Praxeology: My Reflexions on India

Recently Narendra Modi government increased Railway passenger and freight fare by whopping 14.2% and 6% respectively. Modi government and his fans are giving reasons that it is necessary to raise prices for providing better services and safety in Indian Railways! Is it true? Is it necessary to raise price to provide better services? Or is there a better alternative available? Also, recently the inflation numbers came out and the WPI jumped to 6.01% in the month of May. Immediately Modi and his finance minister Jaitley started blaming 'speculative hoarders' for this price rise. Again, is this true? Are 'speculative hoarders' responsible for price rise? I tackle these two questions in this week's economic report below.

In my latest economic report I discuss the slowly unfolding economic policies of Narendra Modi and his BJP government. RBI, mostly under the pressure from the Modi government, recently reduced its SLR by 50 basis point releasing 40,000 crore new credit in the market. This is nothing but inflation. I discuss this and other important matters below. 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 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 ...

Arvind Panagaria is a, as newspapers are describing him, renowned economist from the Columbia university. He and his senior professor colleague Jagdish Bhagwati are famous for supporting and favoring Narendra Modi's so-called market oriented economic model of Gujarat. Panagaria recently gave an interview to TOI where he outlined his main economic views for the Modi government if he becomes PM's chief economic adviser. One look at his views makes it clear that if Panagaria gets his way and becomes PM Modi's adviser, then, we are surely heading for more economic troubles. Below I present Panagaria's views immediately followed by my comments. 1. Upon asked what should be the three priority areas of Modi government, Panagaria said: End the paralysis in decision-making in the Central government, end the policy uncertainty for investors including retrospective taxation and other surprises visited upon entrepreneurs by the authorities, and replace the current drac...

So, Narendra Modi and his BJP party won a clear majority in the just concluded 16th Lok Sabha election. On Monday Modi will become the new prime minister of India. The atmosphere all around the country, mostly as seen in the mainstream media frenzy, is euphoric at this moment of so-called historic win of Modi. Most people see Modi as some kind of messiah who will save this country from corruption, economic stagnation, lack of political power and influence with her neighbors etc., etc. I want to focus here on one alleged thought that is going around mainstream media re Narendra Modi's economic vision. Many articles are describing Modi's economic vision - I have dealt with his development model in past article - as, lo and behold, "Free Market" vision (see this for example)!!! Is it really true that Modi's economic policies in Gujarat were free market policies? The best way to tackle this question is to first see the true definition of the free market, and then co...

I am back from my drafted duty of working as a presiding officer in the on-going Lok Sabha election 2014. As you all know I and thousands of others like me were forced by the Indian government and its Election Commission to work in this one of the longest rounds of election. In this short article I want to describe the harrowing experiences that I had during two days of my duty - 29th and 30th April - as a presiding officer. The Training Period Before the day of election - 30th April in Gujarat - the district collector and his other election officers arranged three training programs for election officers like polling officers, assistant presiding officer and presiding officer. Anyone who attended this training program would have immediately noticed how confused the trainers themselves were regarding various election proceedings. I have already discussed elsewhere about the kind of bureaucratic mess this election is. There are so many rules and regulations that anyone will go crazy ...

Narendra Modi, the lead prime ministerial candidate of BJP party, is having an eight point development model, which he is proposing to implement if he comes to power in 2014. In this succinct write-up I want to analyze this Modi model. Although for those who have a thinking head on their shoulders this model presents nothing new, we, in any case, need to analyze it because Modi is likely to be the next PM of India. Let's take a look at the eight points of this development model one by one. My analysis follows the description of this eight point development model. Here is the model: Education & Job Opportunities for Youth: IITs, IIMs and AIIMS in all states Children & Women’s Empowerment: Beti Bachao Programme Urban Develeopment / Infrastructure: 100 smart Cities, Twin City Concept, Satellite Cities, Interlinking rivers, Golden Quadilateral of bullet trains Inflation/Price Control: Price Stabilisation Fund, Special courts for black marketeers Agriculture Reform: Dat...

Anyone who understands the true criminal gang nature of the state (aka government) knows that it is a mother of all forces. The fundamental basis of every government, whether that be fascist, socialist or a liberal democratic, is force . Without coercion no state can ever survive. Taxation is the quintessential of this force. Without coercive taxation no government can come into existence. I have made this point time and again in front of people, but still many refuse to believe this eternal truth. Many people bring out age old boring and long refuted argument of government - especially a democratically elected one - as a voluntary institution just like any club. They say that people voluntarily go and elect their representatives in elections! Nothing can be farther from the truth. I have explained in my past write-ups that these democratic elections actually present no true choice in front of people. They are an illusion of choice e.g., hapless voting public can never elect a no gove...