Only heaven is higher than Everest.

So, Sony is going to release the movie called ' The Interview ' after all. The movie is about 2 journalists from the US who are recruited to assassinate Kim Jong Un, President of North Korea and ends with blowing off his face. North Korea was not amused and threatened retaliation. Sony's computers were hacked and all the data, including emails between executives, private details of employees and unreleased films, were released online. Hackers also referred to 9/11 and warned that anyone going to see the movie would be risking his life. Sony decided to pull the movie from all theaters but was criticised by Obama because apparently this was against freedom of speech. Being a lawyer the gasbag must be aware of the law that prohibits threatening the president of the US so there is no reason why North Korea, which sees the US as its enemy, should feel grateful for a threat to its president. The US blamed North Korea for the hack but they denied it and then the internet in North Korea crashed for a day. It does not matter if the US is not responsible because Pyongyang will blame the US anyway. At the moment the US thinks it is invincible. Its economy grew by a scorching 5% in the third quarter, the Dow Jones is up above 18,000 for the first time ever, unemployment is down and the dollar is stronger against all currencies. On the other hand Russia is facing a deep recession, emerging market economies are slowing down and China is having to spend on infrastructure to stimulate growth. Greece is in crisis again and the anti-austerity party, Syriza will win if a general election becomes inevitable. If Greece is forced to leave the Euro it could set off a collapse of markets. A strong dollar, making imports cheap, and optimism about the economy could encourage US consumers to spend on borrowed money and we could have a repeat of 2008. Our Reserve Bank Governor has been warning of another market crash because of a build up of asset price bubbles because of massive amounts of easy money injected into world markets by the bond buying programs of the US and Japan, with the EU poised to follow. After licking its wounds for a couple of years Wall Street banks have managed to dilute the Dodd-Frank law that was to prevent trading in exotic securities with depositors' money. The clause was written into the act by Citigroup. With this the problem of institutions ' too big to fail ' has returned but next time it maybe too big to fix as well. The US may feel that it is ' exceptional ' and too big to fail but it must remember that when you have scaled mount Everest the only way is down.

Taxes are bad. But monopoly is worse.

The government is thinking of removing tolls on highways for buses and private vehicles. Tolls cause a lot of anger as they seem unreasonable when a road has not been repaired or work is still in progress and they cause delay. Local villagers resent having to pay toll every time they go out while allowing freedom from having to pay causes heartburn for other users. The ministry is thinking of adding Re 1 cess on petrol and diesel, a 2% tax on purchase of all new vehicles and a onetime payment of Rs 1000 on existing vehicles. In 2013-14 the government collected Rs 114 billion from tolls, of which Rs 98 billion was from commercial vehicles and Rs 16 billion was from personal vehicles. Thus, the projected revenue from tolls would have been Rs 1.73 trillion between 2014 and 2019 but if the new system of taxes is adopted collection will rise to Rs 2 trillion. Wherever you have a monopoly you will have higher charges, as we have seen with Delhi airport where the operator wants more money even though the charges are the highest in the world. And there will be massive corruption as consumers are overcharged and the money is divided between the company, civil servants and politicians. Here too toll collectors have ' diverted ' Rs 9.03 billion into their own pockets, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General. The CAG has also found some ' anomaly ' in the use of money raised from tolls by R-Infra, which was denied by the company. Interestingly, some companies collecting toll are related to those supplying electricity to Delhi. These companies vigorously contested an audit of their accounts by CAG, by repeatedly appealing to the High Court, but were denied any relief. Despite the High Court order to cooperate fully with CAG the power companies constantly obstructed the audit by refusing to hand over the required documents as requested. The government can get rid of all corruption by getting rid of tolls and collecting money directly by increasing taxes, as it is proposing to do. Trouble is that increasing taxes will increase costs and that may impact sales of new cars. Sales in October were disappointing despite it being the festival month. Earlier excise duty on cars were reduced to boost sales. It is much better to increase taxes on fuels, because the higher price has been factored into the market, and bring the price of diesel equal to that of petrol, as in other countries. That will bring huge revenues, reduce the fiscal deficit, prevent adulteration of petrol and give the government a cushion to control a sudden rise in prices if international crude price spurts or the rupee falls. Encourage competition. Get rid of monopoly. Remember Adam Smith?

Best insurance for wealth.

In Greater Noida, on the outskirts of Delhi, 52% of all apartments are lying vacant as are 33.3% of all properties in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan and 27.3% in Navi Mumbai. In absolute numbers 109,519 properties in Navi Mumbai, 71,137 in Gurgaon 52,226 in north Goa, 45,026 in Jaipur and 31,465 in Greater Noida are lying vacant. These are the highest numbers, but every town and city in India has thousands of properties lying empty. This despite the fact that any property costing more than Rs 3 million will attract wealth tax @ 1%, unless it is rented out for more than 300 days in a year. Why buy property if you are not going to use it? Because it is the best hedge against inflation. A 1200 sq foot flat in south Delhi, bought in 1984 for Rs 350,000, from the Delhi Development Authority now costs over Rs 30 million, a compounded annual return of around 14%. Also real estate is now the only avenue for investing vast amounts of black money generated from the infinite number of scams committed by our politicians and civil servants. But surely it would be best to rent out any extra property rather than letting lie idle, when it is not generating any income, and then paying wealth tax on it. People are afraid to rent out any property for fear of losing it because the rent laws are so skewed against owners and our courts are pleased to drag out cases for decades, by which time the original owner may have died of starvation. So many empty properties could indicate an oversupply which should result in a fall in the prices of real estate. In fact, it is just the opposite. In Greater Noida, where 52% of properties are lying vacant, the price of real estate has increased by 27.6% in the last 2 years. The same in Gurgaon where 20.3% of properties are lying empty. By buying properties as investment and then leaving them idle creates a shortage, pushing up prices, which attracts more buyers looking for high returns on their money. The astronomical prices mean that ordinary people are priced out of the market and have to live in rented accommodation. But here too, with so many apartments lying locked up, an artificial shortage is created, resulting in high rents. The government wants to build affordable housing for everyone but with land prices so high how will it be possible? One method would be to build upwards, which means many more apartments on the same plot of land. But will people afford the maintenance costs of elevators, back up electricity generators and cleaning. Tiny flats are of no use and there will need to be huge car parks because people now aspire to greater material comforts. Eliminate black money by reducing prices of real estate drastically or reduce demand by reducing population. No easy choices.

The funny money carousel.

Just once a in while our suspicions are confirmed. An unnamed contractor, based in Pune, has written a strong letter to the state government and the governor of Maharashtra claiming that bribes cost 22% of the cost of building a dam. He has given a break down of how the money is distributed. Bribes are paid to 15 people of which the Executive Engineer, Superintending Engineer, Chief Engineer and the local Member of the Legislative Assembly get 1-2% each while the Chairman of the Corporation takes in a massive 5-10%. About the officers this is what he wrote," All of them are entertained by the bidders, who give cash fixed by the department unofficially. Approximate 10% of the billed amount in cash must be paid to the executive officers. Besides, there is what is called an adjustment amount, shared equally between contractors and officers. Projects were awarded at hugely inflated costs. A work costing, say, Rs 100, was pegged at Rs 500....these contractors did much less work, but charged double the amount from the department. Politicians became partners of small-time contractors who in turn entered politics." Contractors had to " go with the flow " or they were " dealt strongly ". The saddest sentences are," This is routine established procedure. No one feels they are doing anything wrong." The irrigation scam in Maharashtra broke in 2012 when an engineer turned whistleblower but the Congress led state government found nothing. The new BJP government has authorised an investigation against the previous ministers of Water Resources but whether all the proof has been destroyed remains to be seen. Meanwhile, farmers in Maharashtra continue to commit suicide as crops fail due to scanty rainfall. Since 1995, 54,000 farmers have killed themselves in Maharashtra, of them 33,752 suicides were since 2003. It is interesting that the Congress has ruled the state since 1999, till this year, when they came in third with 42 seats, down by 40. In the new assembly 88% are crorepatis, 1 crore equals 10 million, and 165 ( 57% ) have declared criminal charges against themselves as opposed to 136 in the previous assembly. But that maybe because the Congress is adept at hiding its crimes. People in Maharashtra must be congratulating themselves because 90% of ministers in the newly formed state of Telengana have criminal charges against them. So much corruption generates massive amounts of black money which runs a parallel economy in which there are no taxes and no control by the Reserve Bank. So how much black money is there? To give us an idea an estimated Rs 6 trillion went of India in 2012 alone. What happens to this money? Some of it round-trips back to India as white to buy assets, such as real estate or stocks. A most entertaining merry-go-round, what?

The rupee hangs by a thread. How strong is it?

The Consumer Price Inflation fell to 4.38% in November compared to 5.52% in October, while the Wholesale Price Index fell to 0% because of the fall in the price of petroleum products, following a 45% fall in the price of crude, and 6.97% fall in prices of vegetables because of a high base effect and seasonal supplies. While that is good the bad news was that the Index of Industrial Production fell by 4.2% in October compared to the previous month. Consumer goods fell by 19% and consumer durables by 35%, dragging manufacturing down by 17.6% and capital goods by 2.3%. So is inflation finally beaten and should the Reserve Bank, given these figures, cut interest rates to make it cheaper to borrow money so that people can spend more, thus stimulating demand? Not so easy for the RBI because the rupee dropped to 62.95 to the dollar, which increases costs of imports. The rupee has not dropped as much as other emerging market currencies, such as the Brazilian real and the Indonesian rupiah, the Russian ruble having collapsed by around 45%. Although governments have built up dollar reserves of $9 trillion companies in emerging markets have borrowed $5.7 trillion. If Russia and/or Venezuela default on their debts all currencies could collapse, including our rupee. Indian companies have borrowed abroad at around 1% to invest in India, in what is know as ' carry trade ', and many companies have not hedged their loans, to reduce costs. The external debt to GDP ratio has increased from 18% in 2010-11 to 23% in 2013-14. If the Federal Reserve in the US starts raising interest rates and the ECB resorts to quantitative easing, which is looking almost certain, the dollar is certain to get stronger. Foreign investors have bought $25 billion worth of government bonds and $9 billion worth of corporate bonds in this financial year as well as $17 billion worth of equities. Lowering interest rates by 25 basis points is of no use but if the RBI lowers interest rates by, say, 100 basis points the arbitrage opportunities become less and foreigners could stop investing in India. That would take away a major support for the rupee. Many experts say that foreign funds cannot sell out Indian stocks and bonds because prices would plummet and as they try to repatriate this money from India the rupee will drop, so they will lose heavily. Will they? They can hedge on the futures market before they sell out, knowing that the market will drop and they will not lose. Add to that the fact that the government has already used up 90% of the deficit of the budget for the full fiscal and the outlook becomes much more complicated. That is why people buy gold. Not stupid are they?

For the economy to take off we need airlines.

Having been stung by Kingfisher previously oil companies are refusing to supply fuel to SpiceJet, a low cost airline in India. Which meant that all flights were cancelled on Wednesday. Banks are refusing to lend Rs 6 billion to the airline, as requested by the Aviation Ministry, to keep it flying. Strangely the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has allowed the airline to continue to sell tickets for the next 3 months. It may be relevant that the airline belongs to Klanithi Maran who is the brother of Dayanidhi Maran, of the DMK party, who was Telecom Minister from 2004-2007 in the Congress led government in Delhi. Passengers were stranded all over the country and those desperate to travel were being fleeced by other ' low cost ' airlines which were charging up to Rs 25,000 for one way from Delhi to Mumbai. All the airlines in India, except maybe IndiGo, are making heavy losses so the geniuses at Aviation Ministry are thinking of how to make them profitable. So what are their proposals? One is " complete income tax exemption for a fixed period ". Brilliant. When companies are making heavy losses why are they paying income tax? Even ignorant people like us know that corporate taxes are applicable only on profits. Second, banks, which means public sector banks, should charge a maximum of 8% interest on loans to the aviation industry. Already PSU banks are sitting on massive bad loans so forcing them to lend at below par rates to a sick industry is surely asking for trouble. Air India alone has debts of Rs 400 billion so imagine the total for the industry. The third suggestion is to stop airlines offering cheap tickets to customers. We have to remember that politicians and civil servants get to fly for free with ' companions ' so for them it makes no difference. But these are creatures are of infinite cunning. India probably has the most varieties of taxes in the world but most of them are levied at ad velorem basis, which means that tax is calculated on the value of an article and the higher the value the higher the tax. However, when it comes to airline tickets taxes are fixed so that if an airline lowers ticket prices to compete with other airlines the price hardly comes down because of the taxes. Taxes are administered by the Central Board of Direct Taxes which is given a revenue target for the year in the budget. In their effort to achieve their target officers resort to arbitrary demands on companies and individuals and resort to methods which the Gestapo would have been proud of. Naturally, people take refuge in courts. The CBDT has 223, 000 cases pending locking up Rs 4.36 trillion of potential revenue. It loses 70% of such cases. Only lower taxes will revive our economy. Why will tourists come to India if they cannot travel at reasonable prices?

The power of sanctions may not be forever.

After 50 years of trade sanctions the US may normalise relations with Cuba, although that is not a certainty, given the Republican majority in both houses of the incoming Congress. It may not be such a big deal because several South American countries are more anti-American than tiny Cuba. In 1994 the US lifted its embargo against Vietnam after losing the war 19 years earlier. Vietnam's crime? It was not helping to discover the remains of US soldiers Missing In Action during the war. Not only was there no reparations paid for the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians massacred by indiscriminate bombing, millions maimed by landmines and vast tracts of the country poisoned with dioxin the US imposed sanctions for the remains of some dead soldiers. The US imposed sanctions on India after nuclear test while continuing to supply arms to Pakistan with which to kill Indians. Sanctions against Iran has not stopped its frantic rush towards developing nuclear weapons though they might have stopped Israel and Saudi Arabia mounting a joint attack against Iran's nuclear facilities, setting off a regional conflagration. Sanctions against Russia, boosted by a 45% fall in the value of oil, seem to have been remarkably successful. The value of the ruble has collapsed by 45% despite a dramatic jump in interest rate from 10.5% to 17% by the central bank. The share market collapsed by 11.5% although it has recovered somewhat from its lows. Russia's crime? Helping the eastern half of Ukraine to resist an all out attack by a fascist government in Kiev, created by an armed coup against an elected president, organised by western countries. So will the US manage to bring about a ' regime change ' in Moscow. There is reason to believe that the Soviet Union broke up when the price of oil fell by 30% from 1988 to 1992 but today's Russia is very different. The Soviet Union was a collective of very disparate countries held together by force but today's Russia is more of a homogeneous nation with very small pockets of resistance, such as in Chechnya, which are easy to contain. When Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998 US Federal Reserve had to spend $3.6 billion to rescue Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund managed by Nobel Prize winners. Several European banks have high exposure to Russian debt and will suffer if Russia defaults again. Already the ECB is battling to stop the European Union falling into deflation so will it be able to bail out these banks. Emerging economies are seeing their currencies and stock markets plummet. So does the US think that it can carry the global economy by itself? US banks may have to face $550 billion of bad loans quite soon. If its economy weakens the US may lose its power of sanctions. It may suddenly find that it needs all the friends it can get.

It is all because of US stupidity.

One week after Malala Yousafzai received her Nobel Peace Prize the Taliban carried out an attack on  the Army Public School in Peshawar in Pakistan in which 145, including 132 children, were killed. Pakistanis are acting surprised at this attack, which is cute. Just one month back the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation observed an ' I am not Malala ' day, in response to her book ' I am Malala ', because they consider her to be ' anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam '. Last year 27% of the people supported the Taliban and 40% did not know, which means that they did not consider it an enemy, 86% supported the army, 64% saw the US as an enemy and 69% saw India as a serious threat to the nation. There is a large faction in the Pakistan army, especially in its intelligence agency, the ISI, which supports the Taliban. Americans are well aware that the ISI was funding and arming the Taliban with US supplied arms to go and kill US and NATO soldiers in Afghanistan. Just as weapons supplied by the US are killing Indians. There is no doubt that the ISI planned and financed the 9/11 attacks and yet the US continues to support Pakistan blindly. Why? US trade with India last year was $62 billion while total trade with Pakistan $5.3 billion, less than one-tenth that with India. On the other hand US aid to Pakistan is over $2 billion every year, rising to $4.5 billion in 2010. China is by far the largest trading nation for Pakistan and Pakistani generals regularly go on pilgrimages to Beijing to lick Chinese boots. The US was responsible for removing Saddam Hussein from Iraq and look at the mess it is in. Having withdrawn all troops from Iraq Obama is again putting ' boots on the ground ' in an effort to stem the ISIS onslaught. The US supported the 2 clowns, Cameron of Britain and Sarkozy of France, to remove Gaddafi from Libya, which has descended into total anarchy. Islamist rebels have acquired planes with which to bomb government positions. US troops are going to leave Afghanistan by next year and the Taliban are salivating at the prospect of taking over that country as well. The army is stopping transfer of troops on buses after a wave of bomb attacks. Just this morning there was an attack on a bank where civil servants were being paid. The US even talked peace with the ' Good Taliban ' which opened an office in Qatar. After the Mumbai attacks, which killed 164, Pakistani minister, Qureshi said that India will come to talks on ' bended knees '. Should we be happy about yesterday's attacks as justice for Mumbai? No. Terrorism anywhere is dangerous for everybody and an attack on children is abhorrent. Obama is coming to India next month. Perhaps we should tell the gasbag that he is responsible.

The most important figure is always missing.

Madhya Pradesh has an infant mortality rate of 56 per thousand live births, which is the same rate as in Benin and Zambia, while average life expectancy in Bihar is the same as in Pakistan at 65.8 years. Infant mortality in Kerala is the lowest in India at 12 per 1000 live births, the same as in Argentina and Brazil, while average life expectancy is the highest at 74.2 years, equal to that of Kuwait and Brazil. A child in the poorest fifth of the population is 3 times more likely to die before the age of 5 years than a child in the richest fifth of the population and a person in the richest fifth will live an extra 10.8 years on average compared to a person in the poorest fifth. Grim statistics indeed. About half the children, some 60 million are underweight, 45% are stunted, 20% are wasted, 75% are anaemic and 57% are deficient in Vitamin A. The figures roll on and on. Why, when trillions of rupees are being spent on the NREGA scheme which pays the rural poor for 100 days a year, the Food Security Act provides cereals at throw away prices and the midday meals served in schools is supposed to provide added nutrition to our children. One reason maybe that politicians and civil servants love social schemes because they can be looted. The late Mr Ponty Chadha was given sole rights to provide midday meals in all schools as well as sell booze for the whole state of UP, the largest state in India, because of his contacts. Since all these schemes are not working surely it is time to modify them so that they reach the most vulnerable of our children. But any such proposal is angrily denounced by activists and NGOs. Oh dear, so many snouts at the trough. With such a plethora of figures one figure is never counted or published and that is the difference in the numbers of children in rich and poor families. Too many children means not enough money to buy food, no money for childhood vaccines and no money to buy shoes. Anemia is mostly caused by worms which enter human bodies through the feet. Too many people means that it is cheaper to employ large numbers of untrained people than to buy machines which can do the job better and more efficiently. Is it any wonder that India's productivity is the lowest among developing countries? To take advantage of so many young people we need to produce jobs but, low economic growth globally being accepted as the new normal, it is going to be impossible. If we are to improve productivity to compete with others jobs will become less, not more. The only other country with an equal population is China and its social indicators are way better than ours but then China has followed a one child policy since 1979. The solution is obvious. But then too many are becoming rich from poverty.

The subconscious makes all our decisions.

Top hundred Indian brands are valued at $92.6 while the brand value of Apple alone is $118.8 billion. India has 1.2 billion people and high taxes on imports, by making them more expensive, have traditionally protected Indian companies. SBI and LIC are recognised brands in India not because they give superior service but because, these being owned by the government, your money is safe.  If Jaguar and Land Rover are global brands it is because they are seen as British and not because they are owned by Tata. Why this lack of trust for Indians brands? Seems that our decisions are made by the subconscious part of our minds and our conscious mind merely exercises a veto depending on circumstances. This was proved by an American psychologist, Benjamin Libet who showed that brain activity related to moving a finger occurred 300 milliseconds before the person was conscious of the desire to move the finger. This means that spending vast sums on advertising are not going to build brand value unless the ads are seen as reflecting the truth from experiences of having used the brand. Hence, ' relevance, truthfulness and consistency ' will build trust and increase brand value but ' corporate self-interest, sugar coating and opportunism ' will destroy value. Indian business fellows are interested in quick money and not in the long term effort of building a world class brand as was proved by the sale of Thums Up, the largest selling cola brand in India, to Coca Cola. The Americans tried to kill off Thums Up but saw sales fall off, despite huge advertising, and have revived it again. The government was so alarmed at the sale of our pharma companies to foreigners that they slowed the process of FDI even though we needed foreign exchange. About half of the $512 billion spent on advertising is probably wasted. So how do human beings make decisions? A beautiful article tries to show the contradictions in human decision making by analysing the abduction of Helen by Paris, the son of Priam, the King of Troy. Asked by Zeus to choose the most beautiful among Hera, Athena and Aphrodite he asks to be bribed. Hera offers a large kingdom, Athena offers to make him invincible in war and Aphrodite offers him the love of Helen. He accepts Helen. His first mistake was to presume to decide the beauty of goddesses, his second was to ask for a bribe and his third was to ask for a Helen who was married to Menelaus, the King of Sparta. An experiment with monkeys shows how they behave as a herd when  faced with adverse circumstances and apparently reflects the way we behave when similarly faced. So, are we just apes in clothes?

Blinking competition between Russia and Ukraine.

Apparently the latest peace deal in Ukraine is holding. Speaking in Sydney, Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko confirmed that the peace was holding and that " Ukrainians died for the right to be Europeans." Not true. Innocent civilians are being killed by Ukrainian soldiers because they do not want to join Europe. So far 4,300 civilians have been killed by aerial bombing, artillery shells and shooting by the Ukrainian armed forces. Their crime? They are Russian speakers and do not want Ukraine to join NATO which will bring US forces right to the Russian border. Not very different from Bashar al-Assad. Western politicians are cock-a-hoop because they think that the recent peace is a capitulation by Putin because the Russian economy has been weakened by sanctions and the fall in the price of oil. Russia is in a recession. Inflation is at 9.4% because of import restrictions and the fall in the value of the ruble, prompting the central bank to raise interest rate to 10.5%. But Ukraine is not so hot either. It has to find $15 billion sharpish if it is to avoid bankruptcy. Its economy shrank by 1.1% in the first quarter, 4.7% in the second and 5.3% in the third quarter, a predicted fall of 7% for the year. The irony is that this was the exact figure that Russia offered to Ukraine last year along with an offer of cheap gas, which would have amounted to $20 billion. It was when Yanukvych accepted the Russian offer in preference to Europe that the western powers engineered an armed insurrection by co-opting the extreme right wing nationalist Svobada and the neo-Nazi Right Sector thugs who react violently towards television critics. Jews in Odessa prepared to flee, to avoid being massacred, as government forces approached. Europe and the IMF are scrambling to support Ukraine's economy but only on condition that the government commits to a restructuring program as dictated by the IMF. Everyone knows how harsh that can be and the Ukraine government has backed out twice previously, probably not wanting the people to find out that joining Europe is not going to be all milk and honey as they have been promised. The European Central Bank is desperately trying to avoid deflation by providing money to banks, almost for free. If the bank provides money to Ukraine why not Greece which is again in trouble, with the stock market falling 13% last week. Private lenders will not want to touch Ukraine government bonds unless they are backed by the IMF or the ECB. Russia bought $3 billion worth of Euro bonds from the Ukraine government last year on condition that it can demand repayment if the debt to GDP ratio rises above 60. The ratio is set to rise to 90. So who is blinking, Russia or Ukraine?

Comparing with others is no excuse.

Shiv Kumar Yadav, a taxi driver for Uber, has confessed to having raped many women in his cab over a period of months. Perhaps this story is not as horrific as that of the girl, named Nirbhaya by the press, who died after being gang-raped inside a Delhi bus or the story of an unnamed woman who was left for dead after being raped for 3 days and suffering such diabolical torture that it is impossible to read about it. These cases are reported all over the world, bringing shame to all of us as a nation. However terrible these cases maybe they pale in comparison to the case of the man in Brazil who has just confessed to having killed 42 people, including a 2 year old girl, over a period of 9 years, just for pleasure. In the UK a government adviser has warned of a " national health epidemic " as one in six people in Britain may have been sexually assaulted. Last year 3,273 children under the age of 13 years were charged with serious crimes in Britain, including rape, sexual assault, robbery, kidnap and issuing death threats, 154 of them were under the age of 12 years. Pedophilia is so rampant in western countries that police forces have special units dealing with sexual attacks on children. In Rochdale in England a gang was preying on vulnerable white girls, some as young as 13 years of age, after plying them with alcohol and drugs. Jimmy Savile boasted of having sex with bodies in a mortuary, molested women in psychiatric wards of hospitals and raped children. He was knighted for his charitable work in raising money for hospitals and helping poor children. The fear of being accused of pedophilia has so terrified men in western countries that men will not help children in danger of being killed in case they are accused falsely. In Australia a family was arrested for practicing incest over 4 generations. If that fills us with horror then what about randomly killing little children? Adam Lanza killed 20 children between the ages of 5 and 10 years, some little bodies had 11 bullets inside them. Child killing in the US is sponsored by the gun lobby which believes that the second amendment gives people the right to carry loaded guns at all times even if no country would dare to attack the US and guns would not have stopped the 9/11 attacks. US airport security posted pictures of some of the articles seized from passengers at airports. They include a six-bladed knife, guns, IEDs and even a grenade. A 65 year old homeowner recorded himself killing 2 teenagers who had broken into his house. Our population is 3 times that of the US and 20 times that of the UK but the degree of depravity is far higher in those countries. That, sadly, is no consolation.

All that glisters is not gold.

After shunning the stock market for years retail investors have started dabbling in shares since March of this year. Yet in August we were told that retail investors had been selling out since 2008 and households comprised just 2% of the equity market. That is not a surprise because hapless investors have been duped many times and Ketan Parekh is still manipulating the market despite being banned from trading till 2017 by Sebi. The previous Finance Minister wanted to increase the number of retail shareholders from 16 million to 150 million. He even started the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme to trap ordinary people. Why? Surely not for our good? He is the man who destroyed the economy by starting the NREGA scheme, forgiving all loans to farmers and vastly increasing civil service pay. He also started the Securities Transaction Tax in 2004, as soon as he came into office, but reduced it in 2013 to entice people into buying shares rather than gold. People were buying gold to hedge against double digit inflation which was eroding the value of our savings through negative real interest rates. Tax on import of gold was raised in steps from 2% to 10% and an 80:20 law forced jewellers to export 20% of the total gold imported by them. Import of gold fell off but smuggling became very lucrative to satisfy the latent demand. This is bad for the economy because the government cannot collect tax on smuggled gold and there is no account of the total outflow of precious dollars. Seems that ordinary people are at last investing in stocks, probably lured by the dramatic rise in the Sensex in the last few months. But should they? After the sub-prime crisis of 2008 share markets all over the world recovered gradually but the Sensex bounced back in a U shaped curve. The stock market lacks depth, in that the market capitalisation of the top 10 companies is 28.4% of the total market capitalisation of BSE 500 companies. A recent study based on 3 parameters ranked India as the sixth most expensive stock market in the world, higher than UK, Germany and China. Entering at these levels means that there is a great chance of getting burned, given the uncertainties in the world with the conflict in Ukraine, the free for all in the middle east and the Ebola epidemic in west Africa, to name just a few. It has been shown that people do not make rational decisions when investing money, so to tempt them with wildly optimistic talk of the Sensex reaching 400,000 in 15 years is grossly irresponsible. The recent jump in the purchase of gold, when the Reserve Bank relaxed the 80:20 rule, shows that people still do not believe the authorities that inflation will be controlled and that the value of our money will not continue to erode away. It is good to be cynical.

Fuel prices in India were high not because of OPEC.

For years we have been puzzled by reports that the Congress government was subsidising petroleum products to help us poor consumers when petrol prices in the US, where there is no subsidy, were consistently lower than that in India. Turns out that the government was raking in Rs 3 trillion in taxes, which was divided equally between the center and the states. Hence, the earnings from high oil prices was much higher than the so called subsidy that the Congress was so kindly dishing out. There is great jubilation that the 45% fall in oil prices in the last few weeks will be a bonanza for India but apparently our GDP grew at an average of 8.7%, when oil prices were compounding at 20%, from 2004-2008 but fell to 5.5% in 1998-99 when prices fell by 43% to $12 a barrel. Also in 2002 growth was a mere 4% when oil price fell 17.4% to $23.2 a barrel. If the government is making more in taxes than it is paying out in subsidies stands to reason that the rich, who use more oil products, are paying more to the government. Why then are we constantly told that subsidies help the rich more than the poor? Even a working paper from the IMF last year said that subsidies on fuel in India amounted to 2% of the GDP but forgot to mention that taxes on fuel were 3% of GDP. Even today when international prices are down to $60 a barrel, a fall of 45%, pump price in India is down around 5%. Why? Partly because the government raised the excise duty on oil, which is a good idea, but partly because oil retailers, which are all government companies, have raised their margins acting as a cartel, which is not so good. Trouble is that even poor people need to travel so politicians seek to hide fuel taxes but happily levy very high taxes on jet fuel, the thinking being that only rich people fly so they should be made to pay. But the poor are also human and would rather fly than go by cattle class train but they are priced out of flying by the enormous taxes. The middle class find it cheaper to fly to Bangkok where a return ticket costs around Rs 20,000 than holiday in Kerala where a return ticket would cost Rs 25,000. Which is a waste of foreign exchange and the hospitality industry in Kerala loses customers. Not just fuel, taxes on cars constitute around 60% of its cost making it unaffordable for most people. Why are taxes so high? So that politicians can bribe voters to win elections, but here the money goes to the rich while the real poor go to moneylenders. Sadly, our politicians did not understand, or more probably deliberately ignored, the fact that if the country grows rich the people will grow with it. China understood and is now far out of sight. We can only hope that the present lot understand that taxes kill the economy.

A taste of bile.

In an article full of innuendos, presumptions and outright lies one Sushil Aaron tries to prove that the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is similar to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. What is his proof? One BBC fellow, Angus Roxburgh wrote that Putin has " eyes that consume you " by fixing you in a " glowering,piercing, highly unsettling look." Rajiv Sardesai is quoted as writing that although Modi smiled a lot " his eyes at times glared almost unblinkingly - stern, cold and distant." Anyone who saw the live coverage of the Beslan school massacre by the BBC, where 334 people, including 186 little children were massacred by jihadists, would have been sickened by the constant anti-Putin propaganda by the presenter even as explosions and gunfire were killing children. Even today they try to blame the deaths on the Russian forces. How disgusting is that? Maybe Mr Sardesai is a supporter of the Congress which has kept this country poor for 7 decades, repeatedly lost wars which our brave soldiers won through enormous sacrifice and ruined the economy in the last 10 years by encouraging corruption on astronomical scale. Aaron writes," Karen Dawisha, author of a new book Putin's Kleptocracy: Who owns Russia?, describes how Putin rules Russia in concert with former KGB colleagues who have developed a stranglehold on the country's economy and politics. Modi is not there yet but he is a proud RSS pracharak - and although he tries to define an identity beyond that of a Hindu nationalist...." The KGB was a secret police credited with torture, assassinations and espionage. Perhaps Aaron should read The Gulag Archipelago where Solzhenitsyn describes how he was arrested at night and transported in a Stolypin car. Modi is not known to have amassed any wealth, has no heirs and has never enriched any of his family, prompting his estranged wife to file an application under the RTI Act demanding official transport. The RSS is a social organisation based on Hindu values with no connection to the government. Hindus do not convert so there has never been any need for crusade, jihad or inquisition. Also there is no history of systematic abuse of children for decades and cover up as in some other organisation. Aaron says that the during Putin's tenure there has been violence against journalists, including the killing of Anna Politkovskaya and then writes," The Indian press is a lot freer for sure but it is not inconceivable that the scale of hate speech on social media creates a context for vigilantism in the future." Exactly. This article is an absolute example of hate speech disguised as serious journalism. We pay for newspapers so have a right to expect that they should not print pure garbage.

The economics of a slap on the wrist.

Six long years after he confessed to a fraud of Rs 71.36 billion at Satyam Computer Services ltd, Ramalinga Raju was sentenced to 6 months in prison and was fined Rs 1.05 million by an Economic Offences Court in Hyderabad. Some other directors at Satyam were fined Rs 20,000 each. Today, a vegetable seller in India has a daily turnover in excess of Rs 20,000 so why bother with this mockery of justice. Employees lost their jobs, creditors lost money and the taxpayer has wasted millions on the investigation, for this insult. At about the same time in the US, Bernard Madoff confessed to a ponzi scheme for which he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. His brother received 10 years and others are still being put away. The Saradha scam, which is India's own ponzi scheme, is providing great entertainment, with one fellow getting admitted to a hospital and then escaping bare foot while another staged a mock suicide. To add to the insult Raju's lawyers are planning to appeal his sentence. While Raju is guilty of outright fraud almost all companies in India hide information about their finances or present the information in such a way that it is incomprehensible to small investors. It is no wonder that retail investors avoid the stock market and most of the money is concentrated in a few top companies. Thus, 50 of the BSE 500 companies contribute 60.9% of the total market capitalisation of our share market while in the US the top 100 companies of S&P 500 contribute 63% of total market cap. Why bother with false information, 78 companies vanished altogether after raising Rs 3.10 billion from investors. And why not? If you are caught, which depends on your friends in high places, a beaming judge will promptly set you free on bail to avoid any inconvenience and another judge, after many years, may sentence you to 6 months in prison but then send you home till your appeal is dealt with. No other country offers such risk-free path to great wealth. But where do you invest this booty? After all other fellows maybe bigger crooks than you. The best returns are to be had in real estate where up to 50% of the price is paid in cash. The amount of black money generated in real estate in eye watering. Builders buy land with cash. Bribes are paid to officials to obtain various permits, electricity and water connections and to increase covered area illegally. Builders compensate by cutting on quality so that the buildings are unsafe. Finally, builders take a portion of the price in cash. All this black money gets invested in real estate again so that the cycle repeats itself. Infinitely. Unless our judges get serious.

Chicken tikka masala and Section 124A.

To understand how our politicians have taken over from the British as our rulers we need to see how they have allowed repressive laws enacted by the British to continue. Under ' Fundamental Rights ', our constitution seems to guarantee " right to freedom of speech and expression " but then restricts that right by adding that it cannot " affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the state from making any law ". Thus, our freedom of speech is subservient to Section 124A of the IPC, which is a law on sedition, enacted by the British in 1870. How else would they stop the people from discussing the crimes committed by politicians? Jawaharlal Nehru joined the bar from the Inner Temple in London, as did MK Gandhi, while BR Ambedkar was called to the bar from Gray's Inn, also in London. Why did 3 barristers, who would have been familiar with British oppression, retain a law against sedition against the British monarch? Did they consider themselves superior to the people? While Section 124A was an existing law the Congress led government added Section 66A which makes it a crime to use a computer, which means on the internet, to send any information which is " grossly offensive " or " any annoyance, inconvenience......insult ". According to an analysis of affidavits filed by MPs about 34% have serious criminal charges against them. Surely reporting that is in itself an ' annoyance, inconvenience ' to them and maybe construed as ' grossly offensive ' to their exalted position as our rulers. To rule you need money. Which is why the 1999 law on insurance is based on the Insurance Act 1938, which was one year before World War II started, so that the British were badly in need of money. The other is the Statutory Liquidity Ratio which mandates that banks must maintain a portion of their funds in gold, cash or government securities. This is presently at 22%. Rs 5.1 trillion of life insurance premiums are invested in central government securities while Rs 10 trillion are invested in " state government and approved instruments ". Quite a few of the state governments are bankrupt. Commissions for the first year can be as high as 120% of the premium which encourages agents to lie about the benefits to increase sales. Returns are a meager 2-4% over 10-15 years, which is why half the customers allow their policies to lapse after one year and three-fourths lapse within 5 years, losing all their money. Customers lost a total of Rs 1.5 trillion over 7 years to 2012. Thank the Brits for single malt Scotch, chicken tikka masala and 124A.

India will show the way as others slip.

Experts are forecasting that Indian stock indices, the Nifty and the Sensex will reach 125,000 and 400,000 respectively by 2030. Currently the Nifty is at 8,538 and the Sensex at 28,458. How can the 2 indices zoom off into outer space leaving the rest of the world behind? The Nifty was at 943 in 2003 and has grown at 20% compounded annually so if it continues to grow at the same rate for the next 15 years then it will go above 100,000. Does that mean that the market capitalisation of Indian companies will be higher than all the companies of the rest of the world put together? What will be the price/earnings ratio of our companies? The P/E ratio of some of our companies are already in fairy tale territory. Shares of Tarang Projects are at Rs 739 while earning per share is just 2 paise, giving it a P/E ration of 36,950. How is this company paying any dividend and why would anyone buy its shares? The Dow Jones index in the US was at 995 in 1966 and last closed at 17,958,  a growth rate of 6.21% compounded annually. The reason why our indices are shooting up is because foreign investors have poured $40 billion into our debt and stocks this year, this despite economic growth slowing to 5.3% in the second quarter to September. It is not just in India. Markets everywhere are rising while growth is slowing. Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving in the US fell by 11%, from $57.4 billion last year to $50.9 billion this year. Stock markets are rising because interest rates are at 0% in the US, Europe and Japan and the Bank of Japan has resorted to bond buying just as the Fed in the US was stopping its own quantitative easing. Fund managers are investing in emerging markets looking for higher returns but at some point all this excessive liquidity will cause inflation and central banks will have to start raising interest rates. But when? Everyone is agreed that the Fed will start tightening from next year but officials are terrified of repeating the mistake of 1937 when a hasty increase in rates, just as the country was recovering from the Great Depression, plunged the economy back into recession. Dealers think that if the Fed raises rates there is a 20% chance that it will go back to 0% within 2 years. Japan has slipped back into recession, prompting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to call for elections 2 years before schedule. Europe is in danger of falling into deflation as inflation rate hovers at 0.3%. ECB President Marion Draghi wants to start his own quantitative easing but is scared of increasing inequality as easy money allows rich people to buy up assets on dirt cheap loans while savers lose money and pensioners suffer. Perhaps India will save the world and we will all have houses of gold. Only problem is that it might attract marauders from outside.

We remain the same. So reassuring!

Promoters of Varun Industries, who manufacture stainless steel home products, have scarpered. Why so? Because they have no intention of repaying loans of Rs 11 billion. Even with high inflation and a weak rupee you can seriously enjoy yourself with that kind of money. Typically, none of the public sector banks complained. Fellows must have been generous with their booty. A non-banking finance company, SE Investments filed a criminal complaint when they were not paid on their loan of Rs 400 million. Apparently, they lent money against shares valued at Rs 250 per share, when the market value was one-tenth of that, and the promoters had fudged the books. And why not? Even after 6 years there is no verdict on Ramalinga Raju who confessed to forging accounts. Indeed he is enjoying grand wedding parties, rubbing shoulders with politicians and film stars. Half of India's 500 top companies are in debt trouble and Rs 7 trillion will be needed to clear up the mess, of which 63 companies will need Rs 2.4 trillion. How did things get so bad? Because in an effort to hang on to power any which way the Congress allowed coalition partners to get away with any crime and even withdrew cases against politicians to get their support in parliament. The result has been a complete contempt for the rule of law, a feeling of ' if they can get away with it why can't we '. Bank managers lent billions of rupees to dubious fellows in return for bribes and even so-called businessmen borrowed trillions of rupees from public sector banks thinking that they will not have to repay their debt. Cheating has become so ingrained that it is practised unthinkingly on foreigners as well, who naturally react with anger. In November 2013 a document from the Food and Drug Administration in the US, obtained by Bloomberg, stated that they found evidence of forged chemical tests on drugs at a plant of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. Technicians deleted results that showed a batch of drugs had impurities and substituted results from another batch which tested perfect. " Our review found that analysts regularly delete undesirable chromatographic results, and products are retested without initiating an investigation as required," the inspectors wrote. Sun's plant was banned along with plants of 11 other companies. The Americans are safe but what about us? Adulteration of drugs is a serious criminal offence so surely these fellows, and their managers, should be in prison. Nope. No drugs are ever withdrawn in India and no company punished. When the innocent die there is great drama which dies down after a while and things continue as before. We can be sure that India remains the same. How reassuring is that?

Peace is only for us.

There are protests across the US against a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer for choking a black man, Eric Garner to death. The man was unarmed and his crime was selling cigarettes on the streets. A few days ago there were riots in Ferguson, Missouri when another grand jury refused to indict another police officer, this time for the crime of shooting an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown to death. Brown was vilified by the police, who kept focusing on his size and leaked a grainy video of an altercation in a store a few minutes prior to the shooting in which you can see a big black man but the face is out of focus. Photos from Ferguson show the police using armored personnel carriers, heavy weapons from the army and masks, resembling storm troopers from a Star Wars movie. In the Michael Brown shooting witnesses gave contradictory evidence but the choke-hold on Eric Garner was recorded on video for the whole world to see and you can hear Garner shouting," I can't breathe." So how the grand jury found no probable cause to indict the officer is a mystery. Of course, both prosecutors, Robert McCulloch in the Brown shooting and Dan Donovan in the Garner choking case are white which may have influenced how they presented the cases to the juries. Protesters are shouting 2 slogans. " Hands up, don't shoot," in Ferguson and " I can't breathe," on Staten Island. In solidarity with protesters 5 Saint Louis Rams players raised there hands during a football game which has infuriated the police. In shocking shameless arrogance the police demanded that the players be punished and the NFL should apologise to them. So why are the police so arrogant? What has given them the idea that they can kill unarmed citizens with complete impunity? Because politicians use them to beat up anyone protesting against their policies, as they did when they brutally broke up the Occupy Wall Street protests. While banks were bailed out with taxpayer money, and bankers were taking home millions in bonuses, ordinary people were losing homes to mortgage foreclosures. However, campaign financing for politicians come from Wall Street so the protests had to be broken up. If a few bones were broken in the process, then so be it. The police in Hong Kong were much more restrained when they removed barricades set up by protesters demanding free elections. Chief Executive CY Leung said truthfully that the poor will take over if free elections were held. Delhi Police responded with familiar brutality against people protesting against the gang rape of a young woman named Nirbhaya. Isn't it wonderful how we are always told to be peaceful while politicians respond with extreme violence if their supremacy is threatened even slightly. They call it democracy.

Oil as a weapon. Will it work?

So, oil is down to around $70 a barrel after reaching dizzying heights in 2011. Previously, whenever prices dropped OPEC members, especially Saudi Arabia, would cut production to reduce supply and support international prices. But not this time. At a recent meeting the Saudis refused to cut production sending the price tumbling. They are forecasting that the price of oil will settle at around $60 a barrel. Normally, the term ' oil bonanza ' refers to the huge inflows of cash received by oil producing nations when the price soars but it can equally be applied to oil importing nations, like India, when the price drops to such low levels. Since we import 80% of our requirement the savings in cash outflow is equivalent to a jump in earnings. It will reduce our Current Account Deficit, bring down inflation, by making transport cheaper, and reduce losses of Indian Railways and our airlines. However, it is easy for an oil bonanza to turn into an ' oil curse ' as citizens of many nations have found to their cost. Countries with oil have less democracy, more corruption and poor industrial base. Politicians typically squander the money by spending on themselves and bribing voters into silence. This must not happen in India. The high price of oil has already been priced into the system so the government should raise taxes to keep prices on the higher side. This will help reduce the fiscal deficit and keep a check on the excessive use of cars, thereby reducing pollution, and preventing a rise in import of oil, which will cancel out the benefits of falling prices. Also, if the price was to jump suddenly taxes could be reduced to cushion the blow. While Indians are smiling the sudden drop in oil price could be catastrophic for other countries. Russia needs oil at $101 a barrel as economic sanctions are costing $40 billion in lost economic activity, the ruble is down 40% and inflation is up to 9%, prompting the central bank to increase interest rate by 1.5% to 9.5%. Nigeria needs oil at $120 a barrel with its currency falling and the cost of fighting Boko Haram rising. Venezuela needs oil also at $120 a barrel with inflation at 60%, shortage of basic necessities and the Bolivar dropping to 83 against the dollar in the black market when the official rate is 6.3. Iran needs oil at $136 a barrel as sanctions are ruining its economy to stop it producing a nuclear weapon, which it is determined to do. Some say that the Saudis want to stop US shale oil production so that prices rise in the long term but US shale will be profitable even at $40 a barrel. But maybe the Saudis are using oil as a weapon because they know that the US is not dependent on them as before, Iran has become stronger with Saddam gone and the Islamic State is threatening the regime. A slippery weapon. Will it work?

Smart thinking better than Smartcards.

The government of India spends Rs 2.5 trillion on welfare schemes every year but a lot of the money fails to reach the intended recipients because of poor implementation or outright theft by those who administer the schemes. A study conducted in Andhra Pradesh, to see if biometric Smartcards improved delivery of aid to target recipients, showed that they reduced unpredictability by 39% and the time of reception by 29%. The study does not address how many people were receiving benefits despite being well off. Figures released last year showed that 20.10 million households out of a total of 20.80 held ration cards and were therefore receiving food aid. In some districts there were more ration cards than total population. Even the Congress led government, which proudly passed the Food Security Bill, refused to provide food for more than 60.98% of the rural and 41.14% of the urban population. Smartcards may ensure full and timely payments to recipients but will not prevent undeserving people from obtaining them by bribing officials. Where there is so much money in the trough there are bound to be lots of snouts wanting to feed from it. There are an estimated 2 million NGOs in India, one for every 600 people, who receive Rs 9.50 billion from the government every year. An eye watering $2 billion, Rs 12,000 crore, comes from abroad, for what purpose we do not know since NGOs do not file tax returns or detailed spending accounts. A Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court revealed that a NGO called Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology was given Rs 100,000 by the government of which Rs 63,243 went on honorariums, Rs 20,347.50 on travel and Rs 6,487.50 on printing stationery, for a total of Rs 90,078. Not much left for advancement then. Problem is that activists have an emotional attachment to poverty and any attempt at rational debate of the benefits of social schemes immediately invites abuse and charges of being a Nazi. On the one hand they want to preserve the environment for future generation while on the other they want to give poor people rights over forests, which means they will chop down trees and kill animals for food. No one asks the poor whether they want to be given alms for doing nothing, which will reduce productivity and increase inflation, thus reducing their buying capacity, or they would prefer world class infrastructure which would enable them to diversify into other professions. Venezuela used its oil money for social schemes. Today inflation is above 60% and people are having to queue for basics while murder rates are so high that there is a shortage of coffins. Link all handouts to not having children. It will immediately reduce poverty, improve health and increase growth by increasing productivity.

An elephant is four-legged. No use pulling just one.

Despite strident calls to lower interest rates in India the Reserve Bank decided to keep them unchanged this morning. The man who was responsible for the dire state that the economy is in is still trying his best to inflict as much damage as he can by whipping up hysteria for a rate cut. While the economy grew by 5.3% in the second quarter to September, compared to 5.7% the previous quarter, manufacturing grew by only 0.1% in the same period. However, in November the Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing jumped to a 21 month high mainly due to increased consumption, reflected in a rise in output of consumer goods and in output prices. Lowering interest rates too quickly may stimulate consumption which will result in higher imports, worse trade deficit, rising prices and lead to inflation. The common refrain is that lower rates will increase investments by making it cheaper for companies to borrow more money from banks. That is a complete lie because companies in India have the highest level of loans in Asia and are defaulting on repayments, leading to a rise in bad loans in public sector banks. They have to repay their previous loans, so that banks can clear up their books, before they will entertain any requests for fresh loans. Interest rate in the Eurozone is just 0.05% and the ECB is charging banks to park money with it overnight, resulting in a negative interest rate, which means that banks get back less than they put in. In return banks are charging customers for keeping money in banks. This is to force people to spend money to boost demand so that companies invest in new start-ups, which will create new jobs. Despite such drastic measures GDP growth rate was just 0.2% in the third quarter, the manufacturing PMI for November was 50.1%, which is barely in positive territory, while inflation is still at 0.3%, dangerously close to deflation. If a negative interest rate is failing to stimulate growth in Europe why should we see a dramatic boom in our economy from a cut of 25 basis points? To really stimulate growth we need a cut in taxes which have a multiplier effect on inflation by adding to the rise in prices. People spend money much better than the government where politicians waste our taxes on bribing the ' vote bank ' and civil servants steal the rest. We may feel that over 100% taxes on luxury cars are justified but what about 21% tax on generic medicines. However, there are still communist types who think that the middle class should be killed off by punitive taxes. On the other hand, high prices of fuel have already fed into the system so taxes should be kept high so that they can be lowered to cushion the effect of a sudden rise in the price of oil. An elephant cannot walk by pulling one leg.

We are here to stay.

A heart rending scream from do-gooders has echoed round the world at the news of sacrifice of 5,000 buffaloes at a Hindu temple in Nepal. It is not a waste because buffalo meat is served in restaurants in Nepal and the hides are used in the leather industry. In any Hindu sacrifice it is mandatory to sever the head of the animal in one stroke, which minimises suffering, otherwise the sacrifice becomes inauspicious. In the past famine and pestilence were ascribed to divine anger because of ignorance and the sacrifice of a precious animal was meant to please the gods. The sacrifice has been called " barbaric " and an Italian charity has described it as " unparalleled religious madness ". Today, animal sacrifice has disappeared from India and this is perhaps the last place where it still takes place. The howl of anguish is surprising because there is not a single whisper about the sacrifice of over a million animals during Hajj. To put it in context 10.2 billion, which is 1,020 crores, animals were slaughtered in the US in 2011, for food.  Over 1 billion are slaughtered for food in the UK in one year. They were slaughtered, but not sacrificed, so that is alright. They are equally dead, whatever the description. In the west animals are stunned before slaughter but not all of them. Denmark has banned all ritual slaughter of animals without stunning, but not the factory-farming of animals, which causes enormous suffering. In Britain supermarkets are quietly selling halal meat without informing customers. The reason why there has been such an outcry for a non-event is because Hinduism is considered evil by the One-God fellows. The first 3 Commandments handed down to Moses said, " I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." And therein lies the problem. Because we Hindus worship idols, we have many gods and, horror of horrors, we have goddesses. That is why minorities have killed millions of us, converted others by force and kidnapped our women. They could not reach the 5th one which commanded," Thou shalt not kill." One fellow who grew up in a Christian family with Star Wars, Stephen King and Pink Floyd suddenly discovered Sanskrit classics and read them all. What a genius! He is against teaching Sanskrit in schools in place of German, as the Education Minister has proposed, because you have to " Let young minds roam free." Today, children in Hindi speaking states have such a choice because in other states children have to learn mother tongue, English and Hindi. Now every child will learn Sanskrit, English and mother tongue. What could be more democratic? Sadly, Kim Kardashian will not be coming to India. Neither will her bottom. Now that is a sacrifice.