RE: Value of Indian Life

["Dr. Sanjeev Sabhlok" <sanjeev@sabhlokcity.com>]

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(2) At 08:53 AM 1/31/01 -0800, "Krishnan Kandasamy" <nkandasamy@hotmail.com>
 wrote:
>Human dignity is lost in this nation of billions. and here are some 
>"socialistic" morons saying that population is not a problem.

>Strange that only Babus and Netas think that Indian population explosion is 
>good, may be that way they don't have to worry about tax collection, votes 
>and ask people to bear with higher taxes when we buy rust buckets from 
>Russia with goodies for babus and netas who signed the deal.
>
>Too much to ask from illiterate and Goonda Politicians and 
>Literate,numbskull babus.

Dear Krishnan, your post was perhaps too strong, and somewhat off the mark,
if I may say so. Unfortunately, socialism or capitalism has nothing to do
with an understanding of the way population works, though it is clear that
socialistic policies have increased the number of people in India
(precisely because it increases poverty) by at least 400 million, in my
opinion. Had we followed the policies of East Asian nations since mid 60s,
we could have been 600 million, and very very rich today. 

Indeed,'socialists' in India have always said that population is the
problem while it is actually the economic policies which are a problem
(i.e., our socialism, to summarize in a word, is the root problem). It is
just not true that "here are some "socialistic" morons saying that
population is not a problem." There are no such morons. I wish I could find
such morons in our policy circles which are riddled to the brim with
socialists.	

To understand how population actually increases or decreases, please go
through my very brief paper "India Could Have Had 40 Crore Less People,
With Much Higher Standard of Living" availabe in pdf format at
http://www.indiapolicy.org/debate/notes.html.

More detail can be found by reading Julian Simon's "Ultimate Resource, I,
II" (available somewhere on the internet) Easterlin's "Growth Triumphant"
(available in most libraries) and Barun Mitra's articles and publications
(Liberty Institute: ask Barun for details on availability at
bmitra@bigfoot.com), among many others. 

Our 'numbskull babus' are unfortunately great fans of the belief that
population is India's problem. They are utterly and very sadly completely
off the mark!!

If you look at how household economics runs, based on the use of children
for various purposes, you will note as a ****universal**** law that the
rich have very few children and the poor many more. That is India's
problem: poverty ****created**** and exacerbated by our 'numbskull babus'
and 'goonda politicians.' India need not be poor tomorrow! Simply change
economic policies, and implement the negative income tax scheme. We can be
very rich in 10 years. See my detailed exposition in the booklet "Becoming
Rich and Powerful: A Primer for the Citizens of Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh" at the publications page of IPI.

Sadly, good policies are often so simple that people do not buy them till
it is brought back to them by 'foreign' experts from World Bank or
elsewhere. On resignation from the IAS recently a few weeks ago I have
formed an organization called IndiaConsult Associates, and will now propose
to the PM of India to eliminate poverty in India as a 'foreign' expert from
Australia. That might get this project off the ground, a project which even
the Secretary Planning Commission, Dr. N.C.  Saxena, acknowledged could not
get off the ground due to our sorry state of bureaucratic and political
affairs. I could not do any good for India while in the IAS; mayble from
Australia I could do some good!

Note therefore that as soon as poverty declines in India, as a consequence
of good economic policies, population will decline dramatically, virtually
overnight (in a couple of decades). Indeed, our economic reforms, howsoever
weak they have been, have strongly helped control our population in the
last 15 years.

Chow! And no need to sign off IPI! Keep writing!! 

Sanjeev


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