On the road to Liberty

The growing scandal over a newly built apartment tower in Mumbai, and the collapse of an old building in Delhi on the night of November 15, killing over 60 people reflect the peril that haunts Indians everyday - lack of secure property right, and strangulating regulation. The result is the pyramid of corruption that weighs heavily on citizens, and retards India's progress. This kind of systemic corruption cannot be dealt with by symbolic resignation of a minister. A shorter version of this article has been published in the Wall Street Journal , on 17 November 2010. Just a week ago President Barack Obama received repeated applause from Indian Parliamentarians for saying that India has risen, not merely rising! In the week since, Indians have been witness to the scourge that has held India back, corruption, with a capital C. President Obama’s host in Mumbai, Mr Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, resigned due to serious allegations of malpractices surrounding an apartment ...

The multi-billion dollar Vedanta bauxite mining project in Orissa has been been mired in controversy. Recently the Ministry of Environment and Forest issued show cause notice to the company for violating various provisions of the Forest Rights Act, and suspended their mining permission. Following is my latest oped on this issue. I look at the debate from the perspective of land and mineral rights, and say that these should belong to the people who live there. This article was published in the Wall Street Journal under the title, " Landing India's Next Big Investment " , on September 8, 2010. Endemic poverty amid environmental riches has been the fate of most indigenous tribes in India for generations. There are perhaps 90 million so-called "tribals" in India today, 80% of whom live in the central belt from the states of Orissa in the East to eastern Gujarat in the West, to Madhya Pradesh in the North and Andhra Pradesh in the South. Most of these people live in...

There has been a lot of discussion about the growth of the Maoist insurgency in tribal dominated forest areas. While the security issues have dominated the debate, there has not been adequate attention on winning the hearts and minds of the local population by recognising their property rights in land. That is what I discuss in this article titled, " Pull the Land Issue Out From Under the Maoists " in the Wall Street Journal on 21 April 2010. India is girding for war against an internal enemy, the Maoist guerrillas known as Naxalites. This conflict will inevitably be bloody—in the last three years alone about 2,500 people have died in Maoist violence, about one-third of them civilians. However, counterinsurgency operations are won not only on the battlefield, but also in the hearts and minds of the people. While the government beefs up the security forces, it shouldn't neglect the main complaint of the population from which the Maoists recruit their fighters: a lack o...

Writing the foreword to the International Property Rights Index 2010 , I note that "The present economic crisis, with its root in housing and property, provides a very good opportunity for people in the rich and poor countries to take a fresh look at the significance of property rights and to renew our appreciation of a system of formal ownership of property." The International Property Rights Index is published annually by the Property Rights Alliance , an international network, based in the US. Foreword to the IPRI 2010 , by Barun Mitra The crisis that has shaken the financial world over the last two years is ascribed to many failures – from easy money, human greed or a lack of government oversight to the lethal financial derivatives created by financial whiz kids. While relevant, much of the public discourse has ignored a fundamental cause of the present economic woes. In my view, this financial crisis is the consequence of distorting or altogether disconnecting the relati...

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, has become particularly poignant because of the current economic slowdown in much of the rich countries, particularly in that apparent bastion of capitalism, the US. Over the past two years, the foundation of global finance has been shaken, not because of any Marxian foresight, but because of the failure on the part of the capitalist world to appreciate the relationship between property ownership and valuation of that property. In this article, " The Writing on the Wall ", published in the Financial Express , on 10 November 2009, I try to draw fresh lessons from the fall of the Berlin Wall, in the context of the current financial crisis. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany, both physically and ideologically, finally fell. It was a political earthquake, which signalled the end of communism. Communism was characterised by its contempt for private property, by the complete control o...

Repealing IPC 377: Recognising diversity and dissent Delhi High Court has passed a landmark judgment that severely restricts the scope of the section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The decision noted, “Respect for human rights requires that certain basic rights of individuals should not be capable in any circumstances of being overridden by the majority, even if they think that the public interest so requires. Other rights should be capable of being overridden only in very restricted circumstances. These are rights which belong to individuals simply by virtue of their humanity, independently of any utilitarian calculation.” In this article titled, " Recognising diversity and dissent " , published in Pragati: The National Interest magazine, in August 2009, I discuss the significance of decriminalising Section 377 of the penal code in the wider political and constitutional context. The Delhi High Court’s ruling decriminalising consensual adult homosexual acts has not only ena...

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...

My article titled ‘Development, not global regulation, the solution to climate change’, says author of new report was published on International Policy network on December 3 2007. London -- In advance of the COP-10 meeting on climate change in Argentina (6-17 December), the Sustainable Development Network has issued a blueprint on the relationship between climate change and sustainable development. The blueprint emphasises the role of economic development and technological progress in eliminating poverty and enabling people to cope with adverse effects of climate change and other problems. The blueprint concludes that the poor are currently the most vulnerable to disease, flooding, droughts, and other catastrophic natural events. While climate change may make these worse tomorrow, empowering the poor will enable them to improve their lives and reduce their vulnerability today and in the future. Barun Mitra, Director of the Liberty Institute in New Delhi and one of the authors, says th...

Brazil, China and India have all provided glimpses of their potential. Brazil has been talked of as a potential economic super power for over a generation now. China has greatly enhanced its prospect over the past two decades. India’s economic promise is beginning to attract attention in the past decade. While the prospect of economic growth and prosperity look promising, the potential is clouded by fundamental weaknesses regarding the property rights regime that could mar their prospect of fulfilling their own promise. This is an article I wrote after a trip to Brazil to attend a conference, in May 2007. Going beyond land: The Case for Securing Property Rights in Brazil, China and India Land is an emotive issue in most societies. But land is also the most basic of economic assets. Therefore, the way land rights, or property rights, are protected provide a good indication of the economic health of the country. On a recent trip to Brazil, I was surprised to see the intensity of fe...

Prospect of a property rights movement Much has been written about the tragedy of Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal. Yet not much light has been shed on the real significance of the protests by farmers on land acquisition. Brand Buddhadeb has suffered a serious blow much beyond West Bengal. But, more importantly, an undercurrent of awareness is spreading through the grassroots of society on an almost unheralded issue — the protection of property rights. This article was published under the title " Ground Reality " , in the Hindustan Times, on 24 March 2007. Political and social activists have been hurling arguments to score points against rivals. If one side stresses on the need for industrialisation, the other calls for inclusive growth. The self-proclaimed champions of the poor are hobnobbing with big businesses, while the Opposition spectrum, from the fringe Left to the far Right, want to be seen to be siding with the rural poor. And business leaders, who have been enjo...

Fundamental right is not a luxury for the rich, but a necessity for the poor. The rich has the resources to protect their interest by any number of ways, the poor has nothing but the law to fall on. A version of this article of mine had appeared in the Bengali langugage newspaper, the Ananda Bazar Patrika in Calcutta, on 21 March 2007. A lot is being said about the tragedy of Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal, Parliament has been adjourned, yet not much light has been shed on the real significance of these protests by farmers on the issue of land acquisition. Brand Buddhadeb may have suffered a fatal blow, but despite the ideological melee, an undercurrent of awareness is spreading through the grassroots of society on an almost unheralded issue – protection of property rights. Political and social activists have been hurling arguments accusations, trying to score points against their rivals. If one wants to stress the need for industrialisation, the other calls for inclusive growth....

My article titled Submission to DFID Consultation on International Development was pubilshed on International Policy Network on April 7, 2006. 1. What determines economic success and promotes economic growth in poor countries? ¡ñ How do factors such as a government¡¯s macroeconomic policy, investment, trade, the environment, or regional markets and institutions affect the private sector¡¯s ability to raise the levels of growth? ¡ñWhat are the obstacles to growth and how can they be removed? 9. How can the UK Government make sure that international trade negotiations deliver the benefits needed for developing countries? ¡ñHow can trade barriers be broken down so that developing countries get better access to regional and international markets? The three factors that primarily affect economic performance in poor countries are weak rule of law and enforcement of property rights, rising levels of regulations that reduce competition and increase the cost of entrepreneurship...