Author: Atanu Dey

Economist.

This is surreal

The surreal does not shock.

Pakistan is buying US$5,000 million worth of military hardware, including F-16s from the US. India is subsidizing that purchase to the tune of US$25 million in cash. I am sorry about India’s niggardly gesture — it should be giving Pakistan at least US$ 100 million. After all, dhimmis have to pay jizya and at US$ 25 milllion, it works out to be a very low per capita. [Here is the relevant news item. And here is the explanation of what I mean.]

The jizya tax is traditionally imposed on non-muslims (dhimmis) living in a Muslim majority state. The dhimmis can avoid the tax by converting and many did and still do. A tax is a negative subsidy; a positive subsidy to induce conversion is also effective in many instances. So, if being a Muslim were to confer benefits that would not be available to non-muslims, it would induce conversion.

Arjun Singh is giving an incentive to non-muslims to convert into Islam. The poor family in my neighborhood are thinking of converting to Islam because it would help their son get into college on the Muslim quota that Mr Singh is establishing.

I strongly believe that the government should not be in the business of converting people. But I guess Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s government, because it is secular, has to prove its secular credentials by converting the kuffars.

The Better, Faster Way to Help Rural India

India has been singularly unlucky in the sense that its movers and shakers don’t seem to get what it takes for the economy to prosper. Therefore it comes as a terribly pleasant surprise when one comes across a M&S who apparently gets it. Not only does the man get it, he gets it in spades and how.

Mukesh Ambani apparently gets it.
Continue reading “The Better, Faster Way to Help Rural India”

Mumbai Serial Bomb Attack

The terrorists have struck once again. This time it appears to be a series of bombs on the Western line of Mumbai locals. So far reports indicate about half a dozen bombs during rush hour.

Assumption: lots of people killed. Islamic terrorism in action.
Prediction: More ineffectual inane statements from the politicians. Especially the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the supreme leader of India Ms Sonia Gandhi. More security will be assigned to them and other politicians. Dr Singh may increase the number of bus and train services between Pakistan and India. The border between Pakistan and India will be made less secure so that Islamic terrorism can have less resistance.

I think that it is time my suggestion that leaders be held accountable for acts of terrorism be taken seriously. Unless the leaders feel the pain of terrorism, they will not have the slightest interest in preventing terrorism. See “Terrorism–A Way Out” on this blog.

Post-script: If the media calls this one “7/11”, I swear I will puke. The rate at which Islamic terrorism is going, it makes no sense since surely the entire calendar will be filled in the next couple of years: 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, … , 12/30, 12/31. To my mind, only 9/11 has some legitimacy when it comes to naming Islamic terrorism with a date. The rest are too late.

PS: 9:44 PM

Prime Minister Singh makes his inane statement: “The series of blasts in Jammu and Kashmir and in Mumbai are shocking and cowardly attempts to spread a feeling of fear and terror among our citizens.”

Yes, indeed so. The politicians, are on the other hand, totally unconcerned because they will never have to take public transportation and will not have to die in terrorist blasts.

Ms Sonia Gandhi, Dr Singh’s boss, expressed shock. Why? Even an ordinary citizen like me has figured out by now that Islamic terrorism is the order of the day and unless one has been hiding under the rock for the last few decades, it should be expected and not shocking. Or is the supreme leader so out of touch with the daily occurrences around the world that it is shocking to note terrorism?

The PURA Meeting in Delhi

I was invited to attend a meeting at the Ministry of Rural Development at the Krishi Bhavan in New Delhi on the 7th of July. (Here is a note which I wrote while waiting in the lobby.)

The meeting was chaired by Renuka Vishwanathan, Secretary, Mininstry of Rural Development. Largely the meeting was attended by secretaries from various state governments such as Chattisgarh and Orrisa. There were a couple of people from President Kalam’s office; Dr PV Indiresan, the architect of PURA; Dr PS Rana, Chairman and MD of HUDCO (Housing and Urban Development Corporation); a couple of people from the Council of Indian Industries (CII); and a few others.
Continue reading “The PURA Meeting in Delhi”

Krishi Bhavan, Gate No. 6

Dateline: July 7th, 9:20 AM
Lobby of the Ministry of Rural Development, Gate No. 6, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi.

Dear Diary:

Got here too early for my 10 AM meeting since I could not accurately estimate the time it would take me to find the place.

Immediately upon entering, stopped by security. One man in civilian clothes, apparently the receptionist, rudely commanded me to wait. He did not display the least hint of common courtesy.
Continue reading “Krishi Bhavan, Gate No. 6”

What’s the Point of Inquiry?

Vivek Ladsariya asked me that question yesterday. It is the radio show and podcast of the Center for Inquiry. The mission statement of the Point of Inquiry says (in part):

“The purpose of Point of Inquiry is to contribute to the public understanding and appreciation of science and reason, and their applications to human conduct, and to promote skepticism of the paranormal and supernatural claims, which often benefit from no scrutiny in our overly-credulous culture.” Continue reading “What’s the Point of Inquiry?”

Off to Delhi

The rains in Mumbai are intermittent and there is a good chance that I will be on board a flight to Delhi today for a couple of days. The Ministry of Rural Development is having a consultative meeting in Delhi on PURA (President Mr Kalam’s model) and the Secretary requested that I give my inputs on the implementation of the model.

The PURA model, in my professional opinion, is unworkable. Basic economic reasoning reveals why. However, usually in the Indian context, a contest between basic economic reason and political authority is usually decided by the majority of policy makers in favor of the authority. In time, the authority gets elevated to demigod status, statues are erected, streets and educational institutions are named after them, and school histry books tell children about their greatness. Back in reality-land, the results of the clash of reason and authority is decided in favor of basic economic principles and the implemented model fails spectacularly. But by then, the anonymous bureaucrats and policy makers are gone and cannot be held accountable; the politicians who pushed the scheme are demigods and are beyond scrutiny and reproach.

We slide a little bit closer to our destiny.

OK, I will report what happens in Delhi in a couple of days.

Through the Rains Darkly

Rain keeps falling down. Which is why, yesterday I had to spend over two hours at the Dadar railway station in Mumbai waiting for my train to Nasik. The tracks between VT station and Dadar were flooded and trains were running as much as 9 hours late. There was no place to sit in the crowded station. Finally I gave up and headed to crash for the night at a friend’s place. Today I wake up to see a rained out city. Here is a picture from around Haji Ali taken from the window of the 13th floor apartment.

Mumbai rains

The picture contrast has been enhanced and so it is difficult to make out the rain. Here is another picture which has not been fiddled with.

Rains in Mumbai

By way of contrast, here is a picture from a clear day–when you can see forever quite a distance.

On a clear day

On a brighter note, a piece of good news. The technical problem with my blog has been fixed. We are back to our regularly scheduled postings. 🙂

This Blog is Down

Well, most of the time it is simply not available and even when it is, most of the posts are not readable. Take the last bit to mean what you will. What I mean is, that if you click “More,” you get an error message. I have pointed this out to the powers that be, and they have predictably responded that they will look into the matter. But then I have heard it in the past and I am sure that I will hear it in the future as well.

In the meanwhile, my apologies to the visitors for the inconvenience. If this continues for too long, I will shift my blog platform. Pity, all the stuff that I have already written will be inaccessible. C’est la vie.

Manufactured Shortages and Corruption

A couple of telling anecdotes about the state of the educational system in India. A few weeks ago I was in Nagpur at my sister’s place. One evening, a friend of hers showed up. She (the friend) was struggling with her daughter’s admission to a medical college. She would have a fairly decent shot at getting admitted into this particular medical school if she got 180 marks or above. However if she did not get that, but got 160 or better, the school was demanding Rs 600,000; and, if she only got 140 marks or better, the price for admission was Rs 1,200,000. For Rs 3,000,000 (Rs 30 lakhs), she would have a seat even if she fails the qualifying exam.

People cope, somehow. When faced with severe shortage, they are willing to pay seemingly impossibly high prices. The monumental struggle to somehow gain access to the limited seats in educational institutions that middle-class Indians have to face is stunning to behold. The pity is that this shortage is entirely man made, a manufactured shortage. The persistence of this shortage can only be explained by understanding that those who have engineered it gain immensely from it. It is a bureaucratic and political racket that has its own logic and compulsions. All sorts of shady businesses have evolved to cater to its needs. Academic corruption is one such business, as illustrated by the next anecdote.
Continue reading “Manufactured Shortages and Corruption”