Praxeology: My Reflexions on India

The Indian government passed the popular anti-corruption Lokpal bill recently, and the anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party is now in power in New Delhi. Many people are thinking that these two developments in the Indian polity will now help remove corruption. But, is it so? Can Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party fulfill its election promises? Can they fulfill everyone's demands? I answer these questions in my latest economic report below. Loop Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) - % Smart Buffer Estimated Time: Will start buffering when initialized. Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences Loop Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) - % Smart Buffer Estimated Time: Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences Loop Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) - % Smart Buffer Estimated Time: Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences

Last Wednesday the Indian central bank RBI, according to media language, surprised the markets by keeping its policy rates unchanged despite growing inflationary pressure in the Indian economy. Both WPI (Wholesale Price Index) and CPI (Consumer Price Index) are rising again; RBI's tone was also mostly anti-inflationary before the policy announcement, but they still kept the rates unchanged. As I am saying since quite long time, to see the impact of RBI's policies on the economy, we should not focus on what RBI is saying, but what they are actually doing; We must focus on their actions . On one side when they are talking about taking a tough stance against inflation, they actually continue to inflate! Raghuram Rajan is trying to manage the inflation expectations while at the same time creating more inflation. This happens because his mainstream economic theory defines inflation as a persistent increase in the general price level . Rise in price is not inflation, but an effe

So, the so-called semi-final round of the 2014 Lok Sabha election finally ended yesterday. The results are out for all five state assembly elections. What do these results indicate? Following is my brief analysis. First, the defeat of Congress party in Rajashthan and Delhi constituencies shows how frustrated voters were against the incumbent rulers in these states. The ruling UPA coalition, lead by the Congress party, is involved into myriad of political corruption scandals since last few years, which possibly have angered voters against its rule in these states. The sign of this anger was visible in Delhi election where anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal's AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) won total 28 seats in its debut itself. The rise of AAP is now posing a big political threat to both Congress and BJP. What was interesting in Delhi election is, that there was a three way fight between Congress, BJP and AAP, and most of the seats lost by Congress were won by AAP, and not by BJP.

Democracy is our present world's new political religion. India supposedly is world's largest democracy. We are being bombarded everyday by politicians, media pundits, academicians and other intellectuals about the virtues of democracy. It is seen as the highest form of political system; a goal which every nation state must strive for and achieve to safeguard happiness of its citizens. Democracy is a God. It is given such commanding heights that nation states like USA are bombing and destroying other countries - e.g., Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran etc. - for imposing democracy on them from outside (see this )! Democracy is a political system having its roots in 5th century BC Greece, especially the city-state of Athens. Here is Wikipedia on the origins of democracy: The term originates from the Greek δημοκρατία (dēmokratía) "rule of the people", which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) "people" and κράτος (kratos) "power" or "rule"

In my last post, we saw how the state arose during the middle of the seventeenth century in Western Europe by conquering its rival institutions like Church, Nobility, Empires and Independent City-States. After rising to power, beginning in the nineteenth century, it consolidated its position and became a God like creature- an end in itself - by co-opting the belligerent nationalism movement. From Western Europe, it then spread to other parts of the world via imperialist policies of these Western Powers. Once set to rule without any kinds of constrains all over the world, it unleashed its wrath on humanity in the form of World War I and II  - and countless other mini wars - in the twentieth century killing millions of innocent people. Twentieth century saw the apogee of state power. In this article I will discuss Martin Van Creveld's analysis of state's demise beginning in 1970s, which is still on-going. Creveld discusses five major factors as a sign of waning power of the s

Many people with whom I talk think that the political system of the centralized State is with us since time immemorial; that this system is going to be with us forever, and we can't do anything about it. They held such false notions because they haven't looked into the human history, especially the history of the state. If they studied the political history, then, they would know that the state is not with us since time immemorial. In fact, the state is with us only since last 500 years or so! Knowing its history also tells us, that it is not going to be with us forever too. Things have always changed, and this time won't be any different.  I am reading Martin van Creveld's important book, The Rise and Decline of the State where he discusses the past, present and future of the state. In particular, he addresses the following questions: How the state arose in the middle of the seventeenth century? How it consolidated power? How it achieved its apotheosis and went b