What a difference.

Our present system of government was inherited from the British but whereas the British have been trying to change and improve their system we have not only kept the worst aspects of colonial rule but added to them though experience. Yesterday Lord Justice Leveson delivered his report on his inquiry into the phone hacking scandal precipitated by the hacking of the phone of the murdered teenager, Milly Dowler by journalists at the News Of The World. He recommended that there should be an independent regulator for the press, set up by an act of parliament, with powers to fine or imprison reporters. Presently the Press Complaints Commission is financed by the industry and has no powers to enforce its ruling, making the press self regulated. What is to be noted is that he did not recommend that the government should regulate the press but that it should empower a regulator who would be independent of the press and, presumably, of the government. Within 90 minutes, the Prime Minister, David Cameron was standing in the House of Commons refusing to pass any such act. He said," For the first time we would have crossed the Rubicon, writing elements of Press regulation into the law of the land. We should, I believe, be wary of any legislation which has the potential to infringe free speech and a free press. In this House, which has been a bulwark of democracy for centuries, we should think very, very carefully before crossing this line." Yet members of parliament had to face a torrid time in 2009 when the Telegraph group paid 110,000 pounds to someone to obtain information on claims for expenses filed by MPs and printed them daily in lurid detail. This exposed all politicians to ridicule and fury of the people, several went to prison and many were forced to resign their seats. Cameron himself had to endure an uncomfortable time when he was examined by a barrister at the inquiry about his phone messages to Rebekah Brooks, then editor of the News Of The World. The Guardian, which is a mainstream liberal newspaper, prints cartoons of Cameron with a condom over his head presumably depicting him as, what is known in American slang, a " dickhead ". George Bush used to be shown as a chimpanzee holding a chained Tony Blair as a poodle. No one ever dreamed of objecting. Yet here Aseem Trivedi was charged with sedition, a British era law to control pesky " natives ", when he drew cartoons deriding the parliament. Cameron's pride comes from his personal integrity and a sense of honor. Our lot remind us of the drug gang who abducted Maria Santos Gorrostieta,  the female mayor of Tiquicheo in Mexico 10 days ago. Her body was found on 26 November stabbed, burned, battered and bound at  wrist and ankle. Her crime? She spoke out against crime. What a difference between us and them.

Proud leaders in crime.

The wealth of Ponty Chadha, who was shot by his own brother in a farmhouse in Delhi over a property dispute 12 days ago, has been speculated to be around Rs 500 billion. We are told that he was given sole contract for supplying mid-day meals to children in government schools in UP against the ruling by the Supreme Court that such meals should be provided only by panchayats, meaning village councils, or mahila mandals meaning women's groups. He also had monopoly license to sell alcoholic drinks in the whole of UP and hence the power to price them at will and was about to be awarded sole contract to supply nutrition supplements for children to anganwadi or social workers. He obtained these contracts regardless of whether SP or BSP was in power. However, Ponty was small fry compared to stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan who was arrested in Pune in July 2011. He is said to have declared an income of Rs 1.1 trillion between 2001-2 and 2007-8, all of it black, and the Income Tax department has demanded Rs 503.46 billion in back taxes. Officials suspect that he has stashed $8 billion in Swiss banks but these banks deny any knowledge of Khan. So far officials have managed to trace a negligible Rs 325 million in one Swiss account. Everyone is mystified as to his source of wealth and Khan is not talking. Some guess that he was a conduit for politicians and industrialists who wanted to transfer money abroad through hawala channels and others think that he was involved with arms dealer Adnan Khashogi. What is known is that he was investigated by the Mumbai police, the IT department, stock market regulator SEBI, the RBI and the passport division and was jailed in 2010 for owning a fake passport. Son of a Hyderabad Excise Officer he is said to have been introduced to his partner, Kashinath Tapuria by the Congress Chief Minister of Andhra, Vijay Bhaskara Reddy. Khan is known to possess multiple Indian passports and has traveled abroad extensively. The central government is trying very hard to entice ordinary people to invest in the stock market knowing that it is totally manipulated. The largest number of investors in shares are in Gujarat. No wonder then that in the last 3 years Gujarat had 15 of 27 companies that raised money from investors and then vanished. " Retail investors in Gujarat have lost Rs 5 billion in such companies. Most directors of vanishing companies have started different businesses or the company operates under a different name," said Hemantsinh Zala, Chairman, Ahmedabad Stock Exchange. TOI, 26 November. Meanwhile the SEBI is trying to work out how to stop a form of insider trading called " front running " in which a broker uses knowledge of a large order of share transaction to buy or sell for himself to take advantage of the change in price that such a large order will bring. India maybe behind on every index of progress but we are leaders in crime. Our politicians make us proud.

A deadly game.

No one has ever won a Nobel Prize in economics in India but we have an endless supply of twisted brains creating new ways of taxing the exhausted people. Now someone called Kirit Parikh, who heads a think-tank called Integrated Research and Action for Development, has proposed that road tax on diesel vehicles should be increased compared to those which run on petrol and they should be made to pay tax every year. " For normal cars it can be higher by between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 for diesel version and for the sports utility vehicles ( SUV ), it should be higher by up to Rs 50,000," he said. TOI, 27 November. In India we pay a one-time road tax at the time of buying a new car which is a great earner for the government because it gets all the money up front and, since the tax is collected and deposited by the dealer, the government saves on manpower to collect the tax. Car owners do not object to the increase in the prices of cars because it takes away the yearly torture of standing in queues and having to deal with rude and unhelpful sarkari savages. The reason for this perverse idea is that diesel is cheaper than petrol because of extremely high taxes on petrol. Good economics would dictate that taxes on petrol should be brought down while the price of diesel is raised so that both cost the same which will take away the advantage of diesel vehicles. There is a constant barrage of lies in the media on how there are too many cars on our roads creating traffic jams and air pollution. Bus lanes have been created on already busy roads to force car owners to use public transport. Not one person has the honesty to point out that every year 14 million cars are sold in China while Indians, with the same population, buy only 1 million cars. This year it will be less than that. Why does the Chinese government try to improve the lives of its people while ours tries constantly to make us poorer? Just as the airlines industry has been brought to its knees by taxes so the car industry is also going to be suffocated. The result is that the OECD reckons that growth will drop to just 4.4% this year. Meanwhile the Congress is going full speed ahead with its preparations for 2014. It has announced that from 1 January benefits for the poor will be transferred directly into bank accounts of recipients. At first it will be in 51 districts in 14 states and will be extended to the whole country by the year end. They have even devised a slogan - " aap ke paisa, aap ke haath " which means " your money, ( in ) your hands ". Not quite. It is taxpayer money and the hand is the election symbol of the Congress. Accused that it is bribing voters our most revered Finance Minister said," It is an absurd argument.... People should choose their words carefully." Surely. But he is the man who is responsible for the desperate state of the economy because of what he did in 2008 to win in 2009. He claims that it is a " game changer ". Maybe. But deadly for the people.

Mass killing is good for tourism.

Some 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. Some of those who were responsible were tried at the Nuremberg trials and hanged. Adolf Eichmann managed to escape to Argentina but was tracked down by the Mossad, abducted to Israel and hanged after a trial. The gas chambers of Auschwitz, Dachau and Treblinka have become macabre tourist sites where people reflect on the horrors of Nazi crimes against humanity. Holocaust denial is a crime in several European countries. However, some 7 million people died in the British engineered famine in Bengal in 1943 and countless millions died during the British revenge partition of India but, not only has Britain not borne any responsibility for its crimes, it has argued that British rule was good for India. Our spineless politicians have conspired by continuing to kowtow to white-skinned Britishers. Now the US is about to celebrate one of the sites where bombs for Hiroshima and Nagasaki were created by turning Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee into a tourist park where US citizens will be invited to see how the bombs were created. The Guardian Weekly, 28 September. The Manhattan Project was established in 1942 and Oak Ridge and Los Alamos were built in 1943. The 1.6 km long K-25 building in Oak Ridge was one of the largest in the world during the war. Katy Brown, President of the city's Visitors Bureau thinks that the graphite reactor is an awesome sight. " It's really cool. It's very nostalgic," she said. She would be able to spend an enjoyable day with her family, licking ice cream while the children giggle about stories of Little Boy and Fat Man, as the cute little bombs were called, being dropped on yellow slit-eyed men called Japs. They will listen wide eyed about the initial flash that vapourised everyone within a 10 mile radius and the beautiful mushroom cloud that spread radiation far and wide. That will perhaps make them hungry and they can have pizzas with extra mushroom toppings. Los Alamos has the modest house where Oppenheimer lived. Once these sites are operational the US can work on the places that developed napalm which was used on Korea and Vietnam, dioxin, also called Agent Orange, which was dropped on Vietnam as a defoliant to destroy cover for the Viet Cong, and depleted Uranium which has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dioxin and depleted uranium contaminate water and soil for decades resulting in malformed babies and stillbirths. Sadly they will not be able to develop the offices in Atlanta where officers play video games as they launch those cute little drones firing Hellfire missiles on Taliban. Of course, anyone who is killed, including little babies, are called Taliban else why would they try to stop the missiles with their little bodies. Must be suicide babies protecting the baddies. We should also have such tourist spots. Great help to a bankrupt government. 

Headless chickens.

Various arms of our government are running around trying to come up with ideas of how to thwart the looming disaster of economic meltdown and a credit rate downgrade to junk status. The problem is that they cannot touch the real disease making the economy sick, which is enormous government spending, and hence all the ideas are merely an attempt to kick the can down the road and hoping that they will disappear. Yesterday, the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, Subir Gokarn said that to reduce the physical import of gold it should be " dematerialised " like other financial instruments. TOI, 26 November. " If ( high gold imports ) is causing some macroeconomic stresses and so the challenge is to find ways to replicate the financial characteristics of gold without necessarily causing physically importing," he said. He means that if people want to buy gold they will not be given lumps of the yellow metal but a paper showing how much gold they hold. The reason is that gold import has doubled to 1000 tonnes per year since 1999 and since India does not produce any gold it is adding to our import costs and increased the Current Account Deficit to 4.2% last year. The reserve bank is trying to curb the import of gold and the government has increased tax on gold to 4% but if they make it too difficult smuggling will resume and another Haji Mastan may start operations. The demand for gold is so resilient because people have no other safe investment which they trust. Fixed deposits in banks lose money because banks pay 7% in interest while the Consumer Price Index is 10%. Instead of making any effort to tackle inflation our most revered Finance Minister keeps putting pressure on the RBI to reduce interest rates further to " stimulate growth ". The stock market is highly manipulated and people have been cheated so many times that they avoid investing in shares. There are only 2 avenues for investment where money is safe and guaranteed against inflation and they are gold and property. Trouble is that there is a gigantic price bubble in property with prices having zoomed 1000% since 2002 and you cannot invest small amounts of money in property. You may invest in shares of construction companies but most people think builders are gangsters in fancy clothes. Most building firms are  unable to pay their bank loans and instead of forcing them to sell off their housing stock to bring down prices our Finance Minister is urging banks to restructure bad loans with our money. So the only alternative is gold and even though the price reached Rs 32,850 per tola, which is about 11.3 grams, people still prefer to own something that they can sell in an emergency. People are hedging against inflation and further fall in the value of the rupee. With headless chickens running the country they are right.

Collapse is inevitable.

The political world is divided between left and right. On the one hand we have socialist type governments in France, Venezuela and India which believe in taxing the rich to help the poor not expecting any responsibility from the poor towards society and on the other we have right wing governments in the US and UK where the discussion is about cutting taxes for the rich and cutting " entitlements " for the poor to force them to find work however hard or low paying it maybe. By its very nature leftist policies are unsustainable however tempting they maybe to self serving politicians. Although altruistic by nature human beings are motivated by profits and a sense of fairness so if talented people find that they are not being rewarded for their efforts they stop exerting themselves and those at the bottom stop working because they find it easier to live on benefits from the state than to take on manual labor. The Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba and North Korea are poor and China has embraced capitalism even though the Communist Party still rules. India is a mess of many parties with totally different ideas as to how it should be run. The Congress uses a cynical form of socialism to win elections which only increases corruption, causes inflation and hurts the very poor that they so profess to love. Capitalist countries, on the other hand, are rich and powerful. In these countries talents are allowed to flourish, ideas are rewarded and entrepreneurs can become fabulously rich. The trouble with these countries is that the rich accumulate power and are able to finance their friends into office who, in turn, enact laws that protect the rich while hurting the poor. Since the poor and the middle class vastly outnumber the rich this causes enormous social strain. The sub-prime mortgage crisis was a classical example of crony capitalism. It was caused by deregulation so that financiers were able to game the system and when it collapsed banks were rescued with billions from the government so that bankers still awarded themselves millions in bonuses while the middle class lost their homes to foreclosure. Marie Antoinette's surprise at why the poor did not eat cakes when they had no bread maybe an extreme example of the disconnect between the privileged and the ordinary but Mitt Romney's comment about the 47% and David Cameron's steely austerity while allowing the rich to avoid taxes altogether by adopting phony " non resident " status show the complete lack of understanding of ideas of fairness. As inequality increases a revolution will result as happened in France, Russia and China. On a completely different note, the story going round is that the Pakistani terrorist Kasab was not hanged at all but died of dengue fever. The hanging was staged to cover up the embarrassment. Love conspiracies. 

Dictators in disguise.

President of Egypt, Muhamed Morsi has passed a decree giving himself sweeping powers. After the spontaneous revolution last year leading to the overthrow of the Mubarak regime elections were held in November and a parliament was constituted in January of this year. However, one third of seats were supposed to be contested by independents but members of the Freedom and Justice Party, which is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, stood as independents winning 100 of the 235 seats. This was challenged in front of the Supreme Court which cancelled the results of these seats thereby annulling the entire parliament. An assembly has been formed to draft a new constitution but this has been similarly hijacked by islamists leading to boycott by moderates and Christians. An appeal has been filed in front of the Supreme Court. To protect this assembly as it writes an Islamic constitution based on Sharia Morsi has declared that he has the power to rule by decree, the courts cannot change his orders and this assembly cannot be annulled even by the Supreme Court. He has argued that this is to protect democracy. Democracy comes from 2 Greek words _ " Demos " which means " common people " and " Kratos " which means " rule or strength ". Unfortunately, democracy has come to mean winning elections any which way either by vote rigging as done by Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, by bribing voters with taxpayer money as by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and the Congress in India or by brain washing people with false advertising with money from billionaire vested interests as we saw in the US recently. Once an election is won it is taken as a green light to plunder the exchequer, pass laws to restrict freedom and use the police to silence any dissent. On 18 November a 21 year old woman, Shahin Dhada of Palghar in Maharashtra asked on her Facebook page why there was a bandh in Mumbai on the death of Shiv Sena leader, Bal Thackeray. Another 21 year old woman, Rinu Srinivasan posted like on these comments. Both women were arrested by the police for " hate speech " and Shiv Sena thugs trashed the hospital of Dhada's uncle. Aseem Trivedi was charged with sedition for drawing cartoons lampooning the parliament. Yet there was no action against the Congress loudmouth when he blamed Hindu activists for the attacks on Mumbai in 2008 and said that Hemant Karkare, Chief of Anti-Terrorist Squad in Mumbai had been killed by Hindus. Not only was this extreme hate speech but, by covering up a Pakistan sponsored terrorist attack, he was guilty of treason. More than 160 members of parliament have been accused of serious crimes, others are protecting them. Criminals hate being criticised and criminals love democracy. Ask Berlusconi.

The original sin.

Adam and Eve were thrown out of paradise for the " original sin " of having sex. They had 2 sons, one of whom murdered the other. And men have been murdering each other ever since. In an article titled Mujahid or Mercenary, in today's TOI, VG Patankar, retired Lt General and former Corps Commander in Kashmir writes how time and again terrorists were typically young men from very poor families with many children who were tempted to infiltrate into India with offers of money. One 19 year old from Pak Pattan in West Punjab was promised a large sum of money besides regular sustenance and a handsome compensation to his family if he should die. Since he was from a large family of landless farm workers with 3 older sisters to marry off he joined readily. " I am not highly educated sahib, but within a few days of coming to India I knew that I had been led up the garden path by falsehoods," he said. When he was lying in a hospital bed, Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist who was hanged a couple of days ago, said that he didn't know much about jihad but had joined the terrorists only to earn some good money that could help his poor family. If poor people breed without restraint the children are malnourished and uneducated with no prospect of getting out of the poverty trap. They are easy recruits into any crime. If a man is going to die of hunger anyway he will happily risk his life for the chance of regular meals, good clothes and the respect that money brings. This is what drives drug smugglers in Mexico and Colombia, goons working for political gangs in India and terrorists in Pakistan and Gaza. People pay large sums of money to people smugglers to be taken to prosperous countries - from north Africa to Europe and from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan to Australia. Hundreds perish in stormy seas. As populations grow forests are cut down to find land for farming. Top soil is lost creating deserts, CO2 accumulates causing global warming and severe weather disturbances, from drought to floods, lead to loss of crops. People are forced to migrate in search of food and cut down more forests to grow crops. So it goes on with no end in sight. There are innumerable conferences where heads of governments, of various UN agencies and of aid agencies gather to make endless speeches about how we need to spend more money to eradicate poverty, hunger and infectious diseases but not one person talks about reducing the numbers of people. Millennium goals are set which cannot be met but a great time is had by all. In all this confusion a number of sinister companies are busy creating genetically modified foods on which they hold patents and which are programmed to die after one crop. Their goal is to control the entire food supply of the world and reduce everyone into slaves. It was not sex that was the original sin but Eve getting pregnant definitely was.

Strategy for election?

The government is holding 42 million tonnes of wheat which is 3 times its mandated buffer stocks. TOI, 17 November. The price of wheat has risen 20% compared to October 2011. Planning Commission member, Abhijit Sen said," In the case of rice and wheat, it is absolutely clear that it is government stocking which is the main problem." So why is the government, which means the Congress, hoarding food grains when its votebank, consisting of the aam aadmi, is suffering so severely? Storing grains costs a lot of money and, since storage in India is still very primitive, a lot of the grains will spoil or be eaten by pests, such as rats. This is because the Congress is preparing for general elections which must be held by 2014 but could be held earlier if coalition partners withdraw support. The Congress is hoping to pass the Food Security Bill which will allow it to give cheap grains to the poor. Opposition parties dare not oppose such a pernicious measure because they will be seen as anti-poor and lose the elections. This is exactly what the Congress did in 2008 when it forgave all loans to farmers, increased civil servant salaries by 80% and started the MNREGA scheme, which hands out money to the rural poor, and dared the opposition to vote against it. The Congress won comfortably in 2009. The result has been zooming inflation, falling exports, falling rupee and falling growth rate. On the other hand, the Congress has also started a trial of cash transfers to the poor based on the biometric identity card called Aadhar. If that is successful the poor will be given cash instead of cheap food through the Public Distribution System which is notoriously corrupt. The poor will be able to buy directly from the market at which time the excess stocks can be released and food prices brought down, helping the poor to buy more food. The Congress will take the credit and win again. Diabolically clever. Also our most revered Finance Minister has promised a " good budget " next year which means more handouts to the poor. One person who has seen the danger is Ms Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal who wants to pass a no confidence motion in parliament to force early elections in order to prevent the Congress from passing another budget. She is even ready to support the hated CPM to bring down the government. " If necessary, I am even prepared to go to CPM state party headquarters at Alimuddin street here and talk to its secretary Biman Bose on the issue," said she. Sadly other parties consist of a bunch of cowards who are not ready to support her. Parties such as the BSP and DMK, which have been trounced in their states, want more time to build up support. What is certain is that every politician will be calculating personal benefits and not that of the nation. The Congress is banking on that. That is why it will win and we will be junk status.

Palestine and Pakistan seem so similar.

Pakistan was carved out by the British and became independent at the same time as India. From the beginning the sole aim of successive Pakistani governments was the destruction of India which was seen as a Hindu state, never mind that hundreds of millions of Muslims live in India. Instead of spending on education and improving economically Pakistan chose to spend a large portion of its budget on its army and on conventional and nuclear weapons. When Zia ul Haq was president he encouraged Islamic extremists and terrorism. Today Pakistan is a basket case surviving on handouts from the US and the IMF, large swathes of its territory are under the control of the Taliban and it has to spend enormous amounts of money to protect its nukes from terrorists. The history of the Palestinians, especially that of Gaza, resembles that of Pakistan. On 1 September, 2006 the Israelis withdrew completely from Gaza, breaking up their settlements, and left it to the Palestinians. In January 2006, Hamas won the elections in Gaza and in January 2007 fighting broke out between Hamas and supporters of Fatah. Between 2006 and 2007, 600 Palestinians died in the fighting until by 14 June Fatah was expelled from Gaza. A rocket hit the home of the senior commander of Fatah dominated Preventive Security Force, Gen Muhammed Gharib killing him, his 2 daughters and 2 guards. Led by the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas Fatah is restricted to the West Bank and, since Hamas has been declared a terrorist organisation, there is no one who can negotiate a peace deal for the entire Palestinian people. Hamas is dedicated to the complete destruction of Israel and refuses to talk peace. Instead it constantly provokes Israel by firing Qassam rockets into southern Israel, making life impossible for the residents, and used to send suicide bombers until Israel built a fence along the border stopping the infiltration of terrorists. More than 700 hundred rockets have been fired this year alone. Hamas turns the situation on its head by accusing Israel of blockading Gaza and hence justifies the firing of rockets as a reaction to an " occupying force ". Last week Israel's patience ran out and it killed Ahmed al-Jabbari, the head of the armed wing of the Hamas. Since then Hamas has been firing Iranian supplied Fajr 5 missiles far into Israel killing 5 civilians. At least 100 Palestinians have also died. Predictably European countries are against Israel with the propaganda channel, BBC accusing Israel of using disproportionate force. But who is responsible for the disproportion? Last year Hamas was celebrating when it forced Israel to release 1000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit who had been kidnapped and held as hostage. Hamas set the ratio of 1000:1, so why complain now? Pakistan and Palestine will both perish. Sadly the whole world will suffer.

Shoot the messenger.

In 2008 the then telecom minister, A Raja gave away licences for 2G spectrum on a first come first served basis. That would not have been a problem if it had been done in a transparent manner. But it wasn't. Last date for submitting applications was suddenly changed and companies, such as Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom who had no experience in telecom, were given licenses. Unitech got its licence for Rs 16.61 billion and later sold 60% of its stake to Telenor of Norway for Rs 62 billion. Swan got its licence for Rs 15.31 billion and sold 45% stake to Etisalat of UAE for Rs 42 billion. There was an uproar when all this became known and a Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Supreme Court. A Raja was arrested and spent some time in Tihar jail as a guest of the people. He is now out on bail. In its report the Comptroller and Accountant General presented 3 estimates of the amount of money the government would have earned by auctioning the spectrum instead of giving it on a first come first served basis. Based on the amount that Swan received on selling 45% stake of its licence the CAG estimated that the government would have received Rs 570 billion. Based on what Sing Tel offered the estimated price was Rs 670 billion and based on what the government earned by auctioning 3G licences the amount would have been a whopping Rs 1.76 trillion. On 2 February, 2012 the Supreme Court quashed all 122 licences awarded by A Raja and ordered that they be auctioned. The Court fined Etisalat, Uninor and Tata Rs 50 million each and Loop and Essar were fined Rs 5 million each. The Court was of the opinion that the licences were awarded in an " unconstitutional and arbitrary manner ". The licences were put up for auction last week with a base price of Rs 140 billion for each circle but the government received bids amounting to a total of Rs 95 billion only. There were no bids at all for some circles. True to form the Congress has mounted a vicious attack on the CAG saying that its function is only to audit and not to hold the government to account. The CAG is being taunted for estimating a loss of Rs 1.76 trillion when the auction raised only a  minimal amount. There are suggestions that the CAG should be expanded to a 3 member body so that the Congress can put its stooges in to muddy the waters. In defense of the CAG, it only gave estimates of the total that could be raised based on actual sale figures and the market today is totally different to the one in 2008 when the scam occurred. Of course, taunting the CAG is also insulting the Supreme Court because it found the entire process flawed and cancelled all 122 licences. Today the Court asked the government to file an affidavit giving reasons as to why all the licences were not put up for auction. No court can control those who are totally shameless. Like this lot.

The facts are simple.

On 28 October, 31 year old Savita Halappanavar died at the University Hospital in Galway, Ireland. She was 17 weeks pregnant and fearing that she was losing the baby she asked for an abortion which was denied on the grounds that the doctor could hear foetal heart sounds. She was told that Ireland is " a Catholic country " so abortion is forbidden. This has resulted in an uproar and yesterday there were processions in many cities in Ireland in sympathy with Savita and calling for a change in abortion laws. The Prime Minister of Ireland, Enda Kenny has said," I don't think that we should say anything about this until we are in possession of all the facts." The facts are simple. No woman must be allowed to die because of pregnancy. That is an unbreakable rule of obstetrics because - 1. Pregnancy is NOT a disease. It is a normal or physiological condition and 2. Pregnancy occurs only in young women. The rule is absolute. The mother must be saved at all costs, even if that means the baby has to be sacrificed. An autopsy has apparently shown the cause of death to be septicaemia which is a life threatening condition in which bacteria begin to multiply in the blood stream, by overwhelming the body's immune systems, leading to multisystem failure. Normal pregnancy does not result in septicaemia because the amniotic sac is sterile. However, when the foetus dies and is not evacuated promptly infection is common and may lead to septicaemia and DIC, or disseminated intravascular coagulation, in which blood begins to clot in small blood vessels all over the body leading to failure of vital organs and bleeding from multiple sites because of consumption of clotting factors. All this can be found in any medical textbook and should have been known by the doctor in charge, especially if he/she is working in a University, or teaching, hospital. We are told that an official inquiry is being set up and would like the following points to be specially clarified. 1. Why did Ms Halappanvar develop septicaemia? Did the doctor miss a spontaneous abortion with retained products or was there another focus of infection such as pyelonephritis, or infection of the kidneys, which is not uncommon in pregnancy? In any event the doctor is guilty of gross incompetence. 2. Do they practice voodoo medicine in Ireland? In modern medicine a doctor leaves his or her religion behind at the gate of the hospital. A doctor's loyalty is solely to the patient and to no one else. When we are registered as medical practitioners we have to swear the Hippocratic oath. Hippocrates was a Greek physician who lived 400 years before Jesus and had the wisdom to lay down his rules. So, the doctor is either totally incompetent or a religious fanatic.In either case he/she should be struck off and, possibly, charged with manslaughter. For us the facts are very simple.

Different ways to pass on.

Gunfight at Chhattarpur farmhouse does not sound as romantic as OK Coral at the aptly named Tombstone, Arizona but it was much more thrilling as Ponty Chadha, registered name Gurpreet, and his brother Hardeep shot each other in a quarrel involving property. People in surrounding houses would be forgiven for thinking that these were belated Diwali celebrations as Ponty's guards also joined in the shooting. Delhi will long discuss how Ponty managed to kill his brother in spite of stopping 6 bullets himself. Mr Ponty was a businessman with interests in food processing, paper manufacture, sugar, distilleries, power generation, bottling plants, real estate and film distribution. He must have been an expert at navigating between political parties because he was able to get monopoly contracts from both SP and BSP. He was given sole contracts for supplying midday meals in schools and for selling alcohol in UP. He was about to be awarded a Rs 90 billion contract for supplying nutritional supplements to malnourished children at Anganwadi centers, which provide social services in villages, across the whole of UP. He is rumored to have been worth Rs 500 billion which would be around $9 billion at today's exchange rates. We find it hard to believe why a man owning so many properties worth billions of rupees would risk being killed by his brother for one of them. Why not just give it to him to maintain peace in the family? Maybe that is why we are ordinary folks and not labelled " Ponty " by admiring followers. While Mr Ponty's passage generated a lot of noise Mr Balsaheb Thackeray passed away quietly at the age of 86 years after a prolonged illness. He started life as a journalist and cartoonist and founded the Shiv Sena as a party for supporting Marathi aspirations in Maharashtra. Derided as a rabble-rouser and a Hindu fanatic by the Congress propagandist press he was held in such high esteem that an estimated 5 million people turned out today to pay their respects as his body was being taken for cremation. And this was a man who never held a cabinet post at the center or the state. Which other politician in India today will draw as many people after death? Certainly no one in the Congress. As if to cause no inconvenience he passed away yesterday afternoon when all schools and most offices would have closed and most people would be back home. Today, being Sunday, everything is closed anyway so the masses of crowds are able to march quietly and peacefully along the route of the cortege. India is facing a triple whammy of soaring inflation, extortionate taxes and diving growth rate. As people start to die of hunger may we expect our leaders to show us the way to the next world? Since they are responsible for leading us into this mess surely it is their duty to show us the way out of it. We will follow them to the pearly gates.

Peace needs compromise.

Israel is again nearing a war with Hamas ever since it blew Ahmed al-Jabari a couple of days ago. He was the commander of the armed wing of the Hamas and was responsible for the abduction of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit on 25 June 2006. Shalit was finally freed in a prisoner exchange on 18 October 2011. The Arabs have never been friends of India, choosing always to support Pakistan with money and arms even though Nehru was a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause. Even today countries of the middle east are using their oil wealth to finance Lashkar e Toiba in their terrorist attacks against India. Just 40 years ago Indians were not allowed to travel to Israel and anyone wanting to do so would have to travel to a third country and obtain a visa on a separate piece of paper which they would throw away on return so that they would not be arrested in India. As friends of Israel we would like it to be a place of peace but that will not be possible unless they reach some sort of understanding with the Palestinians. If Hamas is intransigent they should conclude a deal with the Al Fatah group led by Mahmoud Abbas which would split the Palestinians into two. In May 2008 chief Palestinian negotiator, Ahmed Qureia proposed that Israel annex all Jewish settlements in Jerusalem except Har Homa. The Guardian Weekly, 28 January 2011. All these settlements are regarded as illegal since Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967. " This is the first time in history that we make such a proposition," said Qureia. But Tzipi Livni rejected the proposal out of hand because the Palestinians did not concede Har Homa and settlements at Ma'alo Adumim near Jerusalem and Ariel, deep in the West Bank. In October 2009, Saeb Erakat told US officials," Even the Old City can be worked out except the Haram( al Sharif ) and what they call Temple Mount. There you need creativity of people like me." Erakat asked Livni," Short of your jet fighters in my sky and your army in your territory can I choose where I secure external defence?" She replied," No. In order to create your state you have to agree in advance with Israel - you have to choose not to have the right of choice afterwards." This was too rude and rigid for anyone to accept. Had the Israelis been wise they would have concluded a deal with the Fatah wing, which would then be able to boast of a victory, isolating Hamas in the Gaza strip. Sadly that opportunity was allowed to slip away and today Israel is having to cope with a barrage of rockets from Gaza while the government in the West Bank is trying to obtain permanent observer status at the UN. Erakat told Obama's peace envoy to the middle east, George Mitchell," What good am I if I'm the joke of my wife, if I"m so weak." With Arabs, you kiss them on their cheeks while stabbing them in the back. Israel forgot.

The devil's pact.

A survey carried out by research agency, Hansa covering 13 cities and 28,000 respondents in India found that 64.7% of people blame politicians for corruption. About half said that coalition governments lead to corruption and only 45% thought that the media role in exposing corruption is positive. People found education and health more important than governance. Despite civil society activism against corruption since last year 41.2% feel that government officials are more prone to take bribes and only one third say that they are less likely to offer a bribe today. HT, 16 November. You would think that people would say all politicians are crooks but what they are saying is that politicians alone cannot steal billions without help from civil servants who have permanent jobs and know how the system works. So disappointed are they with the villains that they would rather ignore them. Instead they want to educate their children and keep them healthy so that they are able to earn a living in the private sector or abroad. The media have played a role in exposing corruption but then they help politicians in the cover up as well. One way is by ridiculing civil society activists and reporting outrageous lies told by politicians without challenge. Great prominence is given to pundits who blame people for agreeing to pay bribes, making them partly responsible for corruption. Despite a massive outcry against corruption civil servants continue to demand bribes to perform their work. The reason is that they are rarely punished. The most common punishment is to transfer the person to another office, which is a minor inconvenience. Unless criminals are punished with enormous fines, loss of jobs and pensions they are unlikely to take any notice of the outrage of the people. Most people do not have the guts to take on the gigantic rotten system. We have bought into the devil's pact between the politicians and the people. The agreement is - do not bother us and we will not bother you. People are allowed to break minor laws so long as they do not interfere with the politicians committing major crimes. Traffic laws are violated at will. You will see trucks blatantly driving the wrong way on highways to save on fuel. While constructing houses sand and gravel are dumped on the road blocking traffic. Anyone can use a loudspeaker during a marriage or religious ceremony. Anyone can call himself a doctor and start writing prescriptions without challenge from chemists. Police are nowhere to be seen. If you report a crime they may arrive after an hour, if at all. If you try to stand up to the criminals then they will unleash the police, the CBI, the income tax fellows and every government agency against you. So why bother? Just try and survive until the system collapses and hope something good rises from the ashes.

Addicted to kill.

James Bond has a double O number which permits him to kill. This is supposed to be a great honor and glorifies killing of other humans. So, are we to understand that killing is fun, especially if the other guy is a foreigner and deemed to be bad? What happens to the killer? Does he dismiss it as trivial, something like swatting a pesky fly, and try to bed the hot babe while sipping a shaken martini? Apparently not. Sgt Dwight L Smith, who is 25 years old, was in Iraq where his Humvee was thrown in the air in an explosion. He was apparently unhurt. nytimes.com, 11 November. In March 2011, in Afghanistan a mortar shell landed near him and shattered a ceramic plate in his body armor. He suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with episodes of rage and once threatened to kill his wife. She left him for a while and he phoned his father to tell him," I just get mad. I can't help myself." During Christmas 2011 he was visiting his family in Delaware when one morning while driving his bright red Hummer he ran down 65 year old Marsha Lee who was out walking her dog. He got out, threw the injured woman in the back seat of the car and drove off in front of several witnesses. Mrs Lee's body was found half a mile away in a wooded area. Her head had been bashed in and she had been raped. Sgt Smith was arrested that evening while driving around in his Hummer, the front of which was spattered with blood. He is in prison awaiting trial. In a heartbreaking letter he writes to his father," I am going to be honest with you dad. I have killed a lot of men and children. Some that didn't even do anything for me to kill them. Also some that begged for mercy. I have problem. I think I got addicted to killing people. I could kill someone go to sleep wake up and forget it that ever happened. It got normal for me to be that way. I never wanted to be this way. I just took job my way too serious. I took things to the extreme. Anyone can tell that I changed. It is like being a completely different person." It is not hard to imagine a man dying of heartbreak after getting such a letter from his boy. When his son went to war he would have been worried sick about his safety and what joy he would have felt when his son came back alive. Only, this was not the boy he had seen off but someone who resembled his son on the outside but had changed to a grotesque killer on the inside. The US army will never admit that killing the enemy changes normal men into monsters because they would have to pay billions in damages. Instead this man will be tried as a common murderer and may even be sentenced to death. Even if sentenced to life in prison a 25 year old man has been destroyed after serving his country. Staff Sgt Robert Bales is presently on trial charged with the murder of 16 Afghan civilians on 11 March, 2012. The prosecutor is asking for the death sentence. A sly cop out for the government. Not that much honor in the army, is there?

No real debate.

The Index of Industrial Production was down by 0.4% in September and August was revised down to 2.29% from 2.66%. This means that the IIP has been falling since March except in the month of May. The index for capital goods has contracted by 12.2% in September. It has contracted in 13 out of the last 15 months. This would seem to indicate that new factories are not being set up or are being put on hold because there is over capacity already. Yet the Purchasing Managers Index has increased to 52.80 from 52.78 and index for output has increased to 53.20 from 52.74. Anything above 50 is an increase while a figure below 50 shows contraction. This would seem to suggest that output is increasing because sales are rising. So how do we understand the statistics? How can output be rising if production is falling? Is it possible that the PMI and the increase in output are reflecting the rise in prices and not any real increase in sales? That might explain why the IIP is falling while the PMI keeps increasing every month. Predictably an anguished howl has gone up from business fellows, politicians and officials for a cut in interest rates. To increase the already unbearable pressure on the Reserve Bank some people are suggesting a cut of 50 basis points while others are suggesting that the Bank should go the whole hog and slash rates by a full 100 basis points. So intense is the pressure that the Governor of the Bank has bowed to it and promised to lower rates in January. The suggestion is that lower borrowing costs will make it easier for companies to expand, set up more plants and hire more people. But will they? If sales are already good and companies are making profits how will they increase sales by lowering rates? Lower rates would tempt people to buy bigger items such as cars and household goods such as TVs and fridges on loan. The reason people are reluctant to buy cars is because of enormous increase in fuel prices and they are unable to buy other goods because inflation is eating into their buying capacity. With the Consumer Price Index going up by 10% every month people are finding it tough to spend and are reluctant to go into debt because of fear for the future. So apprehensive are they of the economic well being of the country that they are buying gold even though the price of gold has breached Rs 32000/tola, which is a shade more than 11 grams. The price of gold going up means that the rupee is going down although that is not reflected in the official rates so one may expect to see a fall in the rupee which will spur inflation even higher. The real reason that all these industry wallahs are howling is because they have all been building apartments because that is the easiest way to multiply money, especially black money. They want rates down so they can unload their stock. Sadly no one is confronting these selfish crooks.

Diwali blessings to India.

Today is Diwali, our festival of lights. Today is also the day when the Goddess Lakshmi appeared from under the waters and is thus essential for wealth generation in the coming year. Every house in the country will be decorated with little lights and people will buy gold, cooking utensils and purchase expensive items like cars or electronics at this time praying that their wealth collection will continue for the next year. Trouble is that the lights and most electronic goods that we purchase have been made in China. Even pictures and idols of Hindu Gods and Goddesses are manufactured in China. Traders sell Chinese goods because they are much cheaper than those made in India in spite of the fact that they have been transported long distances. China and India have equal numbers of people, about 1.3 billion each. China's GDP is $7.29 trillion while India's is $1.8 trillion. China exports $1.9 trillion worth of goods every year while India exports a paltry $300 billion, even this will not be achieved this year. China has foreign exchange reserves of $3.18 trillion while India has $295 billion. Inflation rate in China is just 1.7% while the Wholesale Price Index in India is 7.81% and the Consumer Price Index is above 10%. China's economy is growing at 7.4% while that of India is growing at 5.5% but may fall to below 5% in the last quarter. China's credit rating is AA- while that of India is BBB-, just one notch above junk and maybe be downgraded to junk next year. By every yardstick China is far ahead of us and yet it is able to make goods so much cheaper than us. The reason is that China has wonderful infrastructure, one of the best in the world, and its labor costs are much less. That is the real mystery. In developed economies wages are very high and so these countries cannot compete on price. Instead countries like the US, Germany and Japan concentrate on research, innovation and making high end products which are not available elsewhere. China is the second richest country in the world and yet its labor costs are much less than ours. Why? Because of extremely high taxes in India. While China has concentrated on improving infrastructure, drawing in investment and expediting manufacturing industries by keeping taxes low here in India the politicians tax everything very highly to collect money to distribute to the poor to win elections. By creating millions of jobs China has been able to draw some 500 million people out of poverty, create a thriving middle class and increase the standard of living by keeping goods cheap. Here the politicians have created a huge underclass who are dependent on handouts to survive. Yet our business fellows keep whining for lower interest rates instead of pressuring for lower taxes. Because they would rather make black money from property speculation than work hard to create wealth. Why are we keeping the Goddess away instead of welcoming her? Poor India.

Think about Israel.

The divided opposition in Syria has at last chosen a common leader in a get together in Qatar going on for over a week. The chosen one is Moaz al-Khatib, former Sunni Muslim imam of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus. He is said to be a moderate and is said to have argued for peace talks with Bashar al-Assad. He will have 2 moderate Vice Presidents, a prominent dissident, Riad Seif and a leading secular activist, Suhair al-Atassi. The new body will be called the National Coalition for Opposition Forces and Syrian Revolution and will have representation from Kurds, Christians, Alawites and women's groups. Turkey and the Gulf Arab states have an open interest in combining a Sunni opposition to the Alawis, an offshoot of Shia. What role western powers such as the US, UK and France have played behind the scenes and what inducements, in the form of heavy weapons and anti aircraft missiles, have been offered we do not know. Britain is already rumored to be ready to supply arms to the rebels which will take the war in Syria to a new level. The new leadership provides a fig leaf to western powers to once again interfere in the affairs of a Muslim country even after the getting bloody noses in Iraq and Afghanistan and leaving behind a divided Libya, a fertile hunting ground for Al Qaeda. The world should not be fooled by the moderate nature of the leadership. A similar moderate leadership was cobbled together to justify the murder of 30,000 Libyans and is now confined to Tripoli while armed militias rule various parts of a divided country. The Egyptian revolution, which led to the fall of Hosni Mubarak, was led by mainly secular groups but has yielded a government by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was formed in Egypt in 1928 and has spread to most countries of the middle east and north Africa. It has been periodically persecuted by various leaders such as Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Hafez al-Assad of Syria, late father of the present president. In 1982 a Brotherhood uprising in the city of Hama was brutally put down with the loss of up to 40,000 lives. Thus, the Brotherhood knows how to wait to grab power as it has done in Egypt. Once Assad falls and elections are organised the Brotherhood will quietly take over the government because it has an efficient organisation on the ground. The Brotherhood is leading a series of protests in Jordan and is slowly trying to grab power in that country. If it succeeds Israel will be completely surrounded. In the west it has Egypt, to the south east there is Jordan, to the north east Syria and to the north Lebanon, with the dangerously armed Hezbollah. The only escape is to the north west into the Mediterranean sea. Netanyahu is exercised over Iran possessing nuclear weapons when danger is brewing just across its borders. The US should be alarmed.

Power is addictive.

Last Tuesday we witnessed the US elections which may or may not have changed the balance of power in Washington. At least it was a spectacle, full of surprises and extremely enjoyable. Depending on what you read, left wing or right, there are detailed analyses of the role played by enormous amounts of money, minorities, women, young people, older people, working class whites and strategic mistakes by the parties. Another so called election is going on in China where a party Congress, consisting of over 2000 delegates will select the next Standing Committee of the Politburo and the General Secretary who will then go on to become President of China. Everyone knows that it will be the present Vice President, Xi Jin Ping but we have not been told of the names of the others although this has been decided behind closed doors long ago. The outgoing President, Hu Jintao spoke of the importance of increasing democracy at the local level and the dangers of corruption to the party. He strongly urged that corruption must be stamped out or the Communist party will be in danger. But will it? It was shocking to see the previous President of China, 87 year old Jiang Zemin arriving with Hu, shaking hands with those on the dais and then occupying a front row seat, his face creased in a permanent rictus. It is said that he has been working behind the scenes, criticising the present leadership and working to get his nominees into key positions. Why should anyone give up power and the perks that go with it? Local officials become enormously rich grabbing land from the poor in the name of development, controlling industries and banks and the money that comes from the center. They become very wealthy with expensive cars, designer clothes and mistresses to enjoy life. It is one thing to talk about eliminating corruption but will it ever be possible? After all, the extended family of the present Prime Minister, Wen Jia Bao is said to have assets in excess of $1.3 billion. While China has one party and the US has only 2 India has a multitude of parties vying for positions of power. Most parties are headed by a family and all members work to protect and enhance the family because that is the source to wealth. With so many parties coalitions are common which is where a small party can reap rich rewards by getting hold of key ministerial portfolios. The DMK's control of telecom is a typical example. Everyone in the party gets a share of the loot that follows. However even with over 39 ministers, as in UP, not everyone can be accommodated which leads to lots of heartburn. So politicians start whining for smaller states which will allow more governments, many more ministers and myriads of opportunities to loot. Uttarakhand is a vivid example where so much black money has been generated that land prices are comparable with Delhi. It is not just that power corrupts, which it does, but that criminals are naturally attracted to it. Term limits are a must.

A black day for India.

Yesterday Diageo, a British company bought 53.4% of United Spirits from Vijay Mallya for a sum of Rs 111.66 billion, giving it full control of the company. With it foreign companies now control 80% of the drinks market in India and will be able to repatriate hundreds of billions of dollars. Prices will go up and the poor will be forced to drink illicit locally brewed hooch increasing the incidences of poisoning. This is how the British sneaked into India through the East India company, proceeded to conquer the whole country and plunder it for over 200 years. To be sure Mallya made some mistakes, probably through hubris. He should not have borrowed money from banks against personal assets to finance his airline venture. He should have bought planes, using them as collateral for his loans, and allowed banks to repossess them if they so desired. Still, it should never have come to this. Last year the total debt of Kingfisher Airlines amounted to Rs 40 billion which is nothing in the Indian context. Highly corrupt Air India has debts of over Rs 500 billion with accumulated losses of Rs 290 billion and is still in operation. Top 4 pilots at Air India earn more than Rs 10 million a year each. More than 15 employees earn more than Rs 9 million/year each while 65 earn more than Rs 8 million/year each. The Comptroller and Accountant General said in a report that the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airport Authority allowed DIAL, the consortium running Delhi Airport, to make undue profit of Rs 34.15 billion by allowing it to levy a development fee on passengers in violation of its contractual agreement. To allow DIAL to increase its profits airport charges at Delhi have been increased by 346% and all passengers, including those arriving and transiting through the airport are charged, making it the most expensive airport in the world. Construction companies are allowed to charge toll on highways even before completing their work and charges are increased regularly to increase profit margins. The government could easily have restructured Kingfisher loans and deputed an officer to restructure its board and management. Instead every opportunity was shut off and the airline was not allowed to return the planes it had hired on lease. This meant lease charges, interest on loans and penalties were increasing daily until it went over Rs 70 billion forcing Mallya to his knees. In 1757 Robert Clive easily won the battle of Plassey against Siraj ud Daulah because Mir Jafar betrayed him by taking the bulk of the army away from the battlefield. We do not know who was the present day Mir Jafar. Was it a single person or a political party but what we do know is that India has been betrayed again. No wonder Paul Walsh, the CEO of Diageo was smiling when he was interviewed on CNN yesterday. He could turn out to be today's Clive.

Money works in India.

Americans are complaining about the cost of the recent elections which cost a total of $6 billion or Rs 300 billion in Indian money. Former wrestling executive, Linda McMahon, a Republican from Connecticut spent $100 million of her own money for 2 attempts for a seat in the Senate and lost both times. nytimes.com, 8 November. Obama had to face $386 million worth of advertising against him by super PACs and other outside groups. " Unlimited contributions and secret money in American politics have resulted in the past in scandal and the corruption of government decisions," said Fred Wartheimer, President of Democracy 21, a watchdog group." This will happen again in the future." However, this is just peanuts. In 2009 the Congress alone spent more than Rs 1 trillion bribing voters when they increased civil service salaries by 80%, forgave all loans to farmers and started the MNREGA scheme which pays villagers for fictitious work for 100 days a year. Tamil Nadu promised color TVs, mangalsutras and goats, UP promised free laptops while Punjab promised free electricity to farmers. While the money in the US came from personal accounts of rich people here politicians were merrily spending taxpayer money to win elections. The result is a fiscal deficit of 5.6%, Current Account Deficit of 4.9%, Public Sector banks have bad loans of around Rs 3 trillion and state electricity boards have debt of Rs 2 trillion. God alone knows how much debt is being carried by the various state governments. More money was extorted from businesses to pay for helicopters and fleets of cars for campaigning and to distribute bottles of cheap alcohol to men and saris to women to buy votes. While in the US there is some accounting of the amount of money spent no one here knows how much money goes down the drain during elections. While in the US money did not make that much difference, here all the scoundrels are back with big smiles and garlands around their necks. Bob Perry, a Texas homebuilder spent more than $21 million through super PACs on 2 Republicans fighting Senate battles in Florida and Virginia. Both lost narrowly. Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate, spent a record $60 million supporting 8 Republican candidates. All 8, including Mitt Romney, lost. " Money is a necessary condition for electoral success," said Bob Biersack, a senior fellow at the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign spending," But it's not sufficient, and it's never been." Try telling that to our lot. Sadly we have no neutral think tank which analyses campaign spending and the source of money. This explains why the Reserve Bank has capitulated under intense pressure and promised to reduce interest rates in January. The hope is it will increase property prices and the black money that goes with it. General elections are in 2014. Expect a flood of money.

Bleeding us dry.

Taking advantage of the cancellation of 2G licenses by the Supreme Court the government thought that it would extort billions out of telecom firms by auctioning the licenses again. They set the base price at Rs 140 billion and were going to auction CDMA and GSM licenses separately to maximize profits. Too much greed leads to failure. There are no bidders for CDMA licenses after Tata Teleservices pulled out of the auction. Earlier Videocon had also pulled out leaving only Tata in the field. " Now there is no bidder left for CDMA. We have to take a call on what to do," said a senior official who naturally did not want to be named. Only 6 companies, Airtel, Vodafone, Videocon, Telenor, Tata Teleservices and Idea have applied for GSM licenses but not one company has applied for a pan India license. Reliance Industries and Russia's Sistema have not applied at all. Airtel and Videocon are bidding for additional spectrum in select circles and Videocon, Idea and Telenor are bidding for new circles and additional spectrum. Not only that, the government is going to levy a one time charge of Rs 309 billion for spectrum on all telecom companies. MTNL and BSNL being government companies their contribution will not add to the loot but private companies will have to shell out Rs 191 billion. The government's argument is that spectrum belongs to the people and private companies should pay to profit from national assets. The trouble is that telecom companies will pass on the extra cost to consumers in the form of higher charges. Just 20 years back there was only landline and there were only 2 phone companies in India, MTNL and BSNL. These being government companies the service was absolutely lousy, the employees were incredibly rude, you had to wait 4 years to get a connection and the cost of a call from Delhi to Mumbai was Rs 100/minute. Today anyone can buy a handset and get a SIM card from anyone of a million shops for as little as Rs 2000. The line will be activated within a couple of hours and the same call between Delhi and Mumbai costs as little as Rs 1.50/minute. This has meant that the poorest person is now able to afford a cell phone and, according to activists, this increased connectivity has resulted in increased earnings and well being of the poor. Just as the poor are unable to fly or afford cars because of huge taxes so increased charges will mean that the poor will have to give up their prized cell phones. Yet there is a way to earn from natural assets. Instead of auctioning spectrum or mines you auction profit sharing. The company which offers the maximum share of profits will be awarded the contract. That way companies do not incur huge costs up front and competition ensures low prices. However, with this system the payment gets staggered over many years and the Congress cannot wait. They need money now to bribe the electorate for the election in 2014. They will bleed us till not a drop is left.

Character is superfluous.

Although a few states, including Florida, are still to declare their results Obama is already across the magic figure of 270 needed to assure a second term as president. Already analysts are looking at demographic patterns, hurricane Sandy which interrupted Romney's momentum, the latest figures showing a slight improvement in the economy and Obama's campaign organisation which was able to get individual voters out to vote. What no one is talking about is whether Romney deserved to be the president of the country. It is not just that Romney came across as a shifty person for hiding his money overseas and refusing to reveal his tax returns but that he would say whatever it took to please his audience, frequently contradicting what he has said before. To call him a flip-flopper is to trivialise his instinct to do whatever it takes, no matter how devious, so as to achieve success. He is a Serial Liar. Maybe that is why he was so successful in business. To have a thick skin with no sense of honor must be a great asset to have in the cutthroat world of private finance, which was Bain Capital. Buy up a company in distress, strip out the best assets and sell them off for profit and then junk the rest along with the workers who lose their jobs and livelihood. Ruthless and unscrupulous. And this was what he was offering the country. Reduce taxes for the rich and cut Medicare, Medicaid and welfare for the poor. His comment about how 47% of the people see themselves as victims and are dependent on government handouts was not a gaffe as he made it out to be but something he truly believes.  Economists say that the economy is going to grow at 4% in the near future and unemployment will fall to 6%. Provided Europe does not collapse or China does not go into a recession. That is what Romney was banking on. He kept repeating the same mantra of reducing taxes, increasing military spending and balancing the budget by cutting expenditure without going into specifics. Just win the election somehow and then take credit for economic growth which would take him smoothly into a second term. One man who recognised the danger is Bill Clinton who wants his wife Hilary to stand for president in 2016 and so he campaigned vigorously for Obama till the end. It is no wonder that people the world over have developed a revulsion for politicians. In India too the Congress inherited a booming economy due to reforms by the BJP and easy liquidity globally. They used that growth to allow trillions to be looted and spent trillions to bribe the electorate to win a second term. Now they blame external factors for growing inflation, expanding deficit and a threat of credit downgrade to junk status. To cover up their crimes they have increased taxes to such levels that growth is being choked off. The only remedy is to have severe punishment for economic crimes. But who will bell the cat?

We pay to fill the gap.

The Central Vigilance Commission has found tax evasion of Rs 10 billion by government departments and private contractors in carrying out projects for the Commonwealth Games. However, this is just an attempt to muddy the waters because the Delhi government had a budget of Rs 700 billion and we still do not know how much was skimmed off the top as the central government has hidden the Shunglu Committee report. To combat malnutrition in children the government supplies midday meals in schools under the Integrated Child Development Scheme. As per Supreme Court ruling of 2004 these meals have to be supplied only by self help groups, village communities or mahila mandals ( women's groups ) who will purchase the necessary provisions. Contractors are specifically barred from this scheme. However a report by the Supreme Court Commissioners' Office says that private contractors have managed to corner Rs 80 billion worth of this scheme in Maharashtra, UP and Meghalaya. HT, 3 November. In 2009 the Maharashtra state government changed the rules to allow not just community based organisations but " women's institutions ", a deliberately misleading vague term, to bid for these contracts. Private contractors then floated 3 companies with women as board members which then went on to corner all the contracts to buy supplies for the entire state worth Rs 10 billion. The women on the boards of these companies were all relatives of the contractors. UP and Meghalaya do not comply with the 2004 orders. The report says " a close nexus between politicians, contractors and bureaucrats has allowed the active subversion of the letter and spirit of the SC orders ".  Nutritional standards of children in Maharashtra, a rich state, has declined to the level of Odisha which is much poorer. According to official data, 40% of children are underweight and 50% of all childhood deaths are attributed to malnutrition. Powerful politicians in Maharashtra are involved in robbing children of food. That is why politicians and civil servants love social schemes and that is why they never talk about reducing the numbers of children. However, all this looted money has to be filled in from somewhere which is why taxes in India are indiscriminate and extortionate. In 2002 oil companies introduced premium petrol and diesel which had special additives which increased mileage, enhanced pick up, cleaned engines and produced less emissions. These were priced Rs 1.50 higher than ordinary fuel. In 2009 this Finance Minister levied special duties on premium fuels which increased the difference to Rs 2.50. From 2007 to 2012 the sale of premium petrol decreased by 72% and that of diesel by 95% so oil companies are going to discontinue production of these fuels. And this fellow talks about growth. What a joke.

The taxes we pay.

The Reserve Bank of India wants the government to balance its books by cutting expenditure instead of by raising taxes, as it has done. TOI, 2 November. The Governor of the RBI, D Subbarao said," All of us - not just RBI, but all stakeholders in the macroeconomic management - are concerned about quantum of fiscal adjustment and also the quality of fiscal adjustment. International experience shows that fiscal adjustment that comes from expenditure compression is more sustainable than one that comes from tax increases. In our own country, we achieved consolidation in pre-crisis period largely due to tax increases. It will be worth our while to focus on expenditure compression to manage credible and sustainable fiscal consolidation on our way forward." What the Governor is saying is that tax increases are bad for the economy. Last year exports were just above $300 billion and imports were $485 billion with a trade deficit of $185 billion. Thus our economy is not dependent on exports to other countries but on internal consumption and extortionate taxes hurt the economy by reducing consumption. A European or an American earning the same amount of money as an Indian appears to be much richer and is able to spend much more. The reason is that they are assured of government services for the taxes they pay. There is social security, state pension on retirement and assisted healthcare for all, but in India the politicians have segmented the population into various groups based on religion, caste, urban or rural address and perceived poverty depending on profession. Thus a Hindu of higher caste earning a salary of Rs 25000 a month will receive no aid even if he is in real hardship having to look after aged parents and a sick brother. Indians are reluctant to spend, electing to save over 30% of income for emergencies and retirement. The stock market is highly manipulated so most Indians tend to shun that. Property prices are doubling every 3 years and rent is an absolute waste of money. Indians put their money in fixed deposits in banks but since the rate of inflation is higher than the rate of interest on deposits most Indians are getting poorer everyday. The freeloading press gloats over the high savings rate because this gives banks cheap funds to lend but, with a poor industrial base, banks have few avenues for useful lending. A few years back banks were enthusiastic lenders to infrastructure companies. No more. All such companies are running huge losses as Indians are unable to pay for expensive power and high tolls on roads. That is why banks have been lending to property construction companies but property prices are so high only those with enormous black money can afford to buy properties. The RBI is asking the politicians to stop wasting taxpayer money and reduce taxes to stimulate spending which will stimulate industry and genuine growth. Politicians want to throw money to win elections which will give them the power to loot. Why else are they in politics?

Cloud cuckoo land.

In the middle of April, 2012 Finance Ministry officials made an hour long presentation to S&P Credit Analyst, Tokahiro Ogawa supporting a credit upgrade for India. They pointed out economic growth prospects, growth in revenues and the government's efforts to control fiscal deficit through increasing tax collections. Mr Ogawa listened politely giving no sign of what he was thinking. A few days later, S&P downgraded India to BBB- which is just above junk grade. " We were not expecting the downgrade," said one official. " We made a presentation arguing India's growth prospects, tax-GDP ratio, efforts to fix the fiscal deficit are quite genuine and deserve better ratings than countries like Tunisia," said another. What these people do not understand is that no one believes them. Not even the RBI. Couple of days ago Finance Ministry officials were certain that the RBI was going to reduce interest rates and when that did not happen the sense of betrayal was acute. Our most revered Finance Minister echoed a song by Tagore when he said that he is " walking the path of growth alone ". Apparently officials have been working on a plan for fiscal consolidation for the past fortnight. " We were all ready for a rate cut after all the plan was approved at the highest level," said a senior official. TOI, 3 November. Which probably means the World Famous Economist, the man who has had 8 years to improve the economy but has only succeeded in bringing us to the edge of collapse. The reason why no one believes them is because growth prospects cannot improve unless government spending is drastically reduced. Spending cannot be reduced because rise in civil servant salaries, MNREGA Scheme and written off debt of farmers cannot be taken back. Trying to reduce deficit solely by savagely increasing taxes on everything contributes to inflation and reduces growth by reducing spending.  What is really worrying is that it is not just woolly headed thinking but a complete lack of understanding for reasons of stagnation. What is concerning the RBI is a rise in core inflation from 5% in March to 5.6% in September. Core inflation strips out food and measures the rate for metals, cement, iron, chemicals, textiles and transport machinery. wsj.com, 3 November. Robert Prior-Wandesford, economist at Credit Suisse in Singapore says," I am not surprised they ( RBI ) are worried. I have myself been surprised by the stickiness of core inflation despite weakness in industrial production as well as weakness of ...... international commodities which have traditionally been an indicator of core inflation." So, it is not the weather or Europe that are to blame but government policies which are causing inflation even though global commodity prices are weak. Making policies in cloud cuckoo land. Terrifying what?

A mouth watering promise.

In a meeting to welcome the same old faces after the so called cabinet reshuffle our most revered Finance Minister is supposed to have confessed that the economy is in dire straits and the only way to avoid a rating downgrade to junk status is to bring down the fiscal deficit. TOI, 3 November. Our most revered Prime Minister kicked off proceedings by saying," Of particular concern is the fiscal deficit, which is too high and acts as a deterrent for domestic and foreign investment. These issues have a rippling effect across the economy." Oh boy! After 8 years of rule by the Congress, led by the World Famous Economist, the only things that are rippling are fiscal deficit, double digit inflation and falling growth rate. The Finance Minister made a strong pitch for attracting Foreign Direct and Institutional Investment. " Foreign investment is not an option, but an absolute necessity." True, but how? His predecessor, who is now swanking about as the President, brought in the General Anti Avoidance Rules which sought to tax corporate deals retrospectively going back to 1960. The Supreme Court has cancelled 2G licenses, 122 in all, because of corruption and he is going to auction them again. Foreign companies and governments naturally see this as paying twice for the same license, which is grossly unfair, when they were not responsible for the initial corruption. The man responsible, A Raja is happily back in parliament. The Finance Minister also asked for aggressive fiscal consolidation through controlling expenditure, especially subsidies, and by raising more resources through disinvestment in the remaining 5 months of the financial year. What a joke! He is the man who wasted trillions in 2008 when he increased civil service salaries by 80%, forgave all bank loans to farmers and started the MNREGA scheme which pays villagers to do nothing, to win the elections in 2009. Reducing subsidies will increase prices which are rising everyday because of inflation and extortionate taxes. People are having to reduce expenditure which is impacting growth. He wants to raise Rs 300 billion through disinvestment, or sale of shares of public sector companies. The last such attempt to sell shares in the oil company, ONGC was a big flop and the government forced LIC to buy up over 90% of shares with the life insurance money of the public. He has promised a " good budget " next year if all goes according to plan. This is terrifying because we do not know what diabolical schemes he has in mind to bribe the electorate like he did last time. The Congress is bent on passing the Food Security Bill which promises cheap food to 70% of the population, which will cost Rs 1 trillion, and free cell phones which will add another Rs 70 billion. Junk grade is nothing. A total collapse awaits us.

Power comes from suppression.

On 21 February 5 members of a punk rock group called the Pussy Riot staged a performance inside Moscow's cathedral of Christ the Saviour. They were stopped by church wardens but later released a video of a song " Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away." Sadly their prayers went unanswered. Putin is very much there but Christ could not save them. On 17 August, 3 of the 5 were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, 2 fled Russia for safety. One was later released on parole but the other 2 have been sent to forced labour camps. Yesterday a court in Greece freed Costas Vaxevanis, editor of Hot Dog magazine from charges of violating privacy laws. Vaxevanis had published a list of names of 2059 Greeks with accounts in the HSBC bank in Switzerland amounting to about $2.5 billion. Known as the Lagarde list, because it was given to the Greek government when Christine Lagarde was the Finance Minister of France, it was suppressed by the Greek government. Lagarde is now the chief of the IMF. Vaxevanis published the list of names without accusing anyone of tax evasion but the government was deeply embarrassed and acted out of vengeance. After his acquittal Vaxevanis told reporters," There are political motives. You see most of the names on the list are friends of the political system." A former Greek minister, Leonides Tzanis, whose name appeared on the list, committed suicide because he could not bear the humiliation of being publicly accused. We Indians are not so lucky. Not one of our villains will ever dream of committing suicide because they have absolutely no shame or honor. In 2009 Germany forwarded a CD containing the names of 50 Indians with accounts in Swiss banks. The list has been completely suppressed and no action has been taken to find out if any tax was evaded. This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg because it is estimated that up to $1.6 trillion have been salted away by Indians in Swiss banks alone. There are other tax havens so God alone knows how much money is lying hidden in off shore accounts. Of course, all the names on the list have had enough time to close those accounts and move their money to new accounts. Yet if you try to open a bank account with legitimate money in India you have to provide photographs, a photo identity to prove you are who you say you are, a proof of address and your Permanent Account Number with the Income Tax department. Is it any wonder that some 60% of Indians do not have any bank account? If you dare to expose a crime by any politician he or she will deny it angrily, will refuse to resign and will use the official investigative agencies, financed by our taxes, to bring a series of false charges against you. Since our esteemed judges continue hearings for decades you will be spending time and money defending yourself till you die. Like Satan, our politicians are indestructible.

Inclusive growth is not possible.

Centuries ago the world had a feudal system wherein powerful barons claimed large areas of land and the right to tax peasants living on and farming that land. However, there was a limit to how much peasants could pay and drought, flood or epidemics caused large scale deaths reducing numbers paying taxes. The only way was to conquer more land. Europe, which is poor in natural resources and is covered in snow for part of the year, saw regular wars between states which induced a demand led improvement in arms, body armour and armed ships. Europeans conquered large areas of the world. Large areas of South America speak Spanish, Brazil and Angola speak Portuguese,  north African countries speak French and vast areas speak English following trends left by the conquerors. Germany had colonies in Africa and Indonesia was under the Dutch. The industrial revolution allowed European countries to loot resources and sell finished products to their colonies making them enormously rich. However, riches went to a few while the vast majority lived in poverty. In the US the whites grabbed all the land restricting native Americans to reservations, owned large farms and developed natural resources which is abundant there. However, farms required back breaking manual labor while mines and industries were often dangerous. Thus they needed cheap and disposable labor in the form of slaves. American ships raided west Africa and transported people in chains to work as slaves, while the British used " indentured labor " to build railroads and to work on sugarcane farms. Sadly for them, you cannot enslave people for ever so they started fighting again resulting in the First World War. This was followed by the great depression of 1929 leading to the Second World War. This also coincided with nations fighting for independence. Realising that colonialism was going to end they perpetuated their power by grabbing all the international institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and the UN Security Council. With this power they set about supporting dictators in various countries so as to continue to loot resources. The US concentrated on South America and the Europeans looked Africa and Asia. This allowed them to become rich and, for the first time in world history, to set up a social welfare system to look after the sick, the elderly and the unemployed. China followed a similar path by grabbing land for development, forcing a one-child policy and buying up mines in other countries. Commodity prices have boomed as nations have realised the value of their resources. Now the US and European economies are in serious trouble and China has 1000 protests everyday. So, when the Congress talks about " inclusive growth " it means extortionate taxes on us to give handouts to the poor to keep them poor forever. Growth without exploitation can only come with fall in population reducing pressure on land and resources. Anything else is a lie.