Praxeology: My Reflexions on India

The recent historic flooding in Kerala killed hundreds of people and damaged billions of rupees worth of property while displacing more than million people. Keralites are going to need some time to get out of this shock. This flood once again raised many important questions like who is responsible for this flood? Is this a natural or a man-made disaster? Why so many lives were lost? Why the danger was not averted? etc. Some people will say that this is a natural disaster where heavy rains resulted in flooding. Some will blame man-made climate change for this deluge. Some will say the mad rush of government for so-called “development” is responsible because in the name of development the state is destroying our ecology. There is a grain of truth in all these. It is a matter of fact that the government made a mistake of not releasing water from more than 30 dam earlier in phase manner when they knew water level will rise in future due to heavy rain forecasts. And the...

The turmoil in the Forex market continues and with it the collapse of Indian currency rupee. The Indian currency rupee breached the level of 70 against US dollar for the first time in its entire history. And this fall isn’t finished yet. The chances of it falling further are high. In the aftermath of this fall and panic that is ensuing, Modi government seems unperturbed! Modi’s economic affairs secretary Subhash Chander Garg said this about the falling rupee: the fall in rupee was due to external factors and there was no need to worry at this stage.”As currencies of other economies are also depreciating, intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), by selling dollars in the country, will not help much at this stage for stabilising the rupee. Even if the rupee falls to 80, it will not be a concern provided all other currencies depreciate . PM Modi and his team will not worry even if rupee falls to the level of 80! What is the truth behind his statement that rupee ...

The Informal sector is what keeps India moving. That part of the market keeps on working and so you get your daily milk, vegetables and newspapers delivered to your doorsteps.  According to ILO , close to 81% of the Indian jobs are in this informal sector. Informal sector is the backbone India’s economy. Since coming to power the Narendra Modi government is busy breaking this very backbone informal sector of the Indian economy. First they hit this sector hard with the hammer of demonetization . That exercise alone shutdown many small and medium businesses and unemployed millions of workers. Then came another blow of GST (Goods and Service Tax). This ill conceived indirect tax system again destroyed, and continue to destroy, many businesses and jobs. Not only this, many programs like the MNREGA or Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana etc., are stealing workers from the productive sectors of the economy and diverting them to the unproductive sector e.g., in Surat city many ...