How high can you rise?

In the last 24 hours HSBC Bank has announced net profit of $16.8 billion for 2011 and Apple shares are trading at $240 taking its market capitalisation over $500 billion which puts it among a very select few. Apple is paying $7 billion in dividend. So how high can companies rise? Every share has a face value and dividend is declared on this amount. So if a share has a face value of Rs 100 and the company pays Rs 40 as dividend that is 40% return which is excellent. The price of the share will rise immediately in the secondary market. So if someone buys the same share for Rs 1000 and the company pays Rs 40 his return will be just 4%, much less than what banks pay on fixed deposits. Hence shareholders, especially investments funds with millions of shares, exert pressure for higher dividend giving them better returns and the rising price of shares will earn them capital gains when they sell. The pressure on fund managers to increase returns for investors forces them to indulge in insider trading in which they obtain prior information about the profits or merger activity of a company before it is publicly announced and make a killing when the news comes out. Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group, a hedge fund, is serving 11 years in New York for insider trading. Or they create complicated financial products which no one understands. The subprime crisis was a prime example. CEOs of companies are under greater pressure to perform because their bonuses depend on rising shareholder value. So they resort to 1. Reducing employee numbers to increase productivity in which employees are made to work harder and monitored strictly to reduce time wasting. This is what resulted in strikes at Maruti last year when employees claimed they had to run to the bathroom and back. 2. Buying or merging with a company with similar products so as to create synergy. This allows greater production with fewer people, raising profits. Mergers of AOL with Time Warner in 2000 and Daimler Benz with Chrysler in 1998 went spectacularly wrong and had to be broken up. 3. Shift production overseas where salaries are low, as in China. To take one country's money abroad to create jobs in another country seems particularly vile. 4. Use contractors to supply employees. Since these are on temporary contracts they have no rights. Suicides at Foxconn, which manufactures Apple products in China, last year highlighted how these employees are virtual slaves. 5. Try to cover up losses with lies as happened at Japanese camera maker Olympus where the former CEO is facing criminal charges. Thus the more profits a company makes the higher its share price and it has to make even more to increase shareholder value. Question is, can it go on rising infinitely before gravity pulls it down? Seems to be a mug's game.

The press should stop acting as agents.

Chairman of the Press Council of India, Justice M Katju has formed a 3 member team to investigate complaints of violation of press freedom in Bihar. There have been allegations of journalists being transferred or threatened and government advertisements being cancelled from any newspaper that criticised any minister in Bihar. The government in Bihar is formed by the Janata Party of Nitish Kumar, supported by the BJP, who trounced the Congress in the last assembly elections. Large sections of the press in India act as agents for the Congress, distorting or suppressing news harmful to the Congress while highlighting news harmful to parties opposing the Congress. We do not know what transpired in Bihar but we do know that the Times of India has been running wall to wall coverage of the riots in Gujarat 10 years ago. It is almost as if the Times is celebrating the anniversary because of, what it sees as, a weakness of the BJP. Everyday for the past week the Times has been running articles criticising the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, who is of the BJP, and Hindu organisations such as the VHP and Bajrangdal. Articles invariably feature the same picture of a bearded man, no doubt a Hindu, wearing white trousers and a purple sweat shirt with a red cloth tied round his forehead and holding aloft, what looks like, an iron rod in his right hand. His clenched left hand is also raised and he seems to be screaming. These articles coinciding with the last phases of elections in UP seem designed to incense Muslims, who form 20% of the population of UP, so that they vote for Congress. It is possible that the Congress senses that it is not doing as well as expected which would be a serious setback for the Crown Prince. There has already been some talk of President's Rule in UP if there is a hung assembly. Will the Times continue its strategy of inciting Muslims later in the year when Gujarat holds assembly elections? If so, will it be held responsible if passions are inflamed and further rioting takes place? Strangely Punjab also had elections a few weeks earlier but the Times did not utter a peep about Operation Blue Star on the Golden Temple in 1984 or the massacre that followed the shooting of Indira Gandhi. The Congress is expert at tarring opposition with baseless allegations. Last year it defamed civil society activists supporting Anna Hazare in his protests for a strong Lok Pal. Now there are allegations that people protesting against the nuclear power plant in Kudankulum in Tamil Nadu are being supported by money from the US. Three NGOs have been banned and a German national deported. It is the duty of the press to investigate such allegations and inform the public with the truth but they do not. When the fourth estate behaves as a fifth column it is most dangerous.

Arms from the blind.

So, RIP then Kevin Rudd, Chinese lickspittle, who would not supply uranium to India when he was Prime Minister. In a throw of dice Rudd gambled his future by resigning as Foreign Minster of Australia to force a leadership challenge on Prime Minister Julia Gillard. His gamble boomeranged on him when he was trounced by 71 votes to 31 this morning in a ballot of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Now he can warm the backbenches while trying to think of how to say " I am a loser " in Mandarin. Meanwhile, Americans are thinking of supplying arms to the opponents of Bashar Al Assad in Syria. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton admitted as much in an interview with Kim Ghattas of the BBC while saying that every option looked bad. She has been at the forefront of the abuse against the Assad regime and called Russia and China " despicable " for using the veto to stop a resolution in the UN Security Council. It is impossible to understand what gives the US, along with its slave Great Britain, the right to kill tens, if not hundreds, of millions in Asia and yet to use the most extreme abuse against anyone who kills a few thousand. This is not to defend Assad. No one should use heavy artillery and tanks against his own people but there is great pressure on him from his own sect, the Alawites, from Christians, the Druze and especially from Iran and maybe Hezbollah to snuff out the resistance, by killing every protester if necessary. The hypocrites of the US, UK and Europe put on a great act as if to sympathise with the plight of victims and then go on to kill hundred times more to " protect the civilians ". They killed half a million in Iraq, hundreds of times more than Saddam killed in his entire life, and at least 30,000 in Libya recently. The US supplied arms to Afghans, which precipitated a civil war once the Russians had left, culminating in a take over by the Taliban and 9/11. Libya is now a country divided into little enclaves controlled by armed militia with the government hiding in Tripoli. The first uprising in Hama in Syria was orchestrated by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1982 which was crushed by Bashar's father, Hafez al Assad killing 20,000. The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Al Qaeda have come out in support of the Syrian opposition. Muslim Brotherhood is already the largest party in the Egyptian parliament. If Assad falls Jordan will be next in the line of fire and Israel will be completely surrounded. Or there could be all out war between Sunnis and Shias with Iran, Hezbollah and Iraqi Shias on one side with Sunni Arabs supported by the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda on the other. Even Turkey could be pulled in. The slaughter cannot be imagined. The US should stop seeing foreign policy through the eyes of Hollywood. You cannot solve every problem with guns. Blind, and stupid with it.

Who grows with growth.

The average compensation of CEOs in India calculated on Cost to Company basis has crossed Rs 20 million according to Hay Group, a management consultancy firm. The per capita income has grown to Rs 50,000, which is a piffling $1000, and will cross Rs 60,000 this fiscal. One would have thought that with such growth in income direct tax collections would zoom but the opposite is the case. Direct tax collections are short by Rs 400 billion compared to budget estimates. Income tax officials have been warned that if they miss targets their appraisal would be affected and " will also be a factor while considering placements in 2012 ". TOI, February 24. Tax accrues as per income of a company so it is hard to understand why there should be targets on officials. It is not as if they are selling toothpaste where extra effort might increase sales. The result, naturally, is that officials are demanding extra taxes from companies and forcing them to deposit 50% of the demanded amount, even if they appeal, which is against the rules. The reason for collections lower than expected is because of lower sales of consumer durables such as furniture, home products and electronics. Clearly people are postponing purchase of lifestyle items because their purchasing power has been hit by inflation. A major reason for inflation is the imposition of service tax on ever increasing varieties of services. This is reflected in the increase in service tax collections by 37%. So, what you win on the swings you lose on the roundabouts. Even by Purchasing Power Parity Indians are the poorest among the top 10 countries. The per capita income of an Indian as per PPP is a mere $3703 compared to that of $8309 for China, $11846 for Brazil and $16687 for Russia. Even South Africa is 3 times higher at $10977. Yet all we hear is an endless discussion of whether growth will be 6.9%, 7.001% or 7.2%. There is absolutely no talk about increasing electricity supply to boost industry, reducing deficit to curb inflation or reducing taxes on key industries to make them competitive. Instead the morons want the RBI to reduce rates so as to increase house prices and car sales. To increase the Sensex the government now allows individual foreigners to buy shares directly in Indian companies thereby hoping that an influx of foreign exchange will prop up the rupee. It is worrying that a government, led by the World Class Economist, is depending on hot money and black money for economic recovery. Perhaps we should get foreigners to run our country. Could not be any worse than this lot, what?

So, who is responsible?

The Supreme Court has held Delhi Police responsible for the attack on sleeping followers of Baba Ramdev in the early hours of June 4 last year in which a woman was so severely beaten that she died later in hospital. TOI February 24. It is common knowledge that police are controlled by politicians in India and previous Supreme Court rulings to make the police independent of political interference have been repeatedly ignored. The court also found a link between the Union Home Ministry and the police action meaning that the government is directly responsible. Is any politician to be held responsible for grievous injury and manslaughter? In April, 2010 the daughter of the then Minister of Civil Aviation, Praful Patel's daughter, Avni wanted to fly to Male in the Maldives with her in laws but the business class was full. So Air India changed the aircraft from a smaller Airbus A319 to a larger A320 to accommodate her. TOI, February 22. The change meant that the aircraft had to fly with 6 empty seats in business class and 47 empty seats in economy for a total of 53 on the flight from Bangalore to Male and on the return flight had 8 empty seats in business class with 52 empty in economy for a total of 60 empty seats. It would be interesting to know if Ms Avni actually paid anything for her family or was the entire cost born by Air India. Air India is at least Rs400 billion in debt but the government will not allow it to fail and is determined to pour taxpayer money into this sinkhole. It is easy to understand why. Only criminals have the black money and the goons required to win elections in India. The urge to cheat and loot is in their DNA and they are unlikely to change to honorable people just because of having won an election. However, the responsibility ultimately lies with the Captain. After the drubbing in the Test series against Australia the press clamored for MS Dhoni to be sacked as captain of the team holding him responsible for the shame. The Captain of the Costa Concordia is being pilloried for not going down with the ship as Captain EJ Smith did with the Titanic. So why is it that politicians are never held to account, especially in India? For that we need a free press and not a bunch of freeloaders as we have at present. Get the Captain, put him away forever. What a pleasant thought.

Are women any better?

On February 5 a 37 year old Anglo Indian woman left a Park Street nightclub in Kolkata and was offered a lift by some men. She accepted because it was late and was then raped by 4 men who held a gun against her head inside a vehicle. When she approached the police to register a First Incidence Report the police mocked her. Even the police chief, Pachnanda dismissed her story. This is a divorced woman whose business has failed and who left her 2 daughters and an ailing mother at home to go drinking alone in a nightclub till late hours, ergo she must be providing " escort service ". But even if she is a " whore " surely she has every right to be protected against being raped at gun point? Problem was that the men had given her false names which confused the police at first but later they have arrested 3 men and a fourth is absconding. Surely the Chief Minister of Bengal, who is a woman would be enraged at this brutal insensitivity of the police but Ms Mamata Banerjee was hostile. She saw it as a " conspiracy to malign her government ". This is the same Mamata Banerjee who first came to notice when she led an agitation in 1990 against the then Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu of the CPM who dismissed the brutal rape of 2 women officials, one of whom was murdered, in Bantala as a sort of incident " that happens ". She also mounted a campaign against the CPM for the rape and murder of a teenager, Tapasi Malik during the Singur land acquisition agitation. So rape and murder of women are just a political tools to be used against opponents when the situation demands but a " conspiracy " when it happens on your watch. If a woman is so cynically indifferent why blame men? Also in Bengal, former CPM legislator from Burdwan North, Pradip Ta and senior CPM district committee member, Kamal Gayen were hacked to death with axes and knives when they took out a procession against the government of Ms Bannerjee. No one has been arrested so far and the CPM are blaming members of Ms Bannerjee's party, Trinamul Congress for the murders. Ms Bannerjee seems to be convinced that everyone is conspiring against her. Her first reaction is to say " NO " to everything. Whether it is the Goods and Services Tax bill, the LokPal bill, the bill for a National Counter Terrorism Centre or the bill for 51% Foreign Direct Investment, she just says no. Rape of a woman, deaths of babies in government hospitals, killing of CPM members, nothing happened. They are all conspiracies. Wonder if she thinks that we are all little green men from Mars? But then, asking her would make it a " conspiracy ".

Friends and foes.

On his visit to the US the Foreign Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd suddenly announced his resignation from government a couple of days ago because he did not have the " support " of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. He was Prime Minister in 2010 but was ousted by his then deputy, Julia Gillard, the present Prime Minister. He has been angry and bitter since then and wants his job back. Ms Gillard has announced an election to choose the leader of the parliamentary Labour Party at 10am on Monday morning. Rudd speaks fluent Mandarin and may consider himself to be part Chinese because he would not allow uranium sales to India when he was Prime Minister. Australia has 40% of all uranium in the world and is necessary for us if we are to have secure supplies for our nuclear reactors. In November last year Ms Gillard reversed this hostility and has allowed Indian companies to mine for uranium in Australia. We hope she will win on Monday and pack off this Chinese lickspittle to some remote billabong in the vast outback, where he belongs. Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister of Italy, Staffan De Mistura has come hotfoot from Rome to rescue 2 marines on the merchant vessel Enrica Lexie who used 2 Indian fisherman for target practice on February 15 off the coast of Kerala. The Italians still insist that the shooting took place in international waters and, therefore, the murderers should be set free. This means that if an Italian ship passes an Indian one out in the oceans they will be at liberty to shoot and kill some of our sailors, if they are in the mood. However, Senor Mistura should not worry. The patriotism of our politicians is dictated by the ongoing elections in UP and will disappear as soon as that is over. Once the elections are over the freeloading press will gradually suppress the news under instructions. Then the 2 murderers will be quietly freed and put on a flight to Italy before anyone realises. Of course, the Italians will pay some compensation to the families but it will be a derisory amount, say Rs 1 million per family. However, the money will be paid through " proper channels " which means it will be gobbled up by local politicians and civil servants and the family will see not a paisa. Invitations to some key people to visit Italy and see the colosseum, the Herculaneum and enjoy a gondola ride in Venice will grease the wheels no end. The families, having lost their earning members, will be left running from one department to another for the rest of their lives. Or as we say in India," From pillar to post ". Two million rupees will pay for a great knees up.

Too many c( r )ooks lead to sloth.

The US economy is $14.5 trillion while the Indian economy is $1.6 trillion. By Purchasing Power Parity the US is $15.065 while the Indian economy is $4.469, still less than a third of the US. However the US President has just 15 Secretaries, equivalent to cabinet ministers in India, and another 7 of cabinet rank who head various organisations. Just 22 in all. India, on the other hand, has 47 ministers in the union cabinet, according to the Indian government website. Then there are deputy ministers and ministers of state, each of whom will demand an office, Z plus security, luxury bungalows, free first class travel with family and friends and 24 hour chauffeur all at taxpayer expense. Criminal beggars all. It is not just the expense of scarce funds that harms the country but the turf war that has completely paralysed the government. There is a minister of Coal and another one of Mines. Wow, and we thought that coal grows on trees all along. A lot of ministries have multiple departments, the largest being Defence with 12 departments closely followed by Commerce and Industry with 10, making a total of 121 departments. Each department will be headed by a Chief Secretary followed by Joint Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Additional Secretary, all IAS officers, and maybe others that we do not know about. Each secretary will have an office with clerical staff going down to the lowest creature called the Lower Division Clerk. One should not be fooled by the moniker. The so called LDC is a fellow of immense power. He or she is the person that any Indian gets to meet if there is any business to transact with any government department, the others being too high and mighty to bother with the great unwashed. He is the one who opens a FILE, a sacred object, without which nothing happens in government circles. It is in his pleasure as to when, or if at all, the sacred file will move up the chain. A great deal of begging, flattery and bundles of notes decide whose file gets a start and who eventually wins the race. It is a game that every Indian learns to play if he is to survive. This army of useless parasites is the biggest subsidy that the economy has to bear. Result? The Finance Ministry has snatched back Rs30 billion given to the armed forces for modernisation leaving the army with just Rs9.5 billion for this fiscal. So bankrupt is the government that it could not wait for March 31 to take back whatever is left unspent. No wonder they keep talking about " growth " like lobotomised parrots. Saving pennies while wasting trillions.

A hollow edifice.

India is ranked as high as 19th, in a list of 178 countries, ranked according to their vulnerability to external shocks in a study conducted by risk analysis firm, Maplecroft. TOI, February 21. Russia is at 30, China at 58 and Brazil way down at 97. According to the report high corruption, terrorism and political violence are some of the most prevalent risks for India. " Continuing poor governance is evidenced by the endemic nature of corruption, especially in India and Russia where the political process is undermined by an inability to tackle the problem," the report said. The report does not point out the biggest source of corruption which is using public money for social schemes to win elections. Subsidies on food, fertilizers, rural employment scheme, education schemes for girls and a myriad other schemes to bribe the poor to get votes. This leads to uncontrollable fiscal deficit, which in turn, leads to very high taxes which affect the same poor. Being illiterate, the poor do not realise that they are being conned. Also the pressure to survive in the short term makes them grateful for any help they get not realising that they will have to pay back many times more in the long term. Some sectors such as cars, airlines, hotels and entertainment are singled out as luxury and taxes on these sectors are exorbitant. Except Indigo all airlines in India are making colossal losses. Jet Airways lost Rs1.01 billion in the third quarter and Rs 9.37 billion from April-December, 2011. Kingfisher's plight is almost comical. It has lost Rs442.6 million and is unable to pay salaries. Every employer in India is supposed to deduct tax from staff salaries and deposit it with the Income Tax department. Kingfisher has not deposited this money so the IT has attached its bank accounts. Unable to buy fuel Kingfisher has been cancelling flights, 80 on Sunday, 20 yesterday and 25 today causing hardship to passengers. Not good when elections are going on. However, there is nothing the government can do. Any fines imposed on the airline will to immediate bankruptcy. A collapse of the domestic airline industry will lead to loss of faith in the Indian economy and will be a severe embarrassment for the government. " Let us not talk of punitive action at the moment. We are more interested to see the airline back on its feet," said DGCA chief, EK Bharat Bhushan. In short we have an enormous bamboo up our backside and do not know how to get it out. Best to grin and pretend.

Plants are good for you.

Indians have a childlike faith in the safety of alternative medicines. Everyone knows that allopathic medicines have side effects, which they do. Every year hundreds of thousands of people die from side effects of medicines prescribed to make people better. Secondly, western medicine cures only few diseases, such as infections, but the vast majority of diseases, such as diabetes and asthma, are controlled but not cured. The thought of taking medicines everyday for life is very discouraging so people migrate to practitioners of alternate medicines who promise to cure everything without any hazard. Ayurveda, meaning study of life, is an ancient science using plants to cure every ailment. People take ayurveda preparations with total faith . After all most of what we eat come from plants. Rice, wheat, vegetables, spices and fruits form our diet. We grow beautiful flowers in our gardens and use them for worship. Plants and their products are such an integral part of our lives that we think of them as friends and completely harmless. Anyone can practice ayurveda without any control although there are colleges which dish out degrees. Such is their faith that patients never question safety of the concoctions they are asked to take. Yet plants can be deadly. Strychnine comes from nux vomica, aconite from buttercup, mescaline from peyote cactus and atropine from deadly nightshade. Commonly used drugs such as aspirin comes from the willow tree and digitalis from foxglove. Cancer drugs, such as vincristine comes from the Madagascar periwinkle and taxol from the Pacific yew tree. Yellow oleander, a hardy tree needing little water, grows all over streets of Delhi. It is highly toxic and its fruit is used for suicide by women from the south. Now the Defence Food Research Laboratory, in Mysore is planning to make snacks for soldiers using plants. TOI, February 20. " A combination of traditional herbs and medicines will be used to make anti-hunger and anti-sleep bars." An ayurveda practitioner, Dr KT Jayakrishnan says," There are herbs to increase alertness and help a person to stay awake for a longer period without damaging the nervous system." The basic principle of any medicine is that if it has effect it will most definitely have side effects. If it has no side effect it is useless placebo. Just as long as our soldiers are safe.

A hierarchy of killing.

When it comes to killing foreigners there is a well established world order. It is not official but it is there none the less. At the top comes the US. The government and citizens of the US may commit any murder in any part of the world and insist on complete exoneration, always with success. Thus the US committed genocide in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and is still killing in Afghanistan but none of its soldiers have ever been tried or punished for slaughtering of innocent civilians. Raymond Davies shot 2 Pakistanis dead in cold blood and walked free with " diplomatic immunity ". Although not a diplomat Amanda Knox was freed by an Italian court on charges of double murder and is now set to make millions from a book deal. West Europeans come after the Americans in the order of license to kill. Thousands of Libyans were killed under the cover of a bogus UN Security Council resolution authorising protection of civilians. About a million Iraqis have died and its wealth looted under the abominable " Oil for Food " program. On February 16 crew of an Italian merchant vessel, Enrica Lexie, shot 2 innocent fishermen to death off the coast of Kerala. The Italians claimed that they mistook the 2 fishermen as pirates and refused to identify who fired the fatal shots. Italians diplomats have boarded the vessel, a crime scene, and are creating every obstacle to frustrate Indian police. They are claiming that the shooting took place in international waters as though killing innocent people in international waters is allowed under international law. This is the result of a mindset which makes Italians free a US citizen with tails between their legs but behave like uncivilised brutes when dealing with Indian authorities. However, we invite such contempt by being spineless. Peter Bleach, a British citizen sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Purulia arms drop case was freed by Presidential pardon after serving a mere 8 years. Would any Indian be freed by Britain in such circumstances? Bleach expressed his gratitude to the British government for " relentlessly " pursuing his case, as well he might. Warren Andersen, chief of Union Carbide was lovingly escorted out of Bhopal and India by the Chief Minister of MP, Arjun Singh after thousands had died in the Bhopal disaster. When leaving he said," There is one law for India and one law for the US. Goodbye India." Precisely put.

Cannot escape the net.

A fake video showing Vladimir Putin on trial inside a cage in a court has gone viral on YouTube with 3 million hits in 3 days. The video has been made by substituting Putin in place of Mikhail Khodorkhovsky who was tried and jailed in 2003. The judge is seen to ask the name and nationality of the defendant and Putin is seen to reply. TOI, February 17. An internet site called UPROXX shows a series of pictures of the present North Korean leader under the heading " Hungry Kim Jong Un " in which Kim believes everything he sees is made of cake. He picks up a guitar and says," What can you tell me about this cake?" In another picture he is looking at a couple of jackets in a closet and says," Why is this cake behind glass?" In North Korea the Kim family has been built up as Gods and the power of everyone in the regime is dependent on making sure people pay homage to them. A vanishingly small number of people would possess computers and seeing this kind of caricature of the Great Leader would mean a very long time in a labor camp or even death. India too has such a family whose members attract absolute devotion from politicians of the Congress Party. Members of this family have been living in government palaces worth at least Rs 3 billion dollars each with all expenses paid by the taxpayer and are beyond the law. To stop any criticism of The Family on the net ministers have asked search engines such as Google and Yahoo to check every posting individually and delete anything that the government will define as " objectionable ". The Congress has tried to disguise its blatant attempt at censorship by saying that they want to delete any abuse against religion. One Vinay Rai has filed a complaint against Yahoo in a Delhi court and a criminal case has been registered against the company. The High Court rejected Yahoo's plea that the material was carried on sites like Zombie, Orkut, YouTube, Facebook and Blogspot and there was nothing they could do. It would be impossible for any company to censor " objectionable " material on the vast internet and employing a lot of people to filter such material will cost too much. Why would a company bother? These companies are based in the US, where freedom of speech is guaranteed in the constitution, and any attempt to punish them will surely invite the wrath of the US. The Congress is frantic to ensure that a member of The Family becomes the Prime Minster in 2014 and will use any underhand method. We can only pray that they fail.

It's electricity, stupid.

Gujarat is probably the only state which has no power cuts. Even in Delhi, which prides itself as the capital city, blackouts come suddenly and last for hours. These are especially frequent when it is very hot, when air conditioners are in use, or very cold when people use electric heaters. To guard against being in the total dark everyone has an inverter, which uses a battery to power a couple of lights and fans, or buys a portable generator, which uses diesel, causing enormous noise and chemical pollution. Around 60% of telecom towers use diesel generators because of lack of electricity using 2 billion liters of diesel and producing 5.3 million tons of CO2. In Gujarat no one has any alternative domestic source of electricity saving a lot of money and the headache of maintenance. Chief Minister, Modi boasted that in 2 years Gujarat will be producing 7000 MW of electricity, up from 4000 MW today, and will supply power to the rest of the country. So what? It is expensive to set up a power plant so a few hours of inconvenience should be tolerated in a poor country like India. The answer also lies in Gujarat. With plentiful power supply Gujarat attracts the highest investment of any state. Already a total of Rs 120.34 trillion have been invested here and another Rs 16.28 trillion have been promised till the end of 2011. TOI, February 15. Thousands of industries have come up and more are planned bringing jobs and prosperity. Increasing tax collections mean that Gujarat has built clean wide roads and highways improving transport which, in turn, helps business. Although frugal by nature Gujaratis are spending more so large numbers of restaurants, shopping malls and car retails have come up. Of course, there are still a lot of poor people but with an enormous hunger for labor anyone is guaranteed to find work. It will take time for increased prosperity to translate to better education which will raise earning potential of everyone and reduce poverty. Chief Minister, Modi has already won 2 terms and will surely win a third in the next elections. This is causing enormous heartburn to the Congress which never ceases attack Mr Modi through its control of the press. The Congress is relying on throwing taxpayer money on social programs most of which will be stolen, cause inflation and increase deficit. Electricity and roads help the poor more than handouts but the Congress is a party of creepy crawlies devoid of any patriotism willing to win elections by any means because power provides the way to loot. Traitors.

Proof at last.

Why is it that whenever they visit earth aliens always make straight for the US of A? It is not as if aliens are fond of eating hot dogs, drinking Budweiser or watching baseball. At least no Hollywood movie has shown aliens sitting in a ball park at the bottom of the ninth inning with a dog in one hand and a bottle of Bud in the other. Some aliens have been good as in Cocoon while others have been malevolent as in Mars Attacks where they attached Pierce Brosnan's head on to the body of a dog. In Independence Day they abducted a crop-duster and did unspeakable things, probably of a sexual nature, to him which made him take to drink because no one would believe him. He turns out to be the hero, who eventually saves the world, by flying kami kazi style straight into the belly of the giant alien spaceship and blowing it up from the inside. In the hit TV serial SOAP about 2 sisters, Mary and Jessica, Mary's husband Burt is abducted by aliens. One of them takes the form of Burt and comes to live with Mary to experience life on earth. Trouble is that he has been in space for 1000 years with an all male crew and has not seen a female in all that time. When Jessica comes to visit her sister she finds Mary totally worn out because her husband keeps dragging her upstairs to bed every 5 minutes. She just cannot fathom what has got into him. Thus aliens have been portrayed as friendly harmless creatures getting into funny situations because they do not understand humans or as evil villains who want to kill us and loot all our mineral resources. Even Prof Stephen Hawking has warned of trying to contact aliens. However most people believe that we are alone in the universe and that, a few bacteria apart, there is no intelligent life form like us. Until now. In today's TOI there is a report that one Timothy Good, who has worked for the Pentagon and the Congress in the past, has claimed that President Eisenhower met aliens 3 times at the Holloman Air Force base in New Mexico in 1954. It appears that FBI agents contacted aliens through " telepathic messages ". Apparently they were Nordic in appearance and a deal was signed with a race called " Alien Greys ". Maybe all US presidents since Eisenhower have been aliens which would explain why they always keep taking wrong decisions like supporting Pakistan and giving unnecessary tax cuts to the rich. In which case Romney has no chance because he is a family man married to one woman, who devised a fair healthcare system and is trying hard to appear conservative. Newt Gingrich? He definitely fits the bill.

Life can be so unfair.

Top Indian civil servants of the Indian Administrative Service are not happy at all. In MP, IAS couple Arvind and Tinu Joshi are to lose their property and their assets will be attached. They were found to possess Rs 30 million in cash, 25 residential flats, 400 acres of land, shares worth tens of millions and stakes in many businesses. They have been asked to pay Rs 1.35 billion in tax and now will lose their assets. IAS officers in MP are displeased that the couple will lose their loot collected over many years of hard labor. Even worse in Andhra. Principal Secretary ( Home ), BP Acharya is in jail for helping a private company, Emaar cheat the state and Y Sreelakshmi for a mining scam. TOI, February 14. A delegation of IAS officers in Andhra have presented a charter to the Chief Minister demanding 1. Government should pay all legal costs of IAS fellows for defending themselves against charges of corruption 2. They should be questioned by the CBI in their own offices instead of being called to CBI office 3. CBI investigation team should include civil servant members ( read IAS fellows ) because they have " knowledge of business rules and decision-making in government " and 4. Sanction to be obtained from the state government before prosecuting a criminal fellow. Poor fellows just cannot understand why they must be punished for stealing. Their point is that all the offences took place between 2005-8 when YS Rajasekhara Reddy of the Congress was the Chief Minister before he died in a helicopter crash and the Congress is still in power in Andhra so they should be immune. We do not sympathise but we understand their unhappiness. This has all come about because Jaganmohan Reddy, son of YSR, has left Congress and formed his own party, YSR Congress Party. He wanted to become Chief Minister of Andhra when his father died but Congress would not let him. His point was that if The Family can inherit the Prime Minister's crown why can't he inherit the crown of a mere Chief Minister. Unfortunately you do not take on the Capo and hope to survive. The Congress is expert at using state agencies against perceived enemies and has discovered numerous cases of loot against Jaganmohan. However, when you start delving into a cesspit you discover many more cases of filth. Poor IAS fellows strongly object to having to go to jail for incidents of crime discovered fortuitously. They have been so used to sitting in their air conditioned offices while people came bowing with cash, precious metals and presents to get their work done. Now suddenly they are being punished because someone else took on the Capo. So, so unfair. Unfeeling people will snigger but we hope they do it discretely.

A bite in the butt.

During the Falklands war, 30 years ago, the then Secretary of State, Al Haig thought that the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington was a " duplicitous bastard ". Duplicity has always been British government policy and they are experts at it. While preaching human rights they helped the US to carry out mass genocide in Iraq. Having obtained a resolution from the UN Security Council solely to protect unarmed civilians they used it to bomb Libyan army positions, civilians in areas supporting Gaddafi, Gaddafi's family home killing his little grandson and eventually managed to wound Gaddafi so that he could be captured and killed. While vociferous in condemning torture the British allowed US rendition flights to land in Britain and allegedly helped British citizens to be transferred to Guantanamo. In an act of rendition 2 Libyans, Abdel Hakim Behadj and Sami al Saadi, opposed to Gaddafi, were transferred to Libya in 2004 where they were tortured. Unfortunately Behadj is now part of the revolutionary government in Libya and is threatening to take the British government to court. Yesterday evening the British government was forced to release Abu Qatada from a high security prison in London after 6 years. Abu Qatada is supposedly a highly dangerous member of Al Qaeda capable of plotting plots against the British while enjoying their hospitality. He has been fighting extradition back to Jordan, where he has been convicted of terrorism charges, on the grounds that some of the evidence against him was obtained by torture. The European Court of Human Rights agreed with him and a court in London ordered his release because the authorities could not prove any act of terror against him. A curfew of 22 hours a day has been imposed on Abu Qatada. He has to wear an electronic tag, is allowed out of his house for 1 hour twice a day, is not allowed to travel far, is not allowed a cell phone or internet and is not allowed visits from anyone other than family. So frantic are the British to get rid of him that a bunch of MPs are travelling to Jordan to obtain a commitment that he will not be tortured if transferred. They know he will be tortured but will pretend ignorance. A legal fig leaf as it were. After 6 years of abstinence it will be great fun if Qatada were to get his wife pregnant and then avail of free treatment on the NHS which is already severely constricted because of lack of funds. Sometimes duplicity can bite you in the backside.

Justice or travesty.

CBI Special Court Judge, VK Maheshwari has handed down 1 year rigorous imprisonment and fines of Rs 60000 each to OP Dabbas and AK Puri. They helped one Gurbux Biryani, who was in Tihar Jail on a drugs related offence, to shift first to LNJP Hospital and then to nearby GB Pant Hospital, to avail special nursing home facilities, on July 28 and August 5, 1988. Biryani died on January 25, 2010 while his trial was in progress. Puri was his brother-in-law while Dabbas worked in reception at GB Pant Hospital. The Judge said," Unfortunately, India ranks high in the list of countries by corruption. Anti-corruption measures in India are perceived by people to be weak and ineffective." Pity no one has been punished in the case of Vikas and Vishal Yadav who are serving life in prison for the murder of Nitish Katara. They murdered Nitish because they did not approve of his relationship with their sister, Bharti Yadav. Vikas is son and Vishal is nephew of UP politician DP Yadav. Between their convictions for murder in May 2009 and November 2011 Vikas made 82 visits to hospital, 40 of which were for follow up, while Vishal made 69 visits, 41 of which were for follow up. Murderer of Jessica Lall, Manu Sharma, son of a Haryana Congress politician was let out of jail on parole to attend night clubs and again recently to attend a wedding. He is supposed to be serving life. Today's judgement was possible because Dabbas and Puri are small fry, probably without any political connection. However, this sets a precedent and, in future, may be used to punish jail officials and politicians who conspire to make a mockery out of prison sentences. It would be best if every politician or spawn of politicians are hanged so that justice cannot be circumvented. Meanwhile, Union Minister, Mr Naranasamy has said that the government will bring a bill to make corruption in the private sector a criminal offence. Wow! Pious thoughts indeed. Silly us. We have been thinking all along that corruption is a criminal offence anyway. Or maybe not. It is a way of life for politicians without whose protection business people would not be so corrupt. Ramalinga Raju is still enjoying life even after confessing to robbing Satyam. This is known as crony capitalism. Notice that there is no mention of passing a strong Lok Pal bill to lock up politicians. Politicians are a cancer. Unless they are excised there will be no progress for the country.

Indian mishmash.

The Captain is meeting with trusted lieutenants today to find a way of cleaning up the excreta from the fan. This occurred when the Supreme Court cancelled 122 of the 2G licenses dished out by former minster A Raja on a first-come-first-served basis. The Captain must have nodded off because everyone in his team warned Raja but he went ahead regardless depending on " coalition ( a )dharma " to protect him. Unfortunately, as happens when excreta blows up, some foreign companies are destined to lose a lot of money through no fault of their own. Telenor is from Norway, Sistema is Russian and Etisalat is from Abu Dhabi. These governments are not at all amused and are asking questions the Captain cannot answer. Very embarrassing. Meanwhile, in another landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has dismissed a petition by the army Chief of Staff, Gen VK Singh to alter his year of birth to 1951 from 1950. Which means Gen Singh must retire this year and cannot stick to his kursi for another year. A pity that there is not way of somehow loosening the super glue that binds politicians to their kursis well past their sell-by date. Since politicians never expire we absolutely need to have an expiry date on politicians. It is depressing to see the same wrinkled, ugly old faces, stinking of criminal debauch, year after year like some recurring nightmare. To get some respite 3 ministers of BJP were watching pornography on their cell phones while the assembly in Karnataka was in session. They have been forced to resign from their posts by the opposition Congress. The ministers have defended themselves by saying that they were doing some research to gain further knowledge about the industry. Anything to boost the economy, what. Pornography is about sex and that is what Indians do best. You do not reach a population of 1.2 billion just depending on storks and much of this growth happened during Congress rule. So why is the Congress making so much noise? Is it jealousy? This is what happens when you have a bunch of geriatrics who are so decrepit that even Viagra cannot keep their eyelids up as they nod off. Who said that India is boring? Never a dull moment.

Do they know what they are doing?

Governments throughout the world have strict secrecy laws. All decision making is kept secret. This politicians an air of mystery and superiority and tells us, the people, that they know more than us. Trust us, they say, and we will do the best for you. But do they really know what they are doing? Indian government is to allow airlines to import fuel for planes directly from foreign countries where it is cheaper. This has been done as a desperate measure to try and avert bankruptcy of private airlines who are, apart from Indigo, running at huge losses. The reason why fuel is so expensive in India is because it is taxed heavily, up to 36% in some states, whereas it is taxed at only 4% in some countries. Instead of reducing taxes the government wants airlines to buy directly from abroad. This maybe because airline fuel tax is levied by states and the central government cannot touch it. So, by allowing airlines to buy directly from abroad, is the center trying to undermine the states? The fuel has to be transported and stored in some state in India. So what if that state decides to levy tax on the fuel? The German government must be cleverer. Germany is demanding very harsh austerity measures from the Greek government in return for the next tranche of bailout money, 130 billion euros. Already unemployment in Greece is at 20.9% and industrial output fell 11.9% in December but the EU, led by Germany, is demanding a cut in minimum wage from 751 euros to 600 euros and the loss of 15000 public sector jobs. Surely, this will worsen the recession in Greece making default inevitable. If Greece goes, Portugal, Ireland and even Italy may follow leading to a break up of the euro. Normally the currency of any country reflects the strength of its economy. Having a common currency across 17 countries meant that Germany was able to sell its products in all these countries at the same price as in Germany even though there was enormous difference in economic strength. Also a common low interest rate helped people in weaker countries to spend on borrowed money running up unsustainable debts. If the euro breaks up Germany stands to lose as much as these countries if not more. Common sense suggests that richer countries should be helping to stimulate growth in these countries while reducing deficit. But that is not happening. In India criminals with black money and goons have any chance of winning in elections. Surely it is not the same in western countries. We hope they know what they are doing. Do they?

Choice between starvation and Taser.

Financed by black money the construction industry is booming in India. A bunch of women labor arrive in the morning and sit at the roadside warming themselves. One woman sits behind another and starts parting her hair looking for lice. About half a dozen toddlers, between 2 and 3 years of age, have come with their mothers. A girl of about 5 carries a baby who looks about 1 year old. All children have thin limbs, lax skin and ginger colored hair, signs of malnutrition. Older children have probably gone to work at various homes, tea stalls or scooter repair shops around the city. As the contractor arrives the women get busy carrying bricks, cement or sand while the children play in the dirt by the road as Honda, Skoda and Volkswagen cars drive by. A daily scene across India everyday. It is a national shame that 45% of our children are malnourished. But surely children are much better off elsewhere? Surely British and American children enjoy paradise as they grow up loved and cared for? After the riots in Britain last year courts in Britain handed out long prison sentences to teenagers, not for committing any crime, but for being caught on CCTV cameras at the scene of rioting. Talk about kangaroo courts. Police filed false charges against suspected rioters and families were thrown out of council housing if anyone was convicted of just being seen. This, however, is nothing. Things are worse in the US, much worse. Police with guns now patrol schools. Children are given " Class C misdemeanor " tickets for being unruly. Last year 300,000 such tickets were given to children in the God fearing state of Texas for swearing, misbehaving on the school bus or getting into a punch up in the playground, in short for behaving like children. The Guardian Weekly, January 27. Even if parents of the children pay the resulting fines it is tantamount to pleading guilty and these children will not get government help with college tuition fees which are astronomical in the US. A little child branded, just like cattle. A 16 year old boy in Seguin, Texas was tasered for refusing to cooperate when asked why he was not wearing an identification tag. In California, a school security officer broke a girl's arm for refusing to clear up crumbs from her table. A 15 year old boy was shot dead in Brownville, Texas when he pointed an air gun at police. Brutalised children grow into brutal adults. The God fearing folk of Texas are right in one respect at least - the end of the world is indeed nigh.

Blood unites.

Syrians are enraged at the veto cast by Russia and China against foreign intervention in Syria at the UN Security Council. The US and western countries ( read white skins ) are always ready to bomb some sense into " uncivilised natives " but the result is always bad. Iraq was " liberated " by the Americans and their stooges who promised a democratic paradise but is now a bitterly divided country on the brink of civil war. Similarly in Libya Gaddafi was defeated and eventually killed by NATO bombing. It did not take long after celebrations were over before armed militias took control of various regions of the country with an impotent government flapping around in Tripoli. Medecins sans Frontieres have withdrawn from Misrata because their doctors were being asked to treat injuries inflicted by torture. Not much different from Gaddafi days. Afghans thought they had won an enormous victory against the mighty Soviet armour, with the help of Pakistan and arms from the US, only to be overrun by the Taliban from Pakistan and are now dying from Hellfire missiles fired from drones controlled by the same Americans. On the other hand, Tunisia held peaceful elections and has now a government running the country. Demonstrations against the army are still going on in Egypt but there are no armed protesters. A new parliament has been elected and is now considering a new constitution which will lead to fresh elections for president. The revolutions in both Tunisia and Egypt were domestic without outside help. From Vibhishan to Mir Jafar India has a long history of traitors who used foreigners to settle scores. Lanka was destroyed by Ram and Mughals and the British ruled India for 500 years by playing one local ruler against the other. The British used every form of torture from electric shocks to pulling out nails. They used flame throwers against protesters and deliberately caused the famine in Bengal resulting in millions of deaths to take revenge for helping freedom fighters but were ultimately thrown out when the country united against their savagery. India is still a democracy, even if a default dictatorship by one family, because their was no outside help. It may seem grotesque advice to the Syrians, as we see harrowing pictures of beautiful babies with horrific injuries, but if they want a united peaceful country with a functioning government they must earn it with blood. Vietnam is the prime example of freedom earned with the blood of hundreds of thousands resulting in a stable country with a booming economy. Sores from white skin bombs never heal.

Numbers will out.

Projection for the growth rate for this fiscal is down to 6.9% from the expected 8.5%. Our most revered Finance Minster has said that this was " on account of a slowdown in industrial output and investment growth ". How profound is that? With the budget being postponed to mid March, on account of the ongoing elections in some states, he admits to the rising subsidy ( bribery? ) bill from Rs 1.34 trillion to Rs 2.34 trillion. Standard & Poor's has warned that India's credit rating could be downgraded. At present it is BBB- which is the lowest investment grade. Below this is BB+ which is the highest speculative grade. Anything below that just indicates rising vulnerability to business, financial and economic uncertainties. The S&P report said," High inflation, a weak government fiscal position, and slower economic growth have hurt investor confidence in the rupee, triggered a capital outflow, and weighed on the sovereign outlook on India in 2012." Predictably business bodies have responded by calling for lowering interest rates. Low interest rates benefit a small section of society, those who want to buy houses and cars on loan, but have no effect on the rest of the population who live on cash,spending as they earn. High inflation, on the other hand, affects the vast majority of people cutting spending on goods and services of everyday use. People cannot reduce spending on food, school fees, rent and travel expenses but cut down on cosmetics, household goods like refrigerators, eating out and holidays. Thus inflation has a deleterious effect across the economy from FMCG to white goods to services like restaurants and hotels. Predictably also, faced with uncontrolled deficit the Finance Minister is sure to raise taxes across the board to raise more revenue. It may raise more money in the first one or two quarters but will add to inflation and will eventually lead to contraction of the economy. Till now we had a positive list for tax on services which meant that only a named service would have to pay tax. Now we are going to move to a negative list which means that only those services specifically mentioned will be exempt, the others will have to pay tax automatically. It is not just adding 12% to your bill, you need an accountant to calculate every month's tax accrued and then go and submit it at the relevant window. The scoundrels justify this by pointing to other countries with the same system forgetting to mention that they also cut government expenditure, reduce the number of public servants and reduce waste. There are 80 ministers at the center, each guarding his own turf, leading to policy paralysis and millions of civil servants refusing to work without bribes. This is the biggest subsidy we taxpayers have to bear. Get rid of the trash and watch the growth spurt. Cleanliness is, after all, very big business.

India has many Foxes.

Actress Nandita Das has said that Hitler is not remembered for building the best roads and hospitals or for being a music lover, a vegetarian and a teetotaler. Even Germans do not remember his attributes. She was referring about the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi who is blamed for riots that killed a handful of minorities following the deliberate burning of a coach full of Hindus returning from pilgrimage in the Sabarmati Express in 2002. Pity Ms Das has not bothered to study the judgement delivered by Special Court Judge PR Patel in which he mentioned that the attack on the Hindus was deliberate and coordinated by loudspeaker from the local mosque. He also pointed out that this was not the first time that Hindus had been burned and that riots had taken place in 1965, 1969, 1971, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1990 and 1992. Ms Das probably subscribes to the view promoted by the pseudo-secular Congress that Hindus have no right to self defence. Even more troubling is her extreme amnesia about 10,000 Sikhs killed following Indira Gandhi's death for which not one person has gone to prison, let alone been hanged. However, as an individual she has every right to be against the BJP but when the freeloading press deliberately misleads people in the guise of balanced reporting it is very troubling. In the Comments section of today's HT, someone writing under the pseudonym " Pundit " mocks people for indulging in conspiracy theories for not believing in Mr Rahul Gandhi's assertion that he is not really interested in becoming Prime Minister. Especially since his sister Ms Priyanka Vadra has supported his statement. As Mandy Rice Davies would have said," She would wouldn't she?" We are not stupid to believe that Mr Gandhi will become prime minister if the Congress does well in the coming elections in UP. These are assembly elections for the state. However, if Congress can grab a share of power in the state the chorus of " Rahul Gandhi for PM " will become deafening. Being in power in the state will also enable the Congress to dole out freebies in the 2014 general elections. The creepy crawlies of the Congress should not rejoice too much even if they do well in UP. The central government is bankrupt and the coming budget will see rise in taxes across the board leading to higher inflation later in the year. Even a deceiving press will not be able to put a gloss over that. The US has just one Fox News, we have numerous " Foxes " in disguise.

So, who is afraid of Iran?

Why is the US so obsessed with Iran developing nuclear weapons when it allowed Pakistan to develop them with the help of China at a time when China was not so powerful? Pakistan is a failed state which has little control over its regions like Baluchistan and Waziristan. It is an economic basket case surviving on handouts from the US and the IMF. The civilian government has no control over its army which actively supports and trains terrorists and is itself infiltrated by fundamentalists as the attack on the naval base last year proved. Iran, on the other hand, is relatively stable. Ayatollah Khamenei has full control over government institutions including its army and there are no armed groups, like the Taliban, to worry about. Its economy would be in much better shape were it not for the sanctions. Iran is almost the same distance from the US as is Pakistan so if the US is comfortable with a rogue state like Pakistan possessing nukes why talk about attacking Iran? Even Israel is in no real danger. Iran can never use nuclear weapons against Israel for fear of being wiped off the map. Iran has never fought a war with Israel except through proxies such as the Hezbollah and Hamas. The reason is that there are other countries between the two. Even with the confidence of nuclear weapons, therefore, Iran cannot attack Israel with conventional weapons without going through Iraq and Jordan or Saudi Arabia. Which is really fanciful. So why the increasingly belligerent rhetoric from Tel Aviv? The only people who will never tolerate a nuclear Iran are the Arabs led by Saudi Arabia. A Shia Persia armed with nukes just across the Gulf from Sunni Arabs is unacceptable under any circumstance. The Saudi King is supposed to have wanted to cut of the head of the " snake ". The Arab Council is also pushing for the removal of Al Assad and his Alawite, who are Shia, regime from Syria. The fall of Assad will desperately weaken Iran which will not only lose its ally but will be unable to supply the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Trouble is that ordinary Arabs will not support any attack on Muslim Iran when Israel is widely believed to possess over 200 nukes. So is there a back channel understanding between the Arabs and Israel which is urging Israel to say the things that the Arabs leaders want to say but cannot? This makes war a much greater possibility than we think. Perhaps the only inhibition is the US presidential election in November. After that oil at $ 200 a barrel? Trouble is I am allergic to horses.

Why can't we be Brazil?

An article in The Guardian Weekly, January 20, has a shocking piece of information. It says that birth rate in Brazil, has dropped from 6.15 children per woman in 1960 to less than 1.9 today. This is lower than the US at 2.0 per woman and is the lowest in South America. It is particularly shocking because Brazil is largely Catholic and the church frowns on birth control. The fertility rate has fallen in cities such as Sao Paolo as well as in rural population deep in the Amazon villages and in the vast farming belt. This has apparently been brought about by migration to cities, expansion of female workforce, better healthcare and TV soaps which show small rich families. Brazil has just 192 million people in a country which is 5th largest by land area. Its GDP was $2.422 trillion in 2011 and per capita income $ 12423, much higher than India. In contrast to India where ministers are obsessed with growth rate Brazil's economy grew 8.9% between 1970-79, 3% from 1980-89, 1.7% from 1990-99 and 3.7% from 2000-08. Average growth per quarter from 1996-2011 was just 0.8%, the highest being +4.50% and the lowest -4.20%. How has Brazil climbed to become the 6th largest economy in the world ahead of the UK when its growth rate has been so low compared to that of India and certainly to that of China which has averaged 10% over the last 2 decades. The reason obviously is the low population of Brazil. China was quick to recognise that and started its one child policy in early 1990s and has managed double digit growth without significant inflation until now. Both Brazil and China have near 100% literacy. Sadly in India low class politicians want to ensure a large population of abjectly poor, illiterate aam aadmi which they term " vote bank ". This allows them to win elections by doling out bribes in the form of free electricity, cheap food grains, color TVs and other goodies with taxpayer money. Illiterate people are also easy to fool with caste, religion and other lies. Rewarding people for having children results in increasing numbers of poor so that 45% of children are malnourished, more than in sub Saharan Africa. Brazil has passed a Law of Fiscal Responsibility which controls expenditure of federal, state and municipal governments allowing it to reduce taxes by 30% on manufactured products. Here, fiscal deficit is totally out of control and the scoundrels are forever looking to increase taxes which reduces consumption and brings growth down. Brazil's president was Lula, a trade unionist while we are saddled with a World Famous Economist. How unfortunate we are!

Always presumed guilty. Unless.

British Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne has resigned to appear in court on charges of perverting the course of justice over claims by his ex wife that he made her accept 3 penalty points on her driving licence for speeding in 2003. She claims that Huhne was picked up by cameras speeding out of an airport and would have been banned from driving so she accepted 3 penalty points on her licence on his behalf. Essex Police have been investigating for 8 months and have now decided to charge Mr Huhne. In the US, an American student of Indian origin has complained to the Education Department of Civil Rights that he was rejected by Harvard and Princeton even though he was near top of his class. Apparently students who are white, hispanic or black gain admission with lower SAT scores than Asian Americans. Although both Harvard and Princeton have denied any such policy the complaint is being investigated. Here in India, Civil Aviation Minister has instantly ruled out any Air India investigation into claims that his predecessor at the ministry accepted bribes. Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada has reported that a Canadian citizen of Indian origin, Nazir Karigar took $250,000 from Cryptometrics of USA to pay Mr Patel, now Minister for Heavy Industries. He told the company that he had passed on the money to Mr Patel through his political ally, Laxman Dhoble. The bribe was to get a contract for a face recognition system for Air India. In the event Air India dropped plans for the system. Cryptometrics is now suing Mr Karigar in the Supreme Court of New York so more excreta is sure to hit the fan. Mr Patel has naturally vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Politicians in India do not seem to understand that denying a crime is no defence. Indians will believe allegations of any crime against any politician, so low is their opinion of these scoundrels. People will only believe if a thorough unbiased investigation reveals no wrongdoing. As in the case of Mr Huhne, Mr Patel can continue in office while investigations are going on and resign only if there is a strong case to answer. However, such will not happen and politicians of every ilk will try and prevent any investigation. Mr Patel should get his suit dry cleaned to answer a subpoena from the Supreme Court in New York. Meanwhile, unless you prove your innocence we shall believe you are guilty.

How many to start a war?

The second World War was because of a collection of men, willing to murder in millions, at the same time in history. There were Hitler, Mussolini, Churchill and Stalin, each man trying to outdo the others in a competition of slaughter. Just recovering from the Great Depression the US was a reluctant late entry because of Pearl Harbor. Thankfully, today we do not seem to have such a collection. Perhaps, there are a few but not with enough support to start anything big. We had Bush and Blair but Chirac refused to be bullied for which France was vilified in the US. Obama does not have an appetite for open warfare in which US troops will die, relying instead on diplomacy and drone attacks on selected targets. China has become immensely wealthy and has been spending enormous amounts on defence. China could use its wealth to help its neighbors economically and reserve its military strength purely for self defence, not that there is any danger of attack from any Asian country. Instead China has become arrogant, aggressively bullying its neighbors who are now turning to the US for comfort. Later this year the present leadership in China will stand down. Whether the men who replace them will be as offensive remains to be seen. David Cameron of Britain is itching to become Margaret Thatcher. He sneaked into 10, Downing Street with LibDem support because he lacks a majority in the House Of Commons. The Tories have 306 seats while Labour has 258 and the LibDems 57. The Tories got 36.1% of votes with a turnout of 65.1% which is about 20% of the electorate, not large enough to start a war. Anyway, with the economy in recession Britain is having to reduce defence expenditure. Bombing Libya and killing Gaddafi was too little and Cameron would definitely love more. Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran keeps raising the ante, probably believing that Allah will make him invincible. Strangely, Ahmadinejad is now seen as a moderate. Netanyahu of Israel will probably not want to start anything until he knows who is coming to the White House but is under extreme pressure from extremists. France and Germany will also have elections, with France most likely to have a new President. So will we get another combination of mass murderers to start a Third World War? We do not know, but 2012 could surpass any war in history with the amount of blood that will flow. We can only wait and watch.

Can a foreigner turn patriot?

Is it possible for a foreigner to really become a patriotic citizen of her adopted country? That is really at the core of all the troubles plaguing the country. The Supreme Court cancelled 122 telecom licenses today. These were 2G licenses doled out by Telecom minister, A Raja on a first-come-first-serve basis without any attempt at price discovery. Tata lost 3, Videocon 21, Uninor 22, Idea 9, S-Tel 6, Swan 13, Etisalat DB 15, Loop 21 and Sistema 21. Curiously it is the Congress government which was applying for cancellation of the licenses when it was the previous Congress led government which had granted them in the first place and the Prime Minister's Office did nothing despite being informed. To win elections at any cost the Congress keeps throwing taxpayer money on various social schemes resulting in growing deficit. The deficit has reached Rs 3.81 trillion From April to December which is 92.3% of budget prediction. Tax revenues are 63.3% of target compared to 73.2% at the same time last year. Unlimited spending was the cause for the inflation which limited spending resulting in less tax collection, uncontrolled deficit and fall in the rupee which will raise inflation further. Household savings have fallen to 1990s level because of rising cost of living and people have been buying gold despite sky high prices because of loss of faith in the rupee. This brings us to the question of whether a foreigner can really desire a rich strong India, which may need a little sacrifice, or will do anything, including destroying the country, just to make her son the prime minister. From depressing to spiritual matters. It has come to pass that Kim Kardashian is to start a bible class. Her marriage ended after 17 whole days when her husband discovered her engaged in naked yoga where Kim, her sister and a male instructor were all naked. Her classes will be truly uplifting if Kim promises not to hide her light under a bushel. If we must have a foreigner running India why can't we have Kim instead of the other one? Our nation needs salvation, so let us raise it to Kardashian. Surely cannot lose.

The curse of innocent children.

A battered 2 year old girl has been lying in ICU at AIIMS hospital in Delhi for 12 days. She has undergone 2 surgeries on her brain, suffered 2 heart attacks and is now in a critical condition. She was abandoned by her parents in the care of one woman who then left her with a teenage girl who is herself an abused orphan. Apparently the child fell and was crying so the girl bit her and then left her at the hospital. Republic Day on January 26 is the most important statutory holiday in India celebrated with parades all over the country where various floats based on local themes entertain crowds much like Thanksgiving Day parades in the US. The difference is that children from government schools, which means from poorer backgrounds, are forced to wait for hours and march for long distances without proper food, water or toilet facilities. In a tableau organised by Devas Municipal Corporation in MP a boy of about 10 years of age was promised Rs 5 and some snacks if he stood under a running tap of cold water during the march past. This on a bitterly cold January morning. The shocking thing is not that a child was treated with brutal indifference but that he accepted to undergo this torture for just Rs 5, equal to 10 cents. India has 3 million child laborers who work in informal sectors such as servants in households, in the diamond industry, in extremely hazardous fireworks industry and as servants in restaurants and hotels. This could be an underestimate as children can be seen working in filthy conditions everywhere one goes. Drive along any highway and you will see children working in brick kilns, on farms, taking orders in every roadside tea shop, swathed in fumes of hydrochloric acid in workshops reconditioning old car batteries and in every labor intensive industry. They are paid little, beaten if unable to fulfill their quota and sexually assaulted. When you have too much of anything it is not valued. Poor people keep on breeding without having the means of looking after their children. Politicians say nothing because they can get votes by doling out freebies with taxpayer money and more poor people provide cheap labor increasing profits for companies. The irony is that this government has passed a law promising severe punishment for anyone ill-treating an animal. No law to protect beautiful, innocent children. It is urgent that children have the right NOT to be born.