As the so-called journalists were
beaten up by so-called lawyers there was a frenzy to showcase that the world as
we know is collapsing, this narration was pushed onto more than billion hapless
people. In between we have the draconian sedition laws that rest ever so lightly
on the shoulders of policy makers, et al sycophants, and legal luminaries as
nuances are served with hot bread pakodas. Some even claim dire days are upon
us, then ofcourse there is mandatory signature campaign, a pride of
international assertion that likes of Kasturi&Sons can easily muster. To
give the context, during Chennai flood, as emergency relief and lifesaving
materials were being distributed, there were reports of blatant ‘caste’ bias, as
some areas were neglected and people threatened. This attitude exhibited during
one of the bleakest moment facing the people. How did human beings come to be
like this? What is the basis of such depravity? This is the ‘community’ that
Kasturi&Sons (as intellectual forbearers, ofcourse this malaise is ever
prevalent in this godforsaken society, there is always valiant effort to exotic
gift-wrap for westerners) have been nurturing with debauched blessing and
feudal ways with gusto right into the 21st century. If, after
independence, steps were taken to execute land reforms and stringent inheritance
tax, it would have sealed this debauchery and entitled high moral grounds that
squatter ensconced world claim. Chomsky/Pamuk needs to do a study before
aligning and stepping into disgraceful camaraderie; the clarion call that
attempts at compassion and egalitarian ways is standing on a weak and crumbling
foundation. It is habitual on the part of squatter ensconced to take high moral
grounds from the most primitive of settings, social reality that they are proud
perpetrators. Miming egalitarian ways and displaying moral high grounds to
attract the attention of enlightened section of West is a constant endeavour. Beware.
The other day I was going through
this book, Years of laughter: Reminiscences
of a Cartoonist (by PKS Kutty) in the nearby library. Kutty was in thick of
things in Delhi during and after the independence, I found his insights and
grapevine rather revealing, also a pointer to the so-called leaders, the quality
of freedom fighters and their entrenched attitude. This blogger was always sceptical
of these scheming connivers who have hold over this godforsaken society and
mime as great souls and leaders. And yes this fellow C.Rajagopalachari (CR) was
always a suspect and I have been trying to get hold of him for sometime. CR is
a clear case of squatter ensconced scoundrel who by playing camaraderie did exceeding
well and reaped untold goodies. He is seen as a role model of mediocre elite and is elevated as some kind of great statesman wherein the reality being he
lacked even basic intellect and understanding of people. Arrogant as always he
worked his devious charm, and ofcourse, inimitable humble simplicity in nuances
that floored squatter ensconced. Meanwhile sided with colonial masters during
quit India movement (hilariously classified as ‘pacifist’, Bhagat Singh in this
conception was terrorist!!), quite understandably he was elevated as Governor
General, but somehow couldn’t work his charm for the post of President, which
went to much deserving Rajendra Prasad. Now when CR (he is also referred to as
Rajaji, something I am sure he relished) stayed in Rashtrapathi Bhavan (then
Viceroy’s Lodge) he converted it into mini squatter’s den, into his private sanctum
sanctorum of purity, writes Kutty “Viceroy’s Lodge became a venue for the observance
for all religious rituals…He observed
all sacred days with appropriate rituals…the leaders of Tamil Brahmin community
were invited to these functions. The priest had to be there. Rajaji did not have the heart to displease any
denominations. So he invited a whole lot of priest for these rituals” (emphasis
mine). As you may know in this primitive world there is pecking order within
squatter!!, it is an amazing degradation. Needless to say CR, in his simple
humble ways, put it as government expense. The impunity with which they desecrated
the democratic institutions is undoubtedly amazing. 
And yes these were the
scoundrels on whose hand the fledging democracy was sought to be protected. Scoundrel CR showed his chicanery as he opposed Nehru (Panditji for Left leaders like D.Raja,
the fellow should be ashamed of himself, no wonder these pretenders are facing extinctions)
as he was against socialism, indeed he was towards right wing. Wherein, more
than pseudo socialism, the need of the hour was revolutionary changes towards
equitable distribution that aligned with core principal of democracy. Meanwhile,
CR was to further demean institutions as Governor of Madras invited him to be
CM as a matter of high camaraderie and blessing, that it was serious case of impropriety
is minor matter here. The conspicuousness of the act is what is remarkable and
shows entitled surety of ordained selves. Clearly the Governor “did not have
the heart to displease” CR, the debauched blessing pays back at the most opportune
time. CR actively set out to sanskritise tamil and impose his will on people,
the ham handed way of this foolish fellow ended in serious flare. It is also
not a coincidence that Gandhi saw him as a "keeper of my conscience".
Meanwhile the progenies of these two have multiplied and are habituated to take
high moral grounds. Shockingly CR is a Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award!!(picture
herein is a cartoon by Kutty as battalion of squatter cycle down Raisina hill
after CR feed)
As the shout for freedom of
expression gets louder this blogger likes to remind the readers that the active
participant and perpetrator of Emergency was Information & Broadcasting cabinet
minister in the previous government. This was pointed out by this blogger much
earlier, indeed there was vengeance shown by the market fixers and manipulators
to resuscitate this woman, who if we had effective law and order machinery would
be rotting in jail. And yes, if Election Commission had some spine then Indira
Gandhi should have been debarred from elections, that the least that was
expected. If ever there was a case for treason at the highest level then it has to be
proclamation of Emergency. It was gross violation of constitution and seditious act on the State and people. Nepotism and corruption thrive when there is a
critical mass of sycophants as leaders, these unelectables tend to use all the
opportunity to dispense patronage to create clout and demean the
institutions, they manipulate with impunity as they are answerable to no one
hence they put energy on creating perceptions. Market manipulators have field
day as the big corporates zero in to butter the deal. This precisely is what
was happening, and most likely still happens as the system is too degraded.
Take for instance, while Volkswagen world over severely suffered because of its
cheating and had to recall it cars, in India these were not taken seriously (we
have a ridiculous situation of a car manufacturer claiming that their car
exhaust is fresher than the air, meanwhile they export car adhering to high
clean/quality standards while refusing to do for Indian market. The audacity is
amazing!!), they were engaged in emotion driven ads to trap people.
The market media is completely
immersed in world of perceptions and manipulation, within these restrictions we
get the supine spine of the fourth estate, mostly based around the power centre
and money bags. The infotainment works with movies and cricket as lynchpin therefore
representing arts and sports respectively, market create the parameters within
which there is an intense search for freedom. It is the most devious and
exaggerated of conception. While semiliterate and easily manipulateble protagonists
emerge as artists and sportspersons, readied as icons and role models,
meanwhile they disgracefully hawk sundry things with compulsive intent. There is
an immediate need for world without these deception, ads and related
manipulation, precious time is lost in these nonsense apart from ofcourse the
degradation that blur the lines of fact and fiction, reality and perceptions.
It amazing that economic growth model is hinged on deceit, this spurious
understanding that has caught the imagination and constant source of growth,
the development and modernity.
Democracy is an institution that
has lots of potential but in the squatter ensconced social setup and feudal realities
of India, wherein egalitarian intent is absent, responsible ways unheard of,
entitlement is accepted as competence, the democratic institutions are under
serious threat of being conduit to exploitations, reduces to farce. I was
reading about French revolution the other day The Marriage of Figaro is an opera by Mozart based on the play by
Beaumarchais, this was three years before the revolution. It was so influential
that the last act of the play ‘was revolution in action’ according to Napoleon.
Figaro points to the Count, the figure representing entitlement and debauchery,
and said “Because you are a great
nobleman, you think you’re a great genius. Nobility, wealth, honours,
emoluments!! What have you done to earn so many advantages? You took the
trouble to be born, nothing more”.
This play was an indication of fervour
of the time as the people questioned the traditional authority and nepotism,
that extremely talented people added their might to the zeal is the reason why
French revolution is path breaking event in human history. It was a new dawn of
equality, fraternity and liberty that became the cornerstone of human values
concretised in the idea of democracy. Primitive Indians have long way to go on these
matters, although entitled worldviews give them constant urges of greatness
that objective realities denies. It is in this context this blogger again
question the reason for not imposing inheritance tax. Considering how skewed
the society is, as also primitive tradition that consolidate prejudices, biases
and discriminations, as also strong camaraderie that can be substantiated by any
amount of study and will show blatant elitism at every stage. Facts as well as
the narration and arguments are easily manipulated. If cultural inheritance is
so crude then material inheritance only consolidates these, it therefore act as
a conduit of further discrimination and harbinger of exponential inequity. Ownership
of capital is skewed, and gets worse with inheritance and bequests. How it
impacts the concept of competence and merit is self-evident.
Though the biggest source of
economic inequality is inherited wealth the finance ministry thinks “inheritance
tax won't make much sense, as people in India don't inherit much". And then there are some who quote Milton
Friedman asserting that such a tax ignores one of the fundamental incentives
that drive humans to create and save wealth: the incentive of family creation. This
is taken as moral argument. Indeed in Indian case incentives are given to ‘family
businesses’, which is nothing but nepotism, so much for competence and equity. Even
countries like USA, that has weird affliction to family, has strong inheritance
tax in place (as high as 50% in some States, with Federal tax rises to as much as 85%. In Japan it is 70% while France 40%). It is not a surprise that whether
RBI Governor (Raghuram Rajan) or Chief Economic Advisor (Arvind Subramanium) don’t
seem receptive to these problems that plague Indian society, their social context may provide the clue. It is also likely, that
like any mainstream economist, they see economic problem in terms of prosperity
and growth, and not as an instrument of social change or equity. It is
therefore not a surprise that followers of growth model fuel policies that end
up consolidating disparities. “The
returns to capital typically exceed the rate of growth of national income,
making it even more concentrated, and inequality gets worse” argues Piketty.
Another problem in context to India is that vested interests have seen to that
there is always lack of reliable data, hence growth narration can be
manipulated and placed in the realm of perceptions. But realities are difficult
to hide, social indices shows amazing level of disparities as social relations further
exploitative. Corporates and business only bring in efficiency of profit opportunism
and dehumanisation. Even political leaders are just puppets to these bigger
forces, and in Indian case these are strong insurmountable entrenched interests
that have mastery in devious ways and scuttle any positive measure. Indeed
egalitarian ideas espoused by democracy are seriously undermined by economic
policies that favour elite in the name of growth. Worsening Gini coefficient is
an indicator that in the absence of inheritance or wealth tax there is
increasing concentration of wealth. In an inegalitarian and discriminatory society
like India these have devastating consequences that amplifies cultural
deviances and consolidates primitive ways. Rent seeking and patrimonial
capitalism is reflecting the false sheen of development and is clearly
showcasing lack of competence while on the other hand appalling public
investment in primary education or health have seen to deplorable human conditions
and lost potential. There are traditional and deeply entrenched reasons to this
apathy, social stratification severely undermines any signs of growth, while demographic
dividends only looks exciting on paper. Regressive harmony that rears effacing violence
cannot be about peace. Inheritance tax therefore should be seen as a corrective
measure for the malaise of the huge disparity in income and wealth rather than
as a source of revenue for the exchequer. 
