$121 Billion Went Out In The Last Decade Via Trade Mispricing

I'm sure the politicians forced them to misprice because, as we all know, only the politicians are corrupt.

$128 billion siphoned out of India in a decade

 if an exporter understates the value of goods actually exported in relation to the imports recorded in the importing partner country and keeps the balance of funds abroad, that too is an illicit outflow. International trade data reveals such mispricing by comparing data from partner trading countries.It is this type of jugglery that accounts for the bulk of illicit flows in India - worth over $121.65 billion (Rs 5.8 lakh crore) or almost 95% of the total.

FDI in Multi-Brand Retail Will Hurt Farmers

How FDI in retail will hurt farmers

A prominent TV channel featured the story of a few farmers in Punjab highlighting how direct purchases of produce by a retailer had given them a higher yield. This is a type of faulty reasoning described in college textbooks as “the fallacy of composition”. The fallacy of composition arises when one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole.

The channel had obviously hand-picked a few farmers who suited its conclusion. The only way to assess the impact on farmers is to look at countries where big retailers dominate the market, and see how the entire farming community has fared.

And it has fared quite badly.  Take a look at the following picture and then read the whole analysis for the numbers.

"Team Anna" Still Looking For Elusive Nationwide Support

I asked Where Is The Nationwide Support for "Team Anna"? about 36 hours ago, noting that just 48413 people had registered for his Jail Bharo 'Andolan'.  Time to update that number.  It's a day later.  I expect the thing to have caught on like wild fire.  So let me check.  67070.  

That many could be fit into Eden Gardens. 

And which are the states/regions contributing mainly to that number?  The eight states/regions - Delhi & NCR, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, MP, UP, AP, Rajasthan - together still contribute 75% of the registered people.  The four states/regions - Delhi & NCR, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat - still contribute almost half of them.

Still no nationwide support.

Update: The final figure is, hold your breath, 175220.  No wonder things fizzled out.  

Margaret Thatcher's Funeral May Be Privatized

TAXPAYERS PETITION FOR PRIVATISATION OF THATCHER’S FUNERAL

WHICH investment bank will underwrite the ticket sales at Margaret Thatcher’s privatised funeral?

The Capitalist only asks because, as of last night, more than 14,000 people had signed up to the e-petition posted by Scott Morgan declaring that the Iron Lady’s state funeral should be funded and managed by the private sector.

After all, Baroness Thatcher privatised the railways, the water companies, the electricity providers and the telecoms firms – so she should surely approve of the online rally to offer the “best value and choice for end users and other stakeholders” on her passing.

As the petition on the government’s website reads: “The undersigned believe that the legacy of the former prime minister deserves nothing less and that offering this unique opportunity is an ideal way to cut government expense and further prove the merits of liberalised economics Baroness Thatcher spearheaded.”

If the number of signatories hits 100,000 – as is looking pretty likely, since the petition runs until October next year – the Backbench Business Committee will present the idea as a motion in the House of Commons.

Time for City firms to start thinking of how to take a percentage of the profits, then – as Rothschild, which advised on the privatisation of British Gas, British Steel, British Coal and the regional electricity and water boards, demonstrated so admirably.

That's a mind-blowingly fitting tribute to the lady and her legacy.  No one can accuse the British of not doing the right thing by their leaders.  

Where Is The Nationwide Support for "Team Anna"?

Anna Hazare's managers have started a website for the Jail Bharo movement, Jail Bharo Andolan, where people who  are willing to fill the jails in his support can register their details.  If they want to register through SMS, the website has the number to which they can send the SMS.

Time hanging a bit heavily on my hands, I ambled across to the website to see what it was about.  It's a simple site with a simple form where you fill in your name, city, state, mobile number to register.  It also shows the current count of how many people have registered so far.

Well, as we all know, the entire country is behind him.  So who'd blame us if we expect the number of registered people to be a few hundred millions?  Or maybe a few millions?  OK, if not that many, a few lakhs at least?  At least a lakh?   But no, it turns out we'd be dead wrong.  The actual total thus far:  48413.  

Click on the graph to enlarge it.

Eight states account for 75% of the supporters: Delhi & NCR, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, MP, UP, AP, Rajasthan.   Four states account for nearly half of the supporters so far: Delhi & NCR, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat.  Where the hell is the nationwide support?  

Maybe it will build up over the New Year weekend.  Wait and watch this space.

Anna Hazare Fast - Satyagraha or Nuisance?

Court raps Team Anna, rejects plea over MMRDA ground:

Earlier in the day, Team Anna came in for scathing criticism by the court for its proposed agitation against the Lokpal Bill with the bench saying it cannot allow “parallel canvassing” when Parliament is seized with debate on the legislation.

“We can’t allow parallel canvassing when Parliament is seized with debate on the bill. You can propagate the bill sitting at home. Till now the bill has not been passed. No one knows what form and what features it will have. Is public debate permissible at this stage?,” the court asked.

Disapproving of the agitation despite the Lokpal Bill being tabled in Parliament, Justice Majmudar asked, “How is country’s interest involved? We are a democratic set up. We have elected a government. Wouldn’t your agitation interfere in the functioning of Parliament? The bill will be debated in Parliament where our elected representatives will plead our case”.

The court further said that as Judges they had taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and law. “Under which law are you (petitioner) asking for exemption? It might be Satyagraha for you but for some other factions it might be a nuisance,” it said.

That sounds about right to me.  

So where do Anna Hazare and his team go to next? The Supreme Court?  Or else, can't they just declare victory and propagate the bill sitting at home?  They have antogonised almost every single MP in parliament by abusing them in no uncertain terms.  The HC has rejected the claim that there is anything of national interest involved.  So just who'll deliver the Jan Lok Pal bill for them?

Solar Energy Usage - Top 10 Countries

India is nowhere.  Top 10 Countries for Solar Energy

Germany at #1 with 17 Gigawatts installed.

Spain #2 with 3.7 gigawatts installed.

France #3 with 1 gigawatts installed

When will our day in the sun come?

Bio-Terrorism And The US

US puts lid on flu experiments over terror fears

Fear of misuse as a lethal bio-terrorism agent has prompted the US government to ask two of the world's leading scientific journals – “Science” and “Nature” – not to publish technical details on the creation of a deadly avian influenza strain which has the potential to transmit easily among human and cause millions of deaths.

The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity created after the Anthrax scare post 9/11 on Wednesday has asked the editors of the journals to withhold certain technical details showing how an avian influenza virus (H5N1) can wreak havoc among humans.

“Editors at Science are taking very seriously a request by the NSABB to publish only an abbreviated version of a research report related to a strain of H5N1 avian influenza virus, Bruce Alberts, editor in chief of the journal said in a statement.

NSABB emphasised the need to curtail publication of the details of research to ensure that it does not fall into wrong hands.

The deadly genetically altered virus was created Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center and colleagues in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Another team at the University of Wisconsin in Madison  came out with comparable results. 

Both were funded by the US National Institutes of Health, which backed the censorship.

Emphasis mine.  This is the country which accuses other countries of wanting to wage various forms of chemical, and biological warfare at the drop of a hat.  'Wrong hands'?  Which country is killing other people day after day through drones, dropping bombs, is holding people without trial for indefinite periods etc?  The US?  No, can't be.  They have their heart in the right place.  

Wrong hands indeed.

"For Sonam, Showing Middle Finger is No Big Deal"

For Sonam, Showing Middle Finger is No Big Deal.

Yet she was classy enough not to do it in real life.  A repost from aeons ago:  The Class Dialectic:


Class:




Declasse:

Is Merit The Reason For Caste-based Poverty and Backwardness?

A little bit of time travel to 2009/10 triggered by this article: Congress ups the ante on quotas.  Two reviews of the book "Blocked By Caste".

The economics of caste inequity.  From the latter:

Reactions to the caste question are fairly predictable in India. The average (upper caste) response is that the policy of reservations has gone on far too long and that discrimination is very much a thing of the past. As to why certain social groups remain extremely poor and backward despite the legal safeguards, the usual explanation is that Dalits are either not well educated or do not have the merit to make it to good jobs.

Blocked by Caste should come as an eye-opener to those who subscribe to this view. It proves that the social and economic exclusion of Dalits (and Muslims) continues to be pervasive in a nation that speaks the global language of meritocracy and level playing fields but has been unable to shed historical caste prejudices. 

...What it does reveal is that the dominant Brahminical ideology, which categorises the Dalit and the Muslim minority as the ‘other’, has tinted the view of the private sector to a large degree. Economic discrimination is a subject that has received little attention and this book focuses on contemporary patterns of discrimination in various markets, labour in particular, along with discrimination in the delivery of public goods and services by the government.

...Thorat and Paul Attewell, professor of sociology at the University of New York, used a similar methodology in India to arrive at similar conclusions. They sent out three sets of applications for jobs advertised in major dailies over a 13-month period, using a stereotypical high caste Hindu name, a recognisable Muslim name and a distinctive Dalit name. The consistent result: applicants with Dalit and Muslim names had a significantly lower chance of a positive outcome than persons with a high caste Hindu name.

IT companies were included too.  How can such visceral attitudes be changed or at least be circumvented?  

Caste & the labour market :

A useful four-fold classification of the types of discrimination is proposed by Thorat and Newman: complete exclusion, selective inclusion, unfavourable inclusion, and selective exclusion. Complete exclusion would occur, for example, if Dalits were totally excluded from purchase of land in certain residential areas. Selective inclusion refers to differential treatment or inclusion in markets, such as disparity in payment of wages to Dalit workers and other workers. Unfavourable inclusion or forced inclusion refers to tasks in which Dalits are incorporated based on traditional caste practices, such as bonded labour. Lastly, selective exclusion refers to exclusion of those involved in “polluting occupations” (such as leather tanning or sanitary work) from certain jobs and services.

There is a body of research on discrimination in rural areas and on the continuation of caste barriers to economic and social mobility in village India. There is a myth, however, that caste does not matter in the urban milieu and that, with the anonymity of the big city and with education and associated job and occupational mobility (assisted by affirmative action), traditional caste-based discriminatory practices disappear. This book explodes that myth in a set of chapters that focus on the formal labour market.

All italics mine.  

"US Leaves Iraq Weaker, Less Secure, More Unstable"

Lamentable legacy

But the Iraq [US] troops have left behind is far weaker, less secure, and infinitely far more unstable than when they invaded it. The war unleashed and empowered the forces of religious fundamentalism in Iraq. Washington is patting itself on its back for leaving behind a democratic Iraq. But whether Iraq today is any more democratic than under Saddam Hussein is questionable.

...The US-led invasion of Iraq was shrouded in lies. Leaders in the US and Britain claimed they had irrefutable evidence that it possessed weapons of mass destruction. This duplicity continued right through the occupation. And now at the war’s end, Washington claims the war is a success, resulting in ‘an extraordinary achievement’ that Americans can look on ‘with their heads held high’. Can the US look the Iraqi people in the eye while telling them what exactly it means by ‘success’? 

Has Washington forgotten that as early as 2005, a former head of the US National Security Agency had declared the invasion of Iraq as ‘the greatest strategic disaster in United States history’?

Many Americans and Britons will want to forget their ignoble adventure in Iraq. They must not. All wars are wrong but their war in Iraq was particularly so. The US and its allies invaded and occupied Iraq when it posed no threat to them or any other country. Forgetting the past, glossing over blunders and refusing to learn lessons will condemn the US to repeat its mistakes. 

That repetition appears to have been set in motion with American officials already issuing threats to Syria and Iran. Historians and spin masters will make every effort to twist facts and embellish the US’ Iraqi misadventure and to wipe clean its lamentable legacy in Iraq. They would do well to record the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as marking the starting point of the US’ decline as a superpower. 

Pension Bill - Only Assurance But No Guarantee?

Pension regulatory bill set to sail smoothly through LS

The government is understood to have agreed to the BJP demand for inclusion of assured returns to retired employees in Pensions Bill. The Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Sinha, had recommended for an assured return option to new subscribers. 

Pensioners are concerned over the fate of their hard-earned money as the new bill proposes to invest the pension funds in the market. The proposed Bill does not ensure guaranteed return to pensioners. The bill will provide legal backing for putting pension funds into stock markets.

At present, pension funds of over 10 lakh employees in the country are managed by domestic players such as Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Reliance Capital, but foreign companies have evinced interest in the country’s pension market.  The PFRDA bill, if passed, will open country’s lucrative pension sector to foreign players.

So the bill assures return, but does not guarantee it?  And note the innocuous sentence about foreign companies evincing interest.  A bit of a lucky coincidence, for the foreign companies.  A lot of the 'second generation reforms' are somehow just what the foreign companies have evinced interest in.   

Corporates and Fin Min Officials Interfering in SEBI?

Ah, The Invisible Hand is fleetingly seen before it vanishes into the deeps.  

PMO declines to disclose former SEBI member’s letters

New Delhi: The government has declined to disclose two letters written to prime minister Manmohan Singh by former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) member KM Abraham, who had alleged in another communication, interference by some corporates and top finance ministry officials in the working of the market regulator, reports PTI.

Replying to a PTI request for the letters under the Right to Information Act, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) cited a clause that bars disclosure of any information that “would lead to unwarranted intrusion of the privacy of the individual”.

The PMO was asked to provide copies of three letters by Mr Abraham to Mr Singh, along with the action taken report. However, the public authority provided a copy of only one of the three letters, dated 1 June 2011, written by the former SEBI member.

The others two communications—sent on 16th May and 24th June this year—were not provided to the applicant.

In his letter dated 1st June, Mr Abraham had alleged that some corporates and finance ministry officials were exploiting the vulnerability of the market regulator, which was investigating crucial cases involving prominent business houses. 

Mobile Phone Ownership Among the Poor in India

Is lower than in Pakistan , Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand.  ‘More poor people own mobile phones, but productive use still a far cry'

According to a 2011 study, “Teleuse@BOP4” by LIRNEasia, an ICT policy and regulation think tank active in the Asia Pacific region, while there has been a marked rise in mobile phone use by BoP persons in rural and urban India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand, unfortunately, the device's use is primarily restricted to making or receiving calls or SMSs. In some cases, it is also used as a substitute for radio or as a torch.

...

“The survey in these six countries found that except in Java (Indonesia) BoP mobile ownership was higher in urban areas. But, in India, it was the lowest in both rural and urban areas, at 37 per cent, compared with 65 per cent in Pakistan, 49 per cent in Bangladesh, 71 per cent in Sri Lanka and 89 per cent in Thailand,” says Mr Samarajiva.

"Mukesh Ambani in talks to buy Network 18: WSJ"

Mukesh Ambani in talks to buy Network 18: WSJ

MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, India's biggest conglomerate, is in talks to buy Network 18, the television and internet company, the Wall Street Journal said quoting people familiar with the situation. 

Ambani, the paper said, has been in talks with Network 18 founder and controlling shareholder Raghav Bahl on the issue. 

"The talks may yet lead to nothing. It also isn't clear what the value of Ambani's investment would be and whether he is operating on behalf of Reliance Industries or whether he would put his own cash into a deal. Network18 Media and Investments, the holding company for the conglomerate, has annual revenue of about $300 million but isn't profitable," said the paper. 

Relatedly,  Media Consolidation: The Illusion of Choice 

Update: RIL denies it.  But a nice pop of around 9% on almost 20 times yesterday's volumes, till now.  Who sold out?

Raj Thackeray To MES: Quit Cribbing

Raj Thackeray delivers a shock to MES

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray gave a jolt to the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) members from Belgaum who called on him, by advising them that instead of agitating for a secession from Karnataka, they should lead a “respectful” life in Karnataka, adding “After all, I don’t see any problem with Belgaum being a part of Karnataka.”

Talking to the press here on Monday after meeting a delegation of MES leaders, the MNS chief without did not mince words. 

“I asked them (MES leaders) very clearly what exactly is the problem of Marathi-speaking people there? Are you being hounded because you are Marathi-speaking or is it because you are raising the question of inclusion of Belgaum into Maharashtra? They did not have any answer to this. So I suggested to them not to make an emotional issue.”

 He delivered a shock to me too.  A politician who didn't want to stoke/exploit an emotive issue?  Shocking.  Shocking.  

What Will The Food Security Bill Actually Cost?

The cost varies from Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 3.5 lakh crore(Food Security Scheme to cost Rs 3.5 lakh cr) depending on the source.  And the latter figure counts the current food subsidy plus an increase of around Rs 25,000 crore on account of the Bill, though the cost should just count the latter.  And then it also counts approximately Rs 1 lakh crore for 'boosting farm production'.

So, what is the real cost?

Bangalore's Deputy Mayor: Free Parking For All

Parking needs space research

While on the one hand, the City needs a parking policy to decongest many important roads, the ruling BJP in the BBMP as well as in the State is not keen on implementing the policy for one strong reason.

“Our policy is clear. We don’t want any parking fee. Parking in the City should be free of cost. We do not want to bring back a system we had fought against some years ago,” says, Deputy Mayor, S Harish. 

He says the Palike has plans to end the parking woes, which includes parking space beneath the playgrounds. 

Sheer genius. 

Anna Hazare: Is He All There?

It is difficult not to wonder if this man is all there when he says things like this (link: Anna calls for another ‘jail bharo’ agitation):

Giving a clean chit to Manmohan Singh for the logjam on the Lokpal Bill, he said the Prime Minister is good, but those holding his remote control are corrupt. “It appears, people are creating impediments in clearing the Lokpal Bill for the convenience of some future prime ministers,” the Gandhian said.

PS:  Why on earth does everyone insist on using "Gandhian"  when referring to him?  He may be living a simple life, but that doesn't make him Gandhian.  I'm not the only one thinking this for sure.  For a detailed take down see this: Spare Us the Gandhian Halo

On a Headlines Today programme, the channel head, an enthusiastic Rahul Kanwal, is talking to Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal (a former IRS officer who is now a prominent civil society activist). As he begins discussing ‘Ab iske aage kya’ (What now after this?), he turns to Anna Hazare, and asks in Hindi, “You say that those who are corrupt should be hanged, is that not against Gandhian principles?” Anna answers, again in Hindi, “That is why I have said that, today, in many things, along with Gandhi we have to look towards Shivaji. [Unclear] Patel committed a mistake, and Shivaji had the man’s hands cut off. This policy of Chhatrapati, in many ways, we have to think about. Hundred per cent non-violence is not possible. Sometimes, even this has to be done, and that is why I have been saying that these people should be hanged…” Kiran Bedi interjects, “Anna is not taking away due process… he is going by the due process, the point is [that] economic offences today in our country are bailable, [are punished] by fines, minimum imprisonment; [there’s] no recovery of property, it is a joke.”

This is a perfect example of how the Anna Hazare movement has been operating for a while. There is little confusion about what Anna Hazare means: when he says “hang them”, he means “hang them”; when he says “cut their hands off”, he means “cut their hands off”. Kiran Bedi did interject to put a palatable spin on these words, but what she said was clearly not what Anna meant. The accompanying profile in this issue clearly shows these words are in keeping with his past. As a result of Anna’s reformist zeal, the people of his native village Ralegan Siddhi have witnessed the public flogging of those who dare to drink, a ban on all intoxicants, and restrictions on cable TV. It does not take much to see how closely this resembles the ideals of the Taliban, especially if you factor in the idea of a few hands being chopped off. Which is why it is no surprise that the sympathy he has long displayed for the Hindu Right has culminated in his endorsement of Narendra Modi.

Even his language is filled with violence.  It is difficult to disagree with the author's conclusion: 

Hazare’s pretence to Gandhian values is a large part of his appeal. But Gandhi’s opposition to communal divides and violence are central to any Gandhian position. Hazare is no Gandhian, and if you forget appearances and concentrate on substance, adding enforced vasectomy to the list of requirements necessary for residence in his native village, Sanjay Gandhi is the only Gandhi who comes to mind in this context. The varied set of people who have come under his banner should have known this, but people have invested little or no time in studying Hazare’s past. So many are so caught up in the illusion of change, that they have been willing to forgo the truth about the man.

"Media Consolidation: The Illusion of Choice"

Media Consolidation: The Illusion of Choice 

• 6 media giants control 90% of what Americans read, watch, or listen to.  
• 232 media executives control the information diet of 277 million Americans

Free markets and competition work exceedingly well.  Really.  Why don't you believe me?