On the road to Liberty

The anti-defection law is suppressing dissent and has only raised the price of switching loyalties. We need to dispassionately understand the real cost of driving political negotiations underground, I write in this article " A law endangering democracy ", published in the Mint, on 21 August 2008. Many were outraged at the display of cash in Parliament, during the trust vote, last month. But far worse was that the Prime Minister could not make his concluding statement, and that even if he had, it would have made no impact. Our anti-defection law has made parliamentary debates pointless, as in the process of substantive debate, if members of Parliament, or MPs, change their mind and defy their party whip, they face disqualification. With debates being defunct, inducements in cash or kind become the necessary tools to sway legislators. In a parliamentary democracy, numbers are important, but democracy is much more than just a numbers game. Democracy is not just about today’s ma...

The serial bomb blasts have failed to shake the popular resolve not to be provoked. Tragically, the political consensus necessary to fight the perpetrators of terrors have failed to crystallise so far. It is clear from these attacks that the intention of the terrorists were to provoke a wider flare up among different sections of society. By refusing to get provoked the common man on the street have risen to this challenge, therefore, defeating the very purpose of these cowardly attacks on innocent people. I wrote this article in the aftermath of the serial bomb blasts that rocked Jaipur and Ahmedabad on 25th and 26th July 2008, and this was after the blasts in Jaipur in May. Serial bombs fail to shake popular resolve, yet political consensus to fight terror elude In the 16 serial blasts that rocked Ahmedabad city on Saturday, 49 lives have been lost so far. On Friday, nine explosions in Bangalore in the afternoon had killed two, and injured quite a few. With these two latest series of ...

One reason why politicians have fallen in public esteem is because they are not seen to be operating in an open market, I argue in this article, " Market reform in politics ", published in the Mint, on 22 July 2008. The run-up to the trust vote has been as exciting as a Twenty20 (T20) game of cricket. Fortune is fluctuating every hour. It is a cliff-hanger! But rather than enjoy the political game, commentators are lamenting that high principles of parliamentary democracy have degenerated to lowly bazaar bargaining. It’s time our politicians took a leaf out of the T20 experience and created a legitimate market for politics. Indian Premier League’s success was not in the T20 format. Beginning with the private ownership of teams to auctioning of the players, branding and marketing, cricket was commercialized as never before. It produced quality entertainment for the paying public and unearthed new talent. In contrast to cricket, parliamentary discourse is handicapped by accusa...

The politicos at the G8 summit in Japan, seem to have drawn their lessons from the Kyoto Protocol, two decades earlier, when they burned their fingers by accepting short-term goals of emission cuts by 2012. The hard reality is that the political leaders can no longer afford to sacrifice the poor today, at the altar of climate change, for the sake of the rich tomorrow. India can legitimately play a leadership role and change the climate of discussion on climate change, I write in " Economic climate at G8 overshadowed talk of climate change ", published in the Mint, on 17 July 2008. “It is the economy, stupid!” The economic and political concerns dampened the desire of world leaders at the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Japan to ride the hot air balloon of climate change. That’s no surprise. In any contest between a present crisis and future threat, the present always wins. The G-8 leaders are hardcore politicians and recognize that in hard times, politicians must not get carr...

Patents are often blamed for most of the problems afflicting the health care system. In this article published in the Montreal Gazette, on 21 April 2008, I point out that " Patents are not the problem " . By focusing on patents rather than the wider ills that seriously affect healthcare service to the poor, we will not help improve the lot of the ordinary patients. Thailand's health minister recently announced that the nation's state-run drug manufacturer, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, would continue to violate the patents on four key cancer drugs. Health activists around the world applauded the move, apparently believing that intellectual property rights are an obstacle to bringing medicine to the world's poorest and sickest citizens. But drug patents and drug prices aren't the main obstacle to Third World patients seeking treatment. The truth is that even if medicine were completely free, most developing nations lack the infrastructure to de...

In the constituent assembly in 1948, Dr B R Ambedkar, the chairman of the drafting committee, had clearly reasoned why no political ideology, socialism or anything else, should be included in the Constitution, binding the future generations. But in 1976, under her emergency rule, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi introduced the 42 amendment which among many other things, also introduced "socialism" in to the preamble. Now, 0ver fifteen years since India began to liberalise and reform our economic system, and began a slow journey moving away from the socialist policies that had strangulated the economy, "Should India remain a socialist republic?" I ask this question in view of a recent PIL that raised the same question in the Supreme Court, on 5 February 2008. Last month, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Government of India and the Election Commission in response to a petition questioning the constitutionality of India being a socialist state. The judges wanted to...

It is legal to invoke eminent domain to acquire private land for industrial projects, even though the investors could afford to buy the land. But why can't a farmer buy a thousand acres. In this article " Free India's land market ", published in the Mint, on 4 February 2008, I look at the problems affecting land market. Small as it is, the Tata Nano has sent the world automobile sector into a big spin. The Nano reflects the potential of the new industrial revolution, which has so far passed India by. However, for the manufacturing to take firm root, the land needs to be prepared. The Nano has been developed in four years. But Tata Motors may not have been able to buy the necessary land from landowners during the same period. Which leads us to the question: Why is it legitimate to acquire land for industrial use, but prohibit farmers from consolidating and expanding their landholding to improve agriculture? Why shouldn’t a farmer be able to legitimately acquire a th...

Countries where socialism was the only political ideology of the state inevitably degenerated into dictatorship. At stake is the democratic and political process, which includes campaigning and convincing the people of any particular political ideology, I write in the Mint on 17 January 2008, that " ‘Our’ socialist agenda: the time to oust it has come " . The world has come to admire India’s democratic institutions. However, many may be unaware that in this, the largest democracy, all political parties have to profess the same political ideology—socialism. The Supreme Court has now asked the government and the Election Commission to explain this apparent paradox. Under the Representation of the People Act, all political parties in India have to pledge allegiance not only to the Constitution and integrity of India, but also to socialism. The socialist intent of the Preamble has been extended by law to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, (RP Act) through an amendment i...

Should we continue to hold that socialism as one of the cherished Constitutional goals of the Indian Republic? In this article, I discuss how "socialism" was discussed at the time of the making of our constitution, and why it was rejected. And then, I look at how it crept in to the constitution during the Emergency Days in 1976, and ask, what is its relevance of this anachronism today? A version of this article appeared in the Ananda Bazar Patrika (Bengali) on 17 January 2008, under the title " Should we be tied to socialism? " Last month, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Government of India and the Election Commission in response to a petition questioning the constitutionality of India being a socialist state. The judges wanted to hear about the practical and legal implications of having a socialist intent in the preamble which has led to the changes in the Representation of People Act, making it mandatory for all registered political parties in India to aff...

The media frenzy around the unveiling of Tata Motors’ Nano, may drown two of the most significant aspects of this project, it provides a glimpse of the manufacturing revolution that has largely bypassed India, so far. In that context, tragic events in Singur a year ago could have been easily avoided. This article was published in Liberty Institute's website In Defence of Liberty , on 13 January 2008. The media frenzy around the unveiling of Tata Motors’ Nano, may drown two of the most significant aspects of this project - firstly, it is a completely new product, which aims to make personal transportation accessible to those who could not afford a car earlier; secondly, and more importantly, it provides a glimpse of the manufacturing revolution that has largely bypassed India, so far. While Tata Motors has a long history of making commercial vehicles, it launched its first passenger car only in 1998. In the last ten years, it has produced a million cars, but remains a relatively sma...