In an act of courage the Reserve Bank raised interest rates by 0.5% or 50 basis points yesterday taking the Repurchase rate to 8% from 7.5% and the Reverse Repurchase Rate to 7% from 6.5%. The RBI is playing catch up having been very shy so far and allowing inflation to remain at double digits. The latest Wholesale Price Index came in at 9.4% which means that the Consumer Price Index will be way higher. Already business leaders are complaining bitterly about how this will curtail growth. Sure, some sectors such as housing and automobiles will experience a slow down but that will not be such a bad thing. With a decrepit infrastructure India will collapse with more cars and houses. Building new roads and widening of existing ones will take many years as the government has no coherent policy to acquire land. Roads develop huge potholes after one rain shower because municipal officials and contractors conspire to use substandard materials for repair.Electricity, water, sewerage and municipal services are inadequate or, in some areas, non existent. All the rivers are heavily polluted due to discharge of raw sewage into them. With land prices at fairy tale levels farmers are selling out to builders reducing land for cultivation. A rising population with shrinking arable land points to a famine in the future which will make the present famine in Somalia look like a practice run. High growth benefits a few business owners and their politician friends but high inflation is killing the whole country. Anyway high inflation reduces buying power and will reduce growth by reducing consumption. So, what are these idiots complaining about?