Creating New Vote Banks

It’s been a while since I contributed to “The Indian National Interest Review: Pragati.” I had to write a piece. I didn’t want the editor, Mr Nitin Pai, to get mad at me. It’s always best to be on his right side. Never get the press angry, is what I always say. Now if you know me, you know that it takes me forever to write anything. At the very mention of writing, I feel a writer’s block coming on. Writing is the hardest thing I try. But anyway, I dusted off the old keyboard, put on my thinking cap and pondered market failures, government failures, and what can be done about them. Here it is for the record.

(Click on image for a PDF copy of the issue.)
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We Just Don’t Care

I recall getting woken up by a call from India one morning — Mrs Indira Gandhi had been assassinated. I felt bad even though I had absolutely no respect for her. But on second thoughts, she played Dr Frankenstein, and like him, she too died (indirectly) at the hands of the monster — Bhindranwale — she created. Karma. It catches up eventually.
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A Tale of Two Countries

Singapore and India. Here are some numbers. In 1965, the exchange rate between Singaporean dollar and US$ was 3 (that is 3 S$ = 1 US$). By 2009, S$ had appreciate to 1.45 — more than doubling in value relative to the US$. How did India do? Against the US$ it went from 4 Rs to the US$ to 48 Rs per US$. In other words, relative to the US$, the Indian rupee dropped to one-twelfth its value during the same period that the S$ appreciated against the US$. What a contrast.
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Why I’m a Field-nigger and Manmohan Singh is Not

I should apologize for being a lazy bum. Otherwise I would have responded sooner to some of the comments that need a response to my post “Arundhati Roy is a Damn Nuisance.” Anyhow, better late than never. So, first, a note of thanks to those who left the thoughtful comments. I am glad that you took the time. Next comes the more interesting part of replying to the negative comments.
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A bit on Democracy in India

Democracy is an institution. It’s a human creation. It is not immaculately conceived (unlike the mother of the Christian god.[1]) Putting it up on a pedestal and worshiping it is not dignified. Worse still, it is downright dangerous. The havoc arising out of the mindless, unquestioned, unexamined insistence that things are made better simply by making choices based on a democratic process is plain to see. It’s time we took a frank look at some of those.
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Readings: A Goodbye Letter, and a Bit on Public Radio

It’s from October 2008 but worth a read for its message is fairly time-independent. Hedge Fund Manager: Goodbye and ***k You. It is by Andrew Ladhe, who was the manager of a small California hedge fund. Excerpts . . .
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Arundhati Roy is a Damn Nuisance

Arundhati Roy is really — how should I put it delicately — an attention whore. Maybe she has a point or maybe she doesn’t. Her vile attacks on India are thinly disguised attacks on Hindus. The UPA, which normally would be allied with her united as they are in their hatred of Hindus, find themselves parting company since she is bringing attention to the disaster that is Kashmir — a disaster that Chacha Nehru created. That is not kosher. So what does the UPA do? Try to throttle her. Same as they do with anyone who speaks out against the vile stupidity of their misgovernance.
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The Pale Blue Dot

Carl Sagan was a man of extraordinary vision — and what is more, a man who helped others to see more clearly. Here’s Sagan’s meditation on that little speck seen in this image taken from a distance of 6.4 billion kms from earth, the place we call home. The image was taken by Voyager 1 (launched 1977) in 1990 on its way out of the solar system. It shows earth as if it were a “mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” Sagan had persuaded NASA to command the spacecraft to capture this image. He explained the significance of that picture in his 1994 book, The Pale Blue Dot. See below for a reading of that bit by Sagan.
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