, a social scheme which ensures compulsory employment for the rural poor for 100 days a year. '..... young people aspire to pass CAT to settle abroad,' she says in scathing contempt of the middle class. Seems that the scheme has empowered the rural poor by helping them move out of poverty and given them the power to demand accountability from officials. Nowhere in the article, not once, does she mention if the poor have any responsibility for themselves or duty towards the country. If she was not so blinkered she would realise that the middle class is not against helping the poor but has legitimate concern in their numbers increasing exponentially because of unrestricted breeding. It is estimated that 600 million people in India have no indoor toilet. What if the number goes up to 1 billion or two or three. How many will our children have to support? It is the increasing numbers of poor that is breeding corruption as criminal politicians and thieving civil servants loot hundreds of billions of rupees from phoney social schemes. Rising number of poor helps to keep labor costs down increasing profits for industrialists and help criminals to get elected by wasting tax payer money on free electricity, cheap rice or free saris. Finally, let me assure Ms Roy that I know of not one in all my relatives and friends whose child has appeared for the IAS exam. Only those who want to loot the state join the civil service and come from the same people that she loves. No wonder liberals are always described as ' woolly headed.'

The Sensex fell 432 points on Friday along with other markets in the world. Among news items spooking markets was the gloomy outlook by Cisco, Ireland seeking help from the EU to prevent defaulting on its debts and China reporting inflation rate of 4.4%. Analysts feared that China might increase its interest rates in an effort to slow down growth and this resulted in a sell off in Asia. The Shanghai Composite lost over 5%. For us in India it seems strange that an inflation rate of 4.4% in intolerable for China while we are happy that our food inflation rate has come down from 12.85% to 12.3% in October. This may not be a true fall but may be because of the high base rate of last year against which it has been calculated. The government reckons that this will be down to 6% by the end of the year so no action is necessary. Our Consumer Price Index is at around 8%. To rein in inflation the RBI has been increasing interest rates. On the other hand the same RBI is trying to increase liquidity by allowing banks to borrow from it twice a day instead of once as in the past. Industrial production fell two months in a row. While other countries are trying to neutralise increased dollar inflows to contain inflation our government says that can take in up to $ 70 billion without problems. Either the rest of the world is mad or we have a conjuring trick that will set everything right. Clearly the government is desperate for money whether through growth or through hot money inflows and is willing to sacrifice the people to the agony of inflation. Inflation is lethal for the aam aadmi for whom the Congress is always bleeding. On the other hand loot is going on merrily. So cheers.

The G20 meeting in Seoul, Korea, which ended yesterday, was a non event as was expected. At the core of discussions was the unequal growth in different economies in the world with some countries, i.e. the US, running huge a deficit while others, i.e. China, running a huge surplus. The US accuses China of deliberately distorting trade by keeping its currency, the yuan, deliberately undervalued to increase exports and resulting in massive current account surplus. The Chinese countered this by alleging that the recent quantitative easing by the US was an attempt to deliberately weaken the dollar. Germany supported China because it is also running a current account surplus while other countries allege that the US action has increased liquidity in their economies causing inflationary pressures and strengthening their currencies. The US has every right to try and stimulate its own economy to ease the ravages of unemployment. What no leader had the guts to say was that China is a liar and a hypocrite. The exchange rate of the yuan to the dollar being fixed it has, along with the dollar, lost value against other currencies giving it even greater advantage. Now that it is the number two economy in the world and growing at 9% a year countries are not willing to displease the Chinese especially as the Chinese have a record of reacting like mad dogs. Meanwhile China is buying up mines in poorer countries where they treat locals with brutal contempt. The governments make money while the people lose out. It is possible that there will be an almighty economic crash in the world. If it destroys China it will be worth it.

The official reason why multi brand retail is not allowed in India is that the ' kirana ' or corner stores will lose customers and suffer economic hardship. Which is the same as saying that these people should be allowed to fleece customers or else their standard of living will suffer. Presumably that is why criminal politicians and thieving civil servants are looting the country. In an article in the Sunday Times of India one Abheek Barman relates how he visited one such kirana store which claimed to serve 300 households. Assuming the average monthly spend of each family to be Rs. 15000 and a 30% profit margin he calculates that the owner of the store a whopping Rs. 18 million a year. None of these people pays any tax. The government cajoled them to pay a Minimum Alternative Tax of a paltry Rs. 1500 per year but no one did. They did not want to be in the books of the Income Tax fellows. Kiran stores operate in cash so all this money is black. Keeping so much cash at home would be dangerous so this money is invested in property. One paan fellow in South Delhi is reputed to own 4 houses each worth tens of millions of rupees. VAT was introduced to compel these fellows into paying tax but it seems that every manufacturing factory has a gate at the back through which to smuggle out and distribute untaxed products. Truck owners are usually paid in cash and rarely declare their income. Needless to say VAT inspectors, income tax fellows and the police are all taking their cut. Black money spreads easily. The housing price bubble is because politicians and civil servants have invested their black money in property and will do everything to keep prices up. Perhaps a collapse will help the economy.

A few days before President Obama's visit an official of Wal Mart, the largest grocery chain in the world, was in India and supporting the opening up of the retail sector in India. India allows foreign companies to retail their own brands but will not allow retailing of multiple brands under one roof. Thus Reebok and Benetton have their own stores selling their own brands of clothes, shoes and sports goods but the likes of Wal Mart and Tesco are not allowed. The advantages of having such companies setting up giant hypermarkets are many. Consumers will gain as they will keep prices down by concentrating on volume and by directly sourcing fresh produce from farmers will cut out middle men and pay better prices to farmers. Thus farmers get more money while consumers get cheaper products. So why should the government, which is always bleeding for the aam aadmi, oppose such benefits to the people? Firstly, middle men are politicians who, by controlling the economic activity of the rural people, keep them under their control. A politician instead of a zamindar, the feudal system still operates. Secondly, if farmers gain control over their produce and are making more money there will be no need for the various financial schemes such as PDS, NRAGS and so many others designed to help the rural poor. The financing for such schemes run into hundreds of billions of rupees every year. Naturally most of the money is looted by criminal politicians and thieving civil servants and they will be most displeased if the source of their wealth was suddenly cut off. Is it any wonder people are taking to arms?

Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan and Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Suresh Kalmadi have been made to resign from their posts following reports of massive scams. The Defence Minister, AK Antony has ordered the CBI to probe the Adarsh Society scam in Mumbai in which Mr. Chavan is involved. The CBI is the premier detective agency in India involved in investigating some of the prime scams. Ramalinga Raju is still playing hide and seek in spite of having openly confessed to looting billions from Satyam. In the 2G scam the CBI confessed to the Supreme Court that it did not know where to start. In the Commonwealth Games scam the CBI has been hounding one Mr. Mittal, who is of the BJP, but Kalmadi is still enjoying life. They could not find anything to back the fact that Rathore tortured the Girhotra family for years using the police force under him until Ruchika committed suicide. Then there was the mother of all investigations - Bofors. This went on for decades costing God knows how many billions but not a single person went to jail. I love the St. Kitts touch. It added class. Mr. Chavan has already said,' I am 100% sure I will come out clean,' while Mr. Kalmadi's supporters are sure that ' he will bounce back.' Of course they will. They are of the Congress and the esteemed CBI is investigating. Over six decades the Congress has perfected itself as the most successful syndicate in the world and no one of that gang ever goes to jail. Even sons of Congress fellows, like Manu Sharma, are let out to enjoy drinks at night clubs while in jail for murder. I propose St. Moritz this time. Wish they will take me along.

After a three day visit to India estimated to cost $ 200 million per day President Obama has left for Indonesia. We wish him God speed. After handing over sovereignty of the country to US security services, causing immense hardship to citizens of Mumbai and Delhi and giving very expensive photo ops to criminal politicians we need to assess what we have gained from this visit apart from loads of hot air of which we already have too much. The few business deals that were signed could have been achieved without Mr. Obama. Even during the unpopularity of George Bush when a majority of people of traditional allies like Britain and Europe had negative opinions more than 70% of Indians approved of the US and that figure may have gone up a few notches because of this visit which hardly justifies the enormous expense and discomfort of the visit. As for the promise of support for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council it was just a bluff. Firstly, it will take years of negotiations with Germany, Brazil and countries in Africa all wanting permanent seats by which time Obama will have finished his second term if he wins in 2012. Secondly, Pakistan will lobby furiously to deny India and its ally in crime, China can easily veto our candidacy. Perhaps it is the symbolism which is more important than anything anything said or deals signed. The fact that Obama came just two years into his first term, that he is not going to Pakistan from here and that this is his longest visit to any country is probably designed to send a message to China after the barbaric Chinese behaved in an uncivilised manner with Obama. Money well spent, we say.

After visiting India and Indonesia Mr. Obama will be going to Seoul for a G 20 meeting which will naturally be about unemployment in the US and its efforts to increase exports. The US wants countries to agree to an upper limit for current account surplus or deficit at around 4%. In its efforts to stimulate its economy the Federal Reserve has infused $ 600 billion through Quantitative easing but a lot of this money is likely to come to Asia looking for higher returns. This is weakening the dollar which is good for the US but hurts export oriented economies in Asia and is creating inflation and asset price bubbles. Other countries have shown concern but India has opposed any set limit, this when we always run a current account deficit. Last week the government of Delhi decided to double ' circle rates ' for residential properties in the city. This sets the lowest rate at which stamp duty and registration charges will be calculated on any property in a given area regardless of the price declared by the buyer and seller. The highest rate is Rs. 125, 000 per sq yard which means that a small 200 sq yard flat is valued officially at Rs. 25 million. According to property dealers this is much lower than the actual price of properties which range from Rs. 3-800,000 per sq yard in upmarket areas. This puts the price of a 200 sq yard flat at between Rs. 60 and 160 million. Prices in Mumbai are even higher. Strangely the government and the RBI seem quite content with this uncontrolled property price inflation. Maybe the great economist at the helm will work some magic and everything will be alright. Why does it not fill me with confidence?

Most Indians are baffled by the continuous support that the Pakis have received from the US over the last six decades even when Pakis have been training and arming Taliban fighters to kill american and NATO soldiers for years. Indians realise that most ordinary americans are stupid but the President and his cabinet consist of extremely intelligent people who have attended ivy league colleges. How then is it possible for them to be consistently fooled by the Pakis who are dependent on american aid for survival? I think it is because US officials never interact with ordinary Pakis or any ordinary people in muslim countries. When Ahmadinejad of Iran said that 9/11 was carried out by the US on its own citizens representatives of many countries walked out of the UN General Assembly and he was condemned as pervert spewing hate. What they have to realise is that most citizens of muslim countries believe it to be true and are completely deaf to any logic to the contrary. Arabs hate the US for supporting their dictatorial governments. Working in the middle east I heard Arab doctors discussing how Jews control all businesses and media in the US. Telling them that Rupert Murdoch or Bill Gates are not Jews is countered with the statement that they are only public faces but their organisations are actually controlled by Jews hidden from public view. They firmly believe that a Jew sits in the White House and controls the President. Trying to win hearts and minds while blowing them apart with hell fire missiles is a mug's game. The US should try to whip up muslim anger against China. Fanatics against barbarians, that is the way to go.

In complete humiliation for India the Congress has allowed the US to occupy Mumbai, the financial capital of the country. An aircraft carrier is patrolling off shore, cruisers are anchored in the harbor, US aircraft are patrolling our skies, 500 FBI agents are in the city and 40 armed marines are in the hotel. It is no use asking whether any of our lot can demand the same when visiting the US because the US knows that they are so despised in India that no one cares. The question is whether Obama insulted the Chinese in quite the same way. After a ' shellacking ' in the midterm polls he is clearly in no position to make any strategic offer like Bush did but is here purely as a salesman. Which is good. We should do big business with the US and sign off on billion dollar contracts. That will create jobs in the US and give us lobbying power. Also it is much better to buy US goods than Chinese garbage. At least the US has rule of law and if the contracts are worked out correctly they will be reliable business partners as opposed to the barbaric Chinese who react savagely even if they are in the wrong as the recent episode with the Japanese so clearly illustrated. However before spending Indian money we should tie in our demands to any deal. First, their must be no repeat of Union Carbide. Anyone guilty of killing Indians will receive the same sort of punishments that the americans regularly dish out to others. Secondly, F 16s, night vision goggles, smart bomb kits are also ' dual use ' in that they may be used as effectively against India as against the Taliban. F 14s and Patton tanks have been so used in the past. The US understands strength and despises weakness. Show them.

The US Federal Reserve is going to inject a further $ 600 billion into the US economy by means of Quantitative Easing. This is causing enormous heartburn in many countries because they fear that a lot of this money will be invested in their economies strengthening their currencies and harming exports. Brazil already taxes foreign investments, Japan is considering its own quantitative easing and Korea is mulling what its response is going to be. Part of the problem is that China has a virtually fixed rate against the dollar and the falling value of the dollar is making Chinese goods even cheaper compared to those of others. The IMF and World Bank are warning against tit for tat devaluations resulting in ' currency wars.' Only India is sanguine. More than $ 20 billion dollars have come into the Indian share market which is poised to hit record levels and the rupee is now less than 44 to the dollar. But the government is completely undisturbed. Firstly, India's economy is mainly domestic and exports are less than 20% of the economy so no problem. Secondly, all the other countries run a current account surplus whereas we always have a deficit so an inflow of dollars is welcome. Thirdly the strong rupee decreases the bill for imports such as oil. Fourth, the stratospheric stock market gives the government a chance to sell off parts of public sector companies at huge valuations. Problem is that all this liquidity puts a spanner in the efforts of the RBI to contain inflation and an uncontrollable asset price bubble. The good thing is that inspite of having zillions of Nobel Prize winning economists the US could not stop the dot com or the sub prime crises. So who cares.

Once upon a time there was a Mythical Land plagued by demons. The people were much afraid and prayed to be rescued and the demons were slain by beautiful and virtuous ladies. Today that Land is in control of ladies neither beautiful nor virtuous. On top is the wizened, Old-Bag Lady who was appointed to the top by the Capo Lady because of the way she banked on the cooperative. The Capo Lady is the most powerful in the land because of legions of slimy creepy crawlies who pay homage to her especially the Hairy One who is known as honorable because he is completely spineless. She is desperate to pass on the Chair to her cub never mind the damage she does to the people of the Land. The Convent School Lady plays wide receiver for the Capo Lady and, as such, is untouchable and can take from the Games whatever she pleases. Against them is the Very Oppressed Lady who is so poor that she wears yellow colored crowns and garlands of specially printed paper. Her followers are so oppressed that they will beat up and kill anyone who displeases her including bees. Also the Mining Moll Lady who is fat and marks herself with vermilion. She desperately wants the Chair and will sell all the minerals in the Land to the slit eyed cockroaches to the north to finance her challenge. The Huff and Puff Lady detests anything red including vermilion. So she has removed herself to the east from where she huffs and puffs which no one understands. The Land is completely imprisoned by a web of corruption fattening the Ladies and their kind. Happy Diwali to everyone. May the Goddess Kali protect the Land and its unfortunate people.

Seems that the Health Ministry is to set up a 13 member panel to try and curtail the use of antibiotics in India. This has been precipitated by a report of bacteria dubbed NDM 1 which is resistant to virtually every antibiotic. Antibiotics will be classified into categories such as non restricted, restricted and very restricted and strict penalties will be imposed against violators. So far so commendable. But will it work? A quick count through Drug Today which lists proprietary names that drugs are sold under showed that there are 153 names listed for Amoxycillin, 153 for a combination of Amoxycillin and Cloxacillin and an astonishing 378 names for Cefixime which is a third generation cephalosporin used in Typhoid fever which is becoming increasingly resistant to newer antibiotics. Besides this Amoxycillin is sold in combination with Serratiopeptidase, Lactobacillus, Probenecid, Bromhexine, Carbocysteine while Cefixime is sold in combination with Probenecid, Clavulanate and Cloxacillin among others. Cloxacillin is used only in Staphylococcus infections as in boils on the skin so a combination of Cefixime and Cloxacillin would presumably be indicated for a patient suffering from Typhoid and boils on the skin at the same time, a combination I have not seen in 40 years of practice. Against such competition drug companies will resort to any tactic to increase sales including supplying without vouchers and bribing doctors and chemists. India has a vast army of untrained quacks and a court in Chennai allowed Unani fellows to operate. Waste of time and money as usual.

Congress worship by the lying freeloading hacks never seems to stop. Today we have a half page article boasting about the number of world leaders visiting India especially all five of the UN Security Council. The British Prime Minister, David Cameron visited in July, US President, Barack Obama is coming on November 6, President Sarkozy of France on December 6, Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao on December 16 with President Dimitri Medvedev of Russia in between. The article gloats on the importance of India brought about by our growth rate giving rise to an expanding middle class eager to consume the material benefits of increasing prosperity. Details of the various business deals that India has to offer especially in defence and nuclear industries. It seems that somehow the fact that these men are visiting India bestows a recognition of our importance and we should be grateful for the honor. No doubt vast numbers of millions will be wasted in bowing to these men and every opportunity will be taken to publish their photos with various members of the Congress gang. God alone knows how many scarce tigers will be killed to supply their parts to the Chinese fellow to help increase his manhood. To think that we are having to genuflect to these men when we could have been one of the five members of the UN Security Council. The seat was offered to India when Taiwan gave up its seat but Congress Prime Minister, Nehru chose to decline allowing our greatest enemy China who are in a position to veto any attempt to give a seat to India. Is their a greater enemy for India than the Congress?

Is it Shaw who once said that only 50% of Americans have brains implying that the other half had none? If the opinion polls are to be believed that is an understatement. The Republicans, including the Tea Party nutters, are predicted to win by a landslide on a promise of cutting taxes for the very rich, cutting social spending, repealing the healthcare bill and other such regressive policies which will reduce living standards for the average citizen. The present deficit was caused by unnecessary tax cuts by George Bush which converted a surplus left by Clinton into a deficit. Amazingly people were actually cheering when a candidate, Sharon Angle promised to make these cuts permanent which would add $ 700 billion to the deficit while cutting social service spending which will hurt the poor. Thus the taxes paid by the poor are going to make the rich even richer. If people are suicidally stupid what is the value of their votes and the meaning of so called democracy. In India people have been kept poor and illiterate for 63 years so that money can be looted from social schemes. These idiots actually touch the feet of politicians in servile gratitude when promised rice at Rs. 2 per kilo, free clothes or televisions not realising that these are mere alms being thrown at them out of the extortionate taxes that we have to pay. Democracy was shown at its best when President Lula of Brazil stepped down after two terms when he had an approval rating of over 80% and could have stayed on forever. We have stinking, decrepit old men refusing to leave or die and grooming their criminal children to take over the gangs. Indian democracy is gang rule forever.