Corrupt/defunct RBI-Governors, resulting high inflation and NPAs
Corrupt/defunct officers
Rise in career violent crimes like extortion etc.
Naxal-violence
Terrorism in Kashmir, North East etc
Illegal Bangladeshies immigrants, possibility of seccessionist movement
Poor nutrition, high incidence of diseases like cholera, TB, AIDS etc
Poor state of classI-XII education, expensive collage education
High population growth
Worseing sex ratio
Unemployment
Slums
Cheatings/frauds etc
Real estate frauds
Dalit atrocities
Atrocities on women
Evasion of income/wealth taxes
Poor/expensive telephony, TV-cable and electricity
High pollution
Unprofitable PSUs
Lack of hire/fire type labor laws
Slow proceedings of diovoce cases
Poor foothpaths, streets, roads and railroads
Weak military
Inability of activists to solve problems
The fact that West has solved these problems shows that solutions exists. Then what are the causes that the citizens of India have failed to solved these problems?
Why do I discuss cuases of problems?
As a side note, I would mention that my proposed administrative solutions to solve India's above mentioned problems are NOT dependent on the causes I will enumerate. My explanations are NOT the basis below my proposed administrative solutions, NOR is understanding my analysis a pre-requiste to understand how/why my proposed administrative solutions would solve the problems of India.
Now if my proposed solutions have nothing to do with causes I enumerate, then why do I draft articles explaining the causes of problems of India? I do it ONLY to IMPRESS those curious minds who are hungry for analysis and want to "understand the world" as it is. There is NO other reason. I hope that many curious minds would find my explanations more complete and accurate than explanations given by others, and this may attract them to read my proposed administrative solutions. And hopefully, they would support my proposals and discard the proposals cited by intellectuals. Other than that, I have no reason to enumerate the factors behind India's problems.
Why at all solve problems like corruption etc?
A large number of economists, educationists and other intellectuals insist that we need NOT bother about problems like crimes, corruption in judges, corruption in policemen etc, and we should focus only on growth, highways, ports, skyways and few select industries. I differ. I believe that we MUST solve this basic problems like corruption in judges/police, rising crimes etc. Why? Please click here to see why I believe we MUST solve problems like corruption, crimes etc.
What are the root cuases of the problems in India?
Coming back to the topic : what are the cuases of those problems? The question can be asked in several ways --- what are the causes we are FAILING to solve these problems? Or what ails India? Or why is India behind West in so many areas? As a specific example, consider problem of corruption/delay in lower courts in India. One would sometimes wonder "why is there so much corruption/delay in lower courts in India?" Or, how come we have failed to reduce the problem of delay/corruption in courts?
Instead of above question, I ask myself a slightly different question. I request the reader to note this : My question is DIFFERENT.
Instead of asking a question like "why is there so much corruption/delay in lower courts in India?" I would rather ask following question : "What are the DIFFERENCES between India and US, that corruption/delay in India's lower courts is so high while corruption/delay in US's lower courts is so low?" .
Likewise, instead of asking question "why have we failed to solve problem of delay/corruption in courts" I would ask following question "why have we failed to solve problem of delay/corruption in courts, while people of West has been successful in reducing this problem?"
So given a problem, there are two types of factors which I would consider :
factors that worsen a problem, that are present in India and absent in West
factors that lessen a problem, that are present in West and absent in India
And following are the 10s of factors I will completely ignore
factors that increase the problem but are present in India as well as present in the West.
factors that decrease intensity of a problem but are absent in India as well as absent in the West
Eg1. Is greed a reason behind corruption in India? Well, greed is indeed a reason. But "greed" is present in BOTH regions, India as well as West. Hence, greed may be a reason, but it is NOT a "DIFFERENTIAL reason". So greed is a non-issue or a non-factor in my analysis.
Eg2. Is lack of "moral values" a reason for corruption in India's administration and courts? Surely, higher moral character of officers/judges can decrease corruption. But this factor is absent in BOTH regions, India as well as West. i.e. lack of moral character may be a reason, but NOT a DIFFERENTIAL reason. So it is a non-factor in my analysis
IOW, I only focus on the DIFFERENCES which cause problems, and NOT all possible causes.
So given any problem of India, that is NOT seen in West :
I seldom ask "what are the factors that cause/reduce these problem?
First, I ask, "what are the factors that cause/reduce these problems, which are present/absent in India and absent/present in West"
Second, I ask "How have citizens/activists of West reduced these problems?"
And then, most importantly, I ask "what are the causes that citizens/activists of India have FAILED to reduce these problems?"
Factors that are non-issues
Now before I eloberate the causes of India's problems, not seen in the West, I would state the NON-CAUSES, or non-issues :
Non-issue #1 - Greed is non-issue : Greed is there in BOTH India as well as US. So greed can't be a reason for DIFFERENCE in level of magnitude of a problem in India and in US/West.
Non-issue #2 - Moral values are non-issues : There is NO difference in the levels of morality in US and in India. In US too, people evade taxes, or indulge into malpractice if and when they get a chance, just as in India. So obviously, if a pertticular problem is seen in India, and NOT seen or less in US, such as corruption, the level of morality in India cannot be a reason for the DIFFERENCE in the level.
Non-issue #3 -- National character : As far as common men go, the National character of India and US is identiacal. Everywhere, they want some income, safety, peace etc. There is NO difference in National character of US or India, and hence national character of us Indians cannot be a reason for difference in the levels of problems of India.
[Political beliefs (culture) of India : To study the differences in political beliefs (i.e. political cultures) of West and India, I will divide a country's polpulation into two groups :
intellectuals, wealthy ones and those in power like Ministers, officers, judges, policemen, regulators etc
commons
And I would propose that we study and compare their political cultures seperately.]
Non-issue #4 --- Political beliefs (culture) of commons of India and West: The political culture in commons of India and US are almost similar. There is NO difference. In both countries, the commons are motivated by incentives, and fear punishments. In both countries, commons seek for income, safety etc. There is only major difference in political culture of commons of India and that of commons of West : India's commons have much higher awe/respect for intellectuals than commons of West have. But this difference is a minor cause, and by and large a non-issue.
Lesser issue #5 --- Political cultures of intellectuals of India and West : There are significant differences in political cultures of intellectuals of India and intellectuals of West. The intellectuals in West are far far more liberal and democratic minded, while intellectuals in India are highly illiberal and undemocractic, and sometimes even advocate undemocratic and dictatorial methods. In both countries, intellectuals are hostile to the idea of reducing political inequality, but in Indian intellectuals, hostility to political equality is much much higher. In both countries, intellectuals believe that commons are stupid and only intellectuals have wisdom, but intellectuals in West dont consider common as a total idiot while intellectuals in India consider commons as total idiots. In addition, India's intellectuals believe that commons have NO moral value, and they are crooks and cheats. While intellectuals in West harbor no such beliefs against commons. As a result, intellectuals in India have been highly hostile to democratic/liberal ideas, while such hostlity in West has been less severe. This is one major reason why many democratic/liberal laws and procedures seen in West could NEVER came into India. But still the contribution of this factor, namely "illiberal/undemocratic mindset of intellectuals" is a minor reason compared to other factors.
Non-issue #6 --- Length of democracy : One frequently given reason for high crimes, corruption in India and lower corruption in West is that democracy in West is OLDER, while that in India is younger and hence less corruption. It is counter intuitive --- a peice of iron which is 500 yrs older should have more rust than one which is 50 years old. Also, one can say that a diamond is strong becuase it is thousands of years old, while a peice of wood degenerated becuase it was only 100 years old. The reality is other way round --- diamond could last 1000s of years, becuase it had a strong structure, while wood degenerated within 100 years becuase it had a weaker structure. Same way, the systems in west have remained less-corrupt and strong NOT becuase they are old, but they have been able to grow old and last, because their systems were fundamentally strong. While system in India, due to causes I will list later, has been weak, and therefore it is showing such immense problems even though it is barely 50-60 years old.
Cuases behind problems of India in general
Having listed the non-cuases, the readers may wonder --- if above are non-cuases, then what are the cuases behind the fact that several problems not seen in West are so rampant in India?
I will explain on problem-by-problem basis later.
But following are the causes of problems in India in general :
Nexuses in administration/courts : Level of nexuses in administration/courts in India is MUCH higher than in West.
Lack of indexes : Govt records in West are indexed and cross indexed; while records in India often not indexed and very very rarely cross-indexed.
Regressive taxes : Taxation in west is less regressiveness compared to taxation in India. The regressive taxes are due to nexuses amongst Ministers, officers, elitemen and intellectuals, and hence regressive tax is NOT a core reason so to speak.
Equality over natural resources : In West, there is relatively higher level of equalilty in distribution of incomes of state-owned resources in West; inequality in India in distribution of incomes from state owned resources is extremely high. Once again, this inequality over natural resources is due to nexuses amongst Ministers, officers, elitemen and intellectuals, and it is NOT a core reason so to speak.
Differences in political cultures
Differences in the political cultures of intellectuals of India and intellectuals of West : The western intellectuals are far more liberal and democratic compared to intellectuals of India. The intellectuals in all countries claim that commons are foolish to justify their hostility to attempts to decrease political inequality. But such hostility is higher in Indian intellectuals than in Western. This is indeed a reason why many democratic reforms did NOT occur in India, which occured in West. But this is a minor compared to reasons cited above.
Differences in political cultures of commons of India and commons of West : The commons of India have too much respect for intellectuals. While commons in West have much less respect and awe for intellectuals. Due to this many democratic reforms that happened in West did NOT happened in India. But this a minor cuase.
Most activists in US/West opt for legal/administrative solutions to the problems, while trend in India activists to opt to non-legal (NOT illegal, but non-legal) and non-administrative solutions.
I will breifly eloberate each cuase.
Cuases behind problems of India ---
Cuase No. 1 : Higher level of nexuses in India's judges, policemen, MLAs, officers, govt lawyers etc
In ALL countries, private persons try to establish nexuses with Govt officers, policemen, judges, govt lawyers, Ministers etc so that they may gain, fairly or unfairly, from their discretionary powers. In the same way, in EVERY country, over 90% of govt officers, policemen, judges etc also try their best to establish nexuses with other officers, Ministers etc and private persons like lawyers, contractors and even criminals so that they can give them the benefits of their discretionary powers and take some kickbacks. As a result, in ALL countries, the nexuses exist, and so does corruption.
But level of nexuses is phenomenonly higher in India compared to West. eg the kind of nexuses we see in India between career violent criminals (called as "bhaai" or "daadaa" in street language) and judges, policemen, govt lawyers and Ministers is unheard and unseen in West. Same is the situation in all govt depts.
How do nexuses hurt commons?
In several ways
Nexuses retard good guys : in every country, in various govt depts, there are a small number of officers, policemen etc who want to improve system and help commons and want the nation to rise. Such number of selfless and aggressive person is always tiny --- say 1% to 5%. The majority are self serving. The nexuses decrease the efficiency of good guys. In a nexused enviorment, the self serving can easily unite, form nexuses and disrupt the efforts of committed. In an unnexused enviornment, it is far far more difficult. So it is NOT the case that there are more committed individuals in western Govts. But there are lesser disruptions in the ways of committed individuals in west, as level of nexuses is less.
Nexuses increase oppurtunities to take bribe : In a nexused enviorment, an officer has far more oppurtunities to take bribes. So his focus changes --- he does NOT want to do the regular work and focus on minting. And instead of going by law or by his plain biased or unbiased discretion, he tends to convert every case into a mint. Whereas in an unnexused enviorment, an officer is more afraid of taking bribes. So he will go by the law and his biased or unbiased discretion, but not by nexuses.
Series of unofficial requests from those, with whom an officer has a nexus, eats away officers' time : In a nexused enviornment, every day every officer etc gets hit by dozens and dozens of unofficial requests, from individuals with whom he has nexuses. Consider life of a typical senior officer in India. Due to his career of several years, he has cultivated several nexuses with 100s of individuals. So each morning and afternoon, he will get 10s of calls asking him to do small/big favors, which may be legimate or illegitimate. Many times, the favors would require him to contact officer of a differentr department unrelated to his work. In such cases, he will end up spending too much time in executing these favors and so he will have less time to attend his official business.
Nexuses give wealth, and managing wealth eats away time : Nexuses gives rise to bribery, which results into wealth accumulation. As a result, the person has to spend too much time in managing wealth and he has less time to do the official favors.
In West too, just like India, officers/judges get ample oppurtunities to take bribes etc. But since number and strengths of nexuses are lesser than in India, instances of bribery etc are low. Due to fewer nexuses, and weaker nexuses, they have to pass the oppurtunities even though they may feel tempted.
This explanation only gives rise to another question : so why are nexuses fewer/weaker in Western administration/courts compared to India?
Why are there fewer nexuses in West?
Are westerners genetically or culturally less programmed to get nexused than we Indians are? No. There is NOTHING genetic or cultural about it.
The low level of nexuses in officers, policemen etc of West is ONLY becuase the officers and private individuals get far fewer oppurtunities to build nexuses with each other as compared to oppurtnuities they get in India.
Again, this explanation raises just another question : how is that officers etc in West get fewer oppurtunities to form nexuses?
The reason for getting fewer oppurtunities to form nexuses in most cases is Democratciness i.e. LESSER political inequality in their administrative CODE. What do I mean by "Democraticness" or "LESSER political inequality"? The persons in-charge of making appointment/expulsion related and some other legislative/administrative decisions in West are often very very large in number, unrelated with one-another, and in many cases it is the whole population of a region. This 'Democraticness' (i.e. participation of very large number of citizens in taking decisions) in West makes it extremely difficult for some lawyer, criminal, contractor etc to form nexuses with most or even a small fraction of decision makers. Whereas, most laws/procedures in India are oligarchic (i.e. decisions get taken by a small number of individuals) or have high political inequality. So it becomes easy for someone to form nexuses with most of the decision-makers, and it is also easy for decision makers to form nexuses amongst themselves and get illegitimate benefits via bribes, career benefits etc.
On a case by case basis, I will describe how nexuses are fewer in west's police, prosecution, courts and several other organs of the state.
Cuases behind problems of India ---
Cuase no. #2A : Lack of indexes in India's Govt records, perticularly income/asset/crime records
The Western countries' administrators started keeping records sorted by multiple indexes and in a cross-indexed way. While India's administrators are much much behind in this way of keeping records. Hence efficiency of depts in India is low, and tax evasion, frauds etc are high.
Allow me to eloberate.
What is index? Index is a number or an alphanumeric code that is assigned to an entity such as a person, company, peice of land, house, bank account, share account, share, bond etc. Two entities cannot have same index, and one entity MUST NOT have two distict indexes. eg in US, tax-ID is a powerful index --- no two persons will have same tax-ID and one person cannot have two tax IDs. A good index must not change with time. In US and most western countries, index exists and it is COMPLETE i.e. EVERY person will have that index. Unfortunately in India, NOT every person has index. eg over 95% population does NOT have tax-ID.
Almost every record in govt dept in West, such as police, land records, income tax, wealth tax etc is indexed with index of the person. And not just govt bodies, but banks, insurance companies, emloyers etc also attach indexes with these records. How does this help govt bodies? In 100s of ways
Say income tax dept wants to have list of lands/plots a person owns. Since every land owner needs to give his ID, the income tax dept, within hours/days, can obtain list of lands/plots a person has by querrying into land record database and citing his ID
Every police dept reports crimes, open warrants etc related to a person by citing his ID to some central agency. And this agency will send the whole data to every police station. So when a person is detained due to a suspicion or any other reason, his ID is taken and matched against IDs of all crime records, open warrants etc. Within minutes, entire crime record of the person becomes available.
There are 100s of applications of using index. This drastically improves efficiency of govt bodies of west. Indexing is one major reason why govt bodies in west are far far more efficient that bodies in India.
Cuases behind problems of India ---
Cuase No. #2B : Lack of cross-indexation in India's govt records, perticularly income/asset/crime records
What is cross indexing?
Say two persons with ID A and B have entered into a transaction, say A paid some money to B. Then cross indexation is, if and when A reports that transaction in his balance sheet, he is also required to cite ID of B.
What is the use of cross indexing? If A reports the transaction, citing B's ID, then B will have NO choice but to report that transaction.
The cross-indexing is THE MOST important reason why income tax evasion in US is so low, and its due to lack of cross-indexing, that income tax evasion in India is rampant. eg in US, when a bank pays interest to a person, it is required to report tax-ID of the person in its report to income tax dept. So the income tax dept while examining bank's return will verify that interest reciever, as cited by the bank, has indeed reported his interest income from that bank. Hence if the interest reciever has not reported this income, he will get caught. IOW, if the payer cites, or he is forced to cite tax-ID of the reciever, the reciever cannot under-report his revenue collection.
Putting indexing and cross-indexing togather, such indexed and cross-indexed data-keeping reduces the oppurtunities the private citizens as well as govt officers get to commit frauds, take bribes, siphon funds or evade taxes. Hence there are lesser frauds, lesser tax evasion etc in west. This has vastly improved economies of the West. Whereas in many departments in India, such record-keeping method has NOT been adopted. So private citizens as well as govt officers get too many oppurtunities to commit frauds, take bribes, siphon funds and evade taxes. This has weakened our economy and created 10s of other problems.
But how is that West could develop better record-keeping ways while we could not?
The reason is defunctness of India's leaders/officers and intellectuals.
When confronted with problems of revenue evasion or mess of data-keeping, the leaders/intellectuals of India seeked a refuge in defunct ideas like moral values, national character etc. IOW, they cited lack of moral values as reason for tax evasion, as if moral values in US/west were any better, and the people there did NEVER wanted to evade taxes. So forget desiging solutions like indexes and cross-indexed, they did NOT even bother to just study how west had solved this problem. The explanation of moral value etc was an easy escape.
In reality, India's leaders/officers were NOT smart enough that they could discover this method of indexation and cross-indexation like leaders/officers of West did. What is worse is that India's intellectuals/leaders were so defunct, that they could NOT even understand how US/Western officers had tackled this problems using indexes and cross-indexes. And instead of accepting their fault, they passed the buck by citing "lack of morals" as the reason. Also, the first and second generations of Indian leaders consisted of meta-thinkers ("mahaa gyani purush"), capable of understanding "deep" issues like history, culture, philosophy etc. but were mentally incapable of grasping details like indexes, cross-indexes and their uses.
In addition, a large number of corrupt Ministers/officers in India saw that indexing and cross-indexing would ensure that their black money gets unearthed. So they blocked the laws necessary to index and cross-index the GoI-records.
All in all, corruption/nexuses in India's Ministers/officers, coupled with total brain-dead approach by India's Ministers/officers/intellectuals ensured that importance of indexing and cross-indexing would NEVER be understood. So records in India, even today, are unindexed and rarely cross-indexed. Hence the lower efficiency.
Cuases behind problems of India ---
Cuase No. 3 : Taxes in US/West are less regressive than taxes in India
What is basically a regressive tax?
Given a tax, I analayse following aspect of a tax, and classify the taxes in 3 categories --- flat tax, regressive tax and progressive tax
Say some dept of GoI, like military, police etc needs Rs 5000 cr
Say there are 5 cr individuals in a nation and togather their income is Rs 50000cr.
Now say the taxes are adujusted in such a way that each person ends up paying 10% of his income. Such a tax is called as FLAT TAX (flat wrt income).
If the taxes are adujusted in such a way that a person who is earning LESSER income ends up paying more than 10% his income, and person with higher income ends up paying LESS than 10% of his income. Such a tax is called as REGRESSIVE TAX (regressive wrt income).
If the taxes are adujusted in such a way that a person who is earning MORE income ends up paying more than 10% his income, and person with higher income end up paying LESS than 10% of his income. Such a tax is called as PROGRESSIVE TAX (progressive tax wrt income).
In the same way, say GoI needs say Rs 10000cr as taxes. Say various members of the citizenry own properties whose total worth is Rs 10,00,000 cr. Now again, there are three ways to impose taxes ---
One way is to impose a uniform tax of 1% of the property value. This would be a FLAT tax (flat wrt wealth owned).
Another way is to impose a tax in which those with lesser property will end up paying taxes which is higher % of their property value. This would be a REGRESSIVE tax (regressive wrt wealth)
Another way is to impose a tax in which those with higher property will end up paying taxes which are higher wrt their properties' values. This would be a PROGRESSIVE tax (progressive wrt wealth)
Following are some REAL examples of regressive taxes, as implemented by GoI
Taxes on tea : Consider 100cr citizens of India. Say some 60cr citizens drink tea. For the time being, ignore the remaining 40cr. Now I would divide these 60 cr tea addicts into 3 groups :
those who earn below Rs 100/day
those who earn Rs 100/day to Rs 1000/day
those who earn above Rs 1000/day
Now say a cup of tea is costing Rs 5, which uses say 10gm of tea which costs say Rs 2. Say the taxes on tea are 50% of the costs i.e. a cup of tea costing Rs 5 has taxes of Rs 1. Now consider a person making Rs 100/day. Say he drinks 2 cups of tea. Hence he is paying Rs 2 as taxes i.e. 2% of his income. Now consider a person who is earning 10 times i.e. Rs 1000 per day. Obviously, such a person will NOT be drinking 10 cups of tea per day. Say he is drinking 5 cups of tea per day, in which case he will be paying Rs 5 as taxes i.e. 0.5% of his income as taxes. And likewise, a person who is earning Rs 10000/day will be perhaps spend say 0.05% as tea tax. IOW, tax on tea is REGRESSIVE wrt income of a person.
Taxes on tobbaco, coffee, gutaka, beer and ALL basic commodities which are consumed by rank and file of citizenry : Consider tax on any such commodity, such as tobacco. Once again, say out 100cr citizens of India, say 40cr chew/smoke toboacco. I would divide the tobocco addicts into 3 groups
those who make below Rs 100/day
those who make beltween Rs 100/day and Rs 1000/day, and
those who make above Rs 1000/day.
Consider a person who is earning making Rs 100/day. Say he is chewing 10gm of tobacco on which tax is Rs 1. Obviosuly, those who earn 10 times i.e. Rs 1000/day are NOT likely to consume 10 times more tobacco. Perhaps they would be consuming 2-3 times more. Hence the individuals with lesser income are paying larger portion of their incomes on tobacco taxes. Hence taxes on all these commodities like coffee, tobacoo etc are REGRESSIVE wrt income.
Taxes on car : The portion of excise, sales tax and other taxes, that is spent on highways, city roads, streets etc is NOT tax towards military, police etc, but a user charge which becomes necessary as tolls cant be implemented for streets and small roads. But consider the portion of excise, sales tax and other taxes on vehicles which are used for sectors other than roads. This portion is a indeed a tax, and it is a regressive tax. But it is LESS regressive than tax on tea, tobocco etc as
A person with less income is unlikely to buy a vehicle and hence this tax will NOT fall on him
A person with higher income is more likely to buy a more expensive car and hence pay a higher tax.
Nevertheless, the taxes on vehicles, unless used strictly for road etc, tax is a regressive tax wrt income, and should be stopped.
Tax on movie tickets : Say a person earning Rs 3000/mo sees say 3 movies a month. Say he buys cheaper tix worth Rs 50, in which tax in Rs 20. So he pays (3 * Rs 20) = Rs 60/month as tax, which is 2% of his income. Now consider a person earning say Rs 30,000/mo. It is unlikely that he would be seeing 10 movies a month. Say he sees 4 movies a month, buy more expensive tix worth Rs 100, in which tax is Rs 40, and thus pays Rs 160/month as tax. The tax % will be = 160/30000*100% = 16/30 = 0.54%. Hence tax on movie tix is a regressive tax, regressive wrt income.
What is more regressive is that in some cities of India like Ahmedabad, the tax on ORDINARY cinemas, where base price is Rs 3 to Rs 25 is about 50% to 80% of the base price. While for the expensive theatres (called Multiplex) where base price is Rs 100/- or even Rs 150/-), the tax is barelr Re 1/- per tix i.e. nearly ZERO !!! IOW, a person who can barely afford/spend to Rs 10 to Rs 40 ends on movie ends up paying a tax of Rs 5 to Rs. 15. While those spending Rs 100 to Rs 150 pay ZERO tax !!! This is truely a regressive tax wrt income.
In general, following taxes are regressive
all types on taxes on items which rank and file of population consume, like tea, coffee, tobacco, beer, cigaratte, cinema tix, soft drinks etc
Octroi -- as of today, much of the octroi comes from commodities of mass consuption, and hence it is a regresive tax.
Sales tax, Value added tax
Excise
Servce tax
taxes on fuel such as petrol, disel etc :- if taxes on petrol etc is strictly used to build/maintain roads on which toll collection is NOT possible, the tax is just a toll and NOT a tax used for services like police, military etc. But if tax on petrol etc is used for purposes other than roads, or it is used to fund roads where toll is collected, it is regressive tax.
etc etc
Quite often intellectuals cite taxes on tobacco as "welfare-oriented" i.e. taxes on tobacco reduce consumption of tobacco and thus improve the health of addicts. This is a flat lie and shows the extent to which intellectuals can twist fact to serve their wealthy masters. The reality is as following :
say a person earns Rs 100/day
say he eats tobacco, tea, coffee, sugar, oil etc, which costs Rs 20 before taxes
due ultra high taxes, the price of those goods is Rs 50
Now the increase of Rs 30 does NOT decrease his consumption of tobacco etc. Even with 2 to 3 fold increase in price, he continues to consume same amount. But due to higher expenditure, he ends up with LESSER money to buy good food like milk, ghee etc. And he is left with lesser money for his cloths, and he also has lesser money for his wife and kids, and may be hios parents' food, clothes and education. He also ends up with lesser money for their medicine. IOW, the regressive taxes on tobacco, tea etc DOES NOT reduce their consumption of these "bad items" but drastically reduces his consumption of "good items". This not only ruins his and his family members' lives, but detoriates the whole economy. How? Since the person has lesser disposable income, he ceases to be consumer for a large number of goods. Hence the market for those goods shrink, which forces the manufacturer of those items to reduce production. This reduces the number of labor they can support and thus starts a negative cycle.
All in all, regressive tax is reciepe for ruins.
How this "gyaan" on type of taxes --- flat, progressive and regressive --- useful in understanding problems of India?
The overall taxes in US/West are much less regressive than they are in India. As a result, the poverty problem is less severe in West, and the lower class in US/West has higher disposable incomes. So they have more money to buy various goods. This has created a large internal market in US/West for various manufactured goods and services. In addition, the lower class individuals in US/West also manage to save money to buy equipment needed to increase their productivity. While due to regressive taxes, the lower class individuals in India is hardly left with any money to buy that many goods or equipment. So the market in India remains small despite large population. And lower class individuals fail to buy equipment etc to raise their productivity.
Why are taxes so regressive in India? And less regressive in West? Once again, enter the nexuses. The nexuses of leaders/intellectuals in India with wealthy individuals are so dense most leaders/intellectuals are strong, albeit covert, supporters of regressive taxes. Now leades/intellectuals in US to have nexuses with rich ones, but the nexuses are weaker than those in India. So few leaders, perticularly at district/state level support regressive taxes. Hence over all tax structure of US is less regressive. This is one reason why many problems, like poverty, is LESS severe in US than in India.
So while regressive taxes are indeed a reason why India is worse-off than west, IMO, it is NOT a core-reason --- it is just a symptom of nexuses between leaders/officers/intellectuals and rich.
Cuases behind problems of India ---
Cause No. 6 : Political culture of India's commons
Thre is ONLY one flaw in India's commons, not seen in India's west. Indis'a commons have too much awe and respect for India's intellectuals. This has mainly becuase India's commons were denied of education, and education was restricted to elite class. But still this is a lesser reason.
Cuases behind problems of India ---
Cause No. 7 : Fewer activists in India prefer to make efforts to improve laws
Who is an activist? An activist is someone who is interested in changing some parts of society strictly for betterment of others, and has NO career, fame or monetary interest.
Very few of us would be "100% pure activists" i.e. someone who can devote 100% of his time and efforts for selfless activities. I am certainly not "100% activist". But almost everyone is x% activist --- people do spend time for activists with no personal motives, with the hope that others' lives will improve. eg. I am writing this article with NO hope of getting money, fame or promotion in my career. So I am in activist mode. Likewise, the reader is reading this article with no career, monetary etc hopes. So the reader is also is in "activist" mode of his life.
In any nation, the change comes because of
raw economic market forces
by actions of individuals in govt who have access to tax collection and have a battery of officials at to execute their orders
by activists' selfless efforts
Now what would bring change in the behaviour of Govt officers? It is ALWAYS due to activists' efforts and NEVER due to market forces. Most individuals in market as well as in govt bodies MOSTLY try the path of least resistance without worrying about damage it may cause to the nation, at present or in future. Simply put, a businessman would prefer to bribe an officer, rather than fix the laws which would reduce the corruption. I am NOT cursing the businessman, but given the constraints he has, it is impossible for him to spedn time and money and efforts in fixing laws. Now it may be that a businessman is "90% businessman and 10% activist" i.e. 10% of time he does NOT seek profits, fame etc. During his activist mode, he may try to work to fix the laws that cause corruption. But while and when he is a businessman, he cant afford to resist the trends.
Now is it that there is more activism in US than in India? There is NO metric to measure activism. But based on "guess' and "feel", I dont think that activism in US/West is any higher. But to biggest misfortune of India, much of the activism is in spiritual sector, education sector, health sector and employment generation and trainning sector ONLY, there is very little activism in law/order-sector.
I will eloberate.
In all nations, there are poor and supressed. Some nations, like India have more poor and supressed, than US. And in every such nation, there are activists who would like to improve their lives. Following are SOME of the methods activists use :
spiritual : some activist insist that by spiritual awakening etc, the problems can be reduced.
health : the activists try to provide medication etc at no or low cost to the poor, supressed etc.
education : the activists try to provide medication etc at no or low cost to the poor
economic : trainning, employment generation etc
improving laws : the actvists try to change the laws that put poor etc at a disadvantage, and/or enact the laws that would make it easier for poor, supressed etc to claim what rightfully belongs to them.
India, compared to US/West, is NOT falling short of selfless activists and selfless activism. But India's big misfortune, that very very few activism, compared to US/West, is in the area of law improvement. Most activist prefer spiritual, health and education sectors. Whereas in West, a larger fraction of activists prefer law improvement, than spiritual, health and education sector.
As a result, the law making and laws remain defunct. So while activist try to add a penny to a poor's pockets by providing health, education or economic benefit, the defunct laws which enable Ministers, officers, policemen, judges, regulators, intellectuals etc to siphon out several rupees continue. As a result, the rate at which poors' situation improves in India remains pathetically low as compared to US/West. And worse, in many districts, the poors' situation keeps worsening (such as naxal prone districts in AP, Bihar etc).
Why is there so much infatuation with health, education, employment and spiritualism? The infatuation with spiritualism is perhaps cultural. I cant comment more, as I NEVER made an attempt to understand spiritualism. But why do activists spend so much time in education, health and tranning/employment etc? Partly becuase results, though small, are DIRECT and proof that activity was done can be provided and satisfaction of helping someone is immidiate. Also, there is financial support as many private donors as well as govt agencies provide funds for activists in spiritual, health, education and employement generation areas. Whereas no agency, private or govt, provides any funding to activists working for improving laws. There is also more fame, as results are immidiate and direct. eg if an activist is working in health/education areas, the small improvements he makes in others' lives are immidiately visible to him as well as others. So others immidiately appreciate and hence there is more fame. But if an activist is trying to improve laws, it may take long before laws improve, and he may NOT get any direct credit for his efforts and his efforts may not be visible.
Regardless of factors, the India's activists' decision to prefer spiritual, health, education, trainning, employment generation etc and over law-improvement is costing India and India's commons a fortune. India is badly limping behind West, and the gap increases day by day. And situation will worsen if district after district keep imploding due to naxal type movements.
I DO NOT know of any means that would make activists accept that making efforts in improving law making procedures and improving other administrative procedures laws is urgently needed, and should be preferred over spiritualism, health, education etc sector. I think commons of India will have to solve their problems without much help from activists.
Summary of cuases of problems of India
The correct way to compare problems of India with that of west will be to do on item-by-item i.e. problem-by-problem basis. I have done that on the subsequent web-pages (please see the list later). But in general, following are the factors that are seen in India and NOT (or LESS) seen in the West :
There is higher level of nexuses in administration/courts etc in India
There is lack of indexes and cross-indexes in Indian Govt records, perticularly income, asset and crime records
There is lesser equality over state owned natural resources in India
The taxes in India are more regressive
Political culture
Political culture of intellectuals (manuvaad) : Political culture of India's intellectuals, be rightist, leftist, centrist or Gandhian, is much more hostile to democratic procedures like Jury System, procedures of recall, election of police chief, election of judges, election of govt lawyers etc.
Political culture of commons : India's commons give too much respect to intellectuals.
Political culture of activists : compared to West, very few activists in India take interest in law-making; instead they prefer to work in health, education, employment generation and spiritual areas.
The political culture is a lesser reasons.
The lesser equality over natural resources and regressive taxes are becuase law makers and intellectuals in India have denser nexuses with wealthy ones, than law makers and intellectuals of US. Hence India's law-makers and intellectuals more aggressively support regressive taxes and inequality of natural resources. The lack of indexes is NOT a result of nexuses, but just due to defuctness of India's intellectuals.
So at core, we have ONLY two MAIN reasons why India ails behind west :
Nexuses amongst MLAs/MPs/Ministers, officers, policemen, govt lawyers, judges, criminals and elitemen are much stronger in India than west
Govt records are NOT indexed and cross-indexed.
And by reducing the above two problems, at dept by dept level, we can make EVERY dept of Govt of India at par with West, and even take it ahead. With this, we can improve our economic, technological and engineering ability at par with West, and can also create a military which is at par with west in terms of technology and quanitity. This will ensure that India does NOT go Iraq way.
Problem by problem analysis
Courts :
How citizens of West have reduced corruption/delay and improve fairness in their Courts, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Prosecution :
How citizens of West have reduced corruption/defuntness of their prosecution while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Policemen :
How citizens of West have reduced corruption in their policemen, and improved their efficiency, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Police Atrocities :
How citizens of West have reduced police atrocities, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
judocratic atrocities :
How citizens of West have reduced judocratic atrocities, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Corruption in officers :
How citizens of West have reduced corruption in officers, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Violent crimes :
How citizens of West have ensured that career violent crimes, like extortion, remain low, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Naxals :
How citizens of West have ensured that naxal-type problems do NOT occur at all, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Poverty :
How citizens of West have reduced poverty, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Politicians :
How citizens of West have reduced corruption in politicians, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
RBI :
Why is Reserve Bank of India such a corrupt/defunct institution, and why is inflation so rampant in India?
Law-making :
How citizens of West have improved law-making, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Terrorism :
Why citizens of West face no such problem like Kashmir terrorism, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Bangladeshi Immigration :
How citizens of West (except US) have been able to reduce illegal immigration problem, while citizens of India have NOT been able to solve problem of illegal immigration of Bangladeshies?
Lack of pension system :
How citizens of West have been able to create a pension system for elders, while citizens of India have not been able to do so?
Nutrition, diseases etc :
How citizens of West have reduced malnutrition, controlled diseases like TB, AIDS etc while citizens of India have not been able to do so?
Education :
How citizens of West have ensured fairly good school education, while citizens of India have failed to do so?
Population control :
Why is population of India still not in control, while West has achived 0% growth rate?
Sex ratio :
Why is female/male ratio in India lower compared to West?
Unemployment :
Why is unemployment so higb in India, while much less in the West?
Slums :
How citizens of West have been able to create so many good houses (and hence few slums) while citizens of India have failed to do so?
Frauds :
How citizens of West have reduced frauds/cheatings etc while citizens of India have failed to reduce that?
Real estate frauds :
How citizens of West have reduced frauds in land/building sale while citizens of India have failed to reduce that?
Social discrmination :
Why is discrimination against dalits so high in India, while similar discrimination is much less in West?
Atrocities on women :
Why are atrocities on women so much higher in India compard to West?
Tax evasion :
How citizens of West have reduced income/wealth tax-evasion, while citizens of India have failed to achieve that?
Telephones and electricity :
Why are citizens of India paying such high price for telephony and electricity supply, and still cannot improve efficiency?
Pollution :
How have citizens of West reduced pollution, while citizens of India failed to do so?
Unprofitable PSUs :
Why are citizens of India stuck with so many unprofitable PSUs?
Labor laws :
Why have citizens of India not been able to improve labor laws?
Slow diovoce case proceedings :
Why do divorce cases and related cases like alimony, child custody etc run so slowly in India's family courts?
Weak military :
How citizens of West succeeded in improving their military, why citizens of India have failed to do so?
In general :
How citizens/activists of West have managed to solve the problems, while citizens/activists in India have failed to do so?
If you have any other question, please mail it to MehtaRahulC@yahoo.com. Thousand thanks in advance.
