Aam Aadmi

By Manuwant Choudhary

Ever since our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that he is the Prime Minister of only the `aam aadmi' I am trying to figure out whether I am aam or khas.

So I met his top man in the Prime Ministers Office and this is how our talk went:

Me: I just want to find out from you whether I am `aam aadmee' or not?

Officer: If you have walked to get here you are not aam aadmee.

Me: No, but I did walk..you see fuel costs have gone up.

Officer: You don't even hear what our Hon. PM said, he said aam aadmee use scooters and bikes...and thats why the price of petrol was reduced by 5 rupees.

Me: But I thought Diesel is the poor man's fuel....Well, I don't have a scooter or a bike. ...

Officer: The PM did not talk about the poor..he only talked about aam aadmee.

Me: But would you say Laloo Prasad Yadav is aam aadmee...he is after all son of a poor man.

Officer: No, no..he is not aam aadmee ...he is distributing buses to schoolchildren to beat Nitish Kumar's cycle gifts to girls.

Me: Yes, yes, I know but Laloo is so poor.....thats why his supporter took off his shirt and shouted slogans against our hon. PM. Was he aam aadmee..?

Officer: Didn't you see that joker was not aam aadmee...he was wearing VIP underwear and banyan!

Me: So you mean aam aadmee don't wear banyan...

Officer: Look I am too busy with Big Ticket Reforms..I don't know why you are wasting my time...everyone knows who is aam aadmee.

Me: Ok, Ok, let me take a guess..is aam aadmee R.K. Laxman's common man?

Officer: No, no...never...the PM never said `Common Man' he said aam aadmee..besides that common man looks like LK Advani, only kinder.

Me: I did hear the PM mention something about gas cylinders....that aam aadmee use 6 cylinders.

Officer: Thats right.

Me: But would I be aam aadmee because I use only 1 and I have still not used it in ten years.

Officer: What do you mean? Obviously, you are not aam aadmee.

Me: But why is 1 cylinder in ten years not aam aadmee?

Officer: Because the PM said the aam aadmee uses 6 cylinders every year....

Me: Look I am totally confused with this cylinder business....tell me what was the Prime Minister really talking about when he said all this thing about hard decisions...how many cylinders does his BMW have?

Officer: 6 cylinder !

The Cow That Gives Oil

By Manuwant Choudhary

Mere pyare Pradhan Mantriji....yes, thats exactly how our hon. Prime Minister addressed us...the peepul...Mere pyaare bhehnon aur bhaiyon...

I am not sure when was the last time we heard him speak to us.

Definitely, not on the nuclear issue.

And I am also not sure if his speech about `time for hard decisions' melted our hearts.

Especially, since this government is black in coal.

I wish the Prime Minister had made this speech 8 years ago.

You may say better late than never.

Yet, I now certainly doubt whether Dr. Manmohan Singh has the country's interests at heart or just that of the Congress Party, of which he is a loyal servant.

When Dr. Singh became India's Finance Minister I had a rare occasion to walk alongside him at  a fundraiser in Bombay (I had sneaked in as the Press are not allowed entry at fundraisers in India, this is not America)

As we took a walk near the swimming pool I had put this question to him on whether he would like to be India's finance minister even if the Congress Party is voted out and he replied quite frankly, "No, never. I am a Congressman."

The reason I had put this question to him was because many in corporate India and even the media presented him like a technocrat who was not really a politician.

My one question showed that Dr. Manmohan Singh was no Todar Mal.

In Indian history one of the greatest finance ministers was Todar Mal during the reign of Sher Shah - the Afghan.

But after Sher Shah's death and the return of Humayun....and when Akbar becomes emperor he continued to keep Todar Mal (A Hindu) as his finance minister and as one of his nine ratnas.

Akbar became Akbar the Great for such decisions. He did not remove Todar Mal just because Todar Mal was Sher Shah's finance minsiter.

Todar Mal was simply the best man for the job.

And Akbar achieved many reforms during his long reign.

So compared to history, India's modern democracy is a shame.

We don't even have 9 Ratna's.

Let us now look at Oil, something the Prime Minister spoke about on how the poorest don't use oil but only kerosene.

It is kerosene that the poor don't use and is sold in the black market and even smuggled out of the country.

I am not in favour of any subsidies but surely the government must not treat this as a cow that gives oil!

Look at the figures.

A tank lorry for 12000 litres Diesel costs Rs.5,99, 101/- ex Barauni Oil Refinery but its actual value is only Rs.462888 - the rest are taxes !

Excise/Customs (Taken by the Indian government) - Rs.17520.

AED - Rs.24,000/-

Education - Rs.830.4

Higher Education Cess - Rs. 415.2

Transportation - Rs. 2059.2

And VAT (Taken by the State government) - Rs.91388.3

Service Tax: Rs.180.

If you leave out the transport cost, the total taxes on 12,000 liters HSD are Rs.1,34,333.90/-

So if every two days three petrol pumps in a town sell a tank lorry each, the government takes away Rs.400,000/ by way of taxes from the people.

And what does the government give in return to the town?

A police station that does not even register an FIR ! (And not a word about how to reduce the size of the government)

Liberalisation Through Bankruptcy

By Manuwant Choudhary

Sometimes in life you just go round in circles and this is so true with India.

Its clear that far from becoming an economic superpower, India is bankrupt again.

Rahul Gandhi can carry all the mud he wants on his head but its the mindless welfarism to bribe voters coupled with a lopsided economic development thats responsible for the mess we are in. (Also Rahuls friends carried away truckloads of coal)

For the record I am not a leftist from Jawaharlal University.

In fact I suppport economic liberalisation.

As a student of history in Bombay in the early nineties I recall meeting the great liberal Minoo Masani and I asked him what he thought of India's economic liberalisation and he replied, "This is liberalisation through bankruptcy, not intelligence."

Now almost two decades later we can again say that Masani smelt a rat two decades before anyone else.

Although it was a quirk of fate that Masani lived to see India being liberalised. The Swatantra Party he co-founded with Rajaji was India's only party that believed India should embrace the market economy.

The Swatantra Party today cannot even register itself because all parties are required to swear to a socialist constitution.

The Party challenged the People's Representation Act as it violates the basic structure of the constitution  which is democracy itself, yet the courts are yet to hear the matter in 20 years !

I am a liberaliser having studied it first and not because Obama or Hillary Clinton wish so ...

But with Mamata Banerjee walking out the cat is out of the bag.

Its now certain that right from India's nuclear policy to India's economic policy it is the United States that is giving the directions.

It worries me.

There was no need for Hillary Clinton to visit a chief minister of West Bengal but the Americans play all their cards, even the one's they should not.

The issue I am raising here is not of Dr. Manmohan Singh's honesty and integrity but whether he has any convictions.

The first time India went bankrupt it was because of decades of socialism and when India got rich it went in for mindless welfarism to bribe voters.

Dr. Singh is no magician and he knows that tinkering can only save the economy for a while.

The rot is deeper and we are not even scratching its surface nor are we willing to honestly tell the people of India of the mess we are in.

Economic liberalisation is not just about FDIs but also about building your own strengths. Its about priorities - not isms.

A nephew who lives in London visited his village in India and was shocked, "They have five mobile towers in the village but no electricty or water! "

Its not just about what you can buy from the world but also what you can sell the world. Free Trade.

Its not just about World Bank models to save the Indian farmer but how the Indian farmer can get back on his feet through sure grit, hard work and an economy that works , that he builds and that does not fleece him while telling him he is being subsidsed.

Simply put India and you cannot live beyond your means