Praxeology: My Reflexions on India

Oxford University press India has refused to publish an upcoming book   To Kill a Democracy   by Debasish Roy Chowdhury and John Keane possibly because of fear of the Narendra Modi government. This book is highly critical of the policies of the Modi government. Asia Times reports: In an apparent attempt to avoid offending the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Oxford University Press has declined to print the Indian release of  To Kill a Democracy , a book whose international edition was  reviewed favorably  by Asia Times in June. Is Narendra Modi really killing Indian democracy? Let’s see.  What is democracy? Democracy is defined as a system of government of elected representatives of people. In India a political party needs 2/3 majority to be in power. This is the majoritarian rule for which democracies around the world are famous.  Judging by this main criteria of majority rule, Narendra Modi is very much a democratically elected prime mini...

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal recently   emphasised   the need to raise tariffs saying that the major cause behind this crisis is low tariffs. He said,   To say that the telecom industry is in a bit of trouble is actually an understatement. It is in a tremendous amount of stress … Mittal emphasised the need to raise tariffs saying that the major cause behind this crisis is low tariffs. Is Sunil Mittal right? To answer this question we need to understand how companies make profit in the market.  Profit is a price differential between the prices of producer and consumer goods. Producer goods are those goods that satisfy our needs in an indirect way by helping us in producing consumer goods, which satisfy our needs directly. Example of producer goods are land, labor, capital, time, raw materials etc. Consumer goods are final products that an entrepreneur produces by using the producer goods. Let us take a simplified example of producing an apple to bring home this...

Recent  survey  said 77% of Indians want petrol and diesel to come under GST. The rationale for bringing petrol and diesel under GST goes something like this, Bringing petrol and diesel under the ambit of GST will significantly improve the cost of living for many. The price of petrol and diesel can come down to Rs 75 per litre and Rs 70 per litre with a 28 per cent GST rate. “This could give a huge impetus to the economy and businesses via increased consumer spending. However, both the center and states will see loss of revenue in the short term,” the survey notes. There are many things that need discussion here. First, are the prices of 75 per litre for petrol and 70 per litre for diesel lower prices? Why not bring down the prices to Rs.10 per litre? Or 5 rupees or 5 paisa per litre? Isn’t that a better improvement in the cost of living of Indians? Second, is bringing petrol and diesel under GST the only way of bringing down the cost of living for many? Or are there better al...