The Violent Face of South Asia #106

`` However, that is misplaced targetting of the subsidies and does not take away the fact that they are needed.``

There are no absolutes in life, everythhing is a shade of grey. When I speak against subsidies (not just agricultural), I dont question that some subsidies are needed and are a component of the ideal policy mix.

But, as with everything in India its been transformed into an engine of political patronage with scant regard to what makes the best economic sense.

The Violent Face of South Asia #93

I have no problem acknowledging stagnation in agricultural incomes. Farm output has stagnated, hardly rising 1-2% a year over the last decade. And I am not sure about the message I conveyed earlier, though I may disagree with Sainath`s style (specially when he speaks) when I have sat down and discussed substance of the issues with him, I have found him to be an eminently reasonable preson.

What I wished to convey to you is with regard to goverment spending on rural (farm to market roads, cold storages, irrigation ...). Government spending in infrastructure (both rural and urban) in India is low because of the crippling effect of wages & pensions and due to spending on subsidies. That is the critical issue.

When a politician like Sharad Pawar calls for increased spending on agriculture it is nothing but a siren call to his constituency and the beginning of another round of pork barrel spending, a further increase in agricultural subsidies. This is smilar to the farcas over minimum support prices every year.

The Violent Face of South Asia #92

Yes, its a prosperous region. A lot of it was based on the sugar cooperatives, thats SP`s main backers, they are the ones who made him who he is. Other than his usual games in pushing more subsidies towards already prosperous farmers, I think this time around we will see a push for ethanol blending in petrol.

The Violent Face of South Asia #90

I have interacted with P. Sainath on several occasions and am well acquianted with his views.

btw, it might interest you to know I actually grew up in Sharad Pawar`s constituency of Baramati and am well acquainted with his agenda.

I would urge you to read my post again with an open mind and understand what I am saying.

The Violent Face of South Asia #78

``Manmohan Singh calls for increasing national outlay for irrigation``
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=177327&cat=India

``He appealed to the states to formulate their own schemes to improve water management practices to stem weakening farm output.

Public investments in the irrigation sector have been declining steadily with states committing lesser funds to this core sector over the past few years.

The investment in irrigation had sharply come down from 23 percent of the outlay in the first plan to a mere five percent now.``

The Violent Face of South Asia Simran #78

``In a country where around 65% of the people or even more, are dependent on agriculture, the government allocates a negligible amount of the budget to this sector (less than 4%)``

---

I`m not sure how you came up with this figure, I think you may be referring to a recent speech by Manmohan Singh where he spoke about how spending on irrigation as a % of federal government spending had fallen to around 4%.

Most of the Indian goverment budgets (federal and central) are eaten up in employee expenses (wages and pension) and on subsidies. There are a wide range of subsidies that target agriculture, for instance let me give you a few examples:

- Minimum support prices: The government gaurentees farmers minimum prices for their produce. Punjab actually receives a large share of this subsidy, as it is directed towards cereal procurement. It has also inadvertantly dis-incentivised farmers from moving away from cereal production.

- Fertilizer subsidies: Fertilizer plants are suppplied with subsidized feedstock (natural gas and naptha) to keep fertilizer prices down. This burden is very high today with rising energy prices.

- Power subsidy: Electricity for Agricultural use is highly subsidized. Agricultural power in several states is nearly free or may cost as little as 10% of industrial electricity charges. It goes without saying that this power is widely stolen for industrial and residential use. It has led to depletion of ground water and bankcruptcy for State electricity boards (Indian state run utility companies).

All together all such agricultural subsides represent over 20% of state and federal budgets. The problem in India is rather that spending on agriculture is crippled by subsides and is unable to develop infrastructure.

The Trial of a Nation #100
http://www.nti.org/db/china/npakpos.htm

``ew insights into the level of Chinese assistance to Pakistan came about in early 2004 as a result of on-site investigations into Libya`s nuclear weapons program, following Mu`ammar al-Qadhdhafi`s dramatic reversal on WMD programs in late 2003. As part of disarmament inspections, early Chinese nuclear weapons designs were handed over to IAEA inspectors by Libyan scientists, wrapped in plastic bags bearing an address in Islamabad. The possession by a third party of complete step-by-step instructions for a workable implosion-type bomb raised anew concerns over China`s proliferation history with Pakistan, as notes included in the package of documents reportedly suggested that China continued to mentor Pakistani scientists on the finer points of bomb-building over several years following the technology transfers. Both China and Pakistan have refused to admit any knowledge of the transfer.``

The Trial of a Nation #95

You may dispute the supply of actual fissle material to Pakistan from China. But the evidence for Chinese supplying the following is absolutely clear:

- Supply of critical equipment to Kahuta HEU plant.
- Bomb designs (see the evidence that came out of Libya, it consisted of notes made by Pakistani scientists from a series of seminars given by Chinese experts on bomb design)
- Complete supply (turnkey) of the unsafegarded 50 MWt heavy water pressurized reactor at Khushab.
- Possible participation in setting up unsafegaurded heavy water plant at Khushab.
- Possible supply of heavy water to start up the Khushab reactor.

The Trial of a Nation #93

Given the Pakistani emphasis on their missile program, I dont think there is any doubt about their acess to Plutonium other than from Khushab.

The Trial of a Nation #94

Aleph, would be interested in your views on this:

What would be our best estimate for the Pakistani fisile material stockpile:

- given our best known estimates for the capacity of HEU plant at Kahuta and the period of operation.

- About plutonium stockpiles we know that Pinstech ``New Labs`` has experimented over two decades with plutonium speration so assuming that part of the technology is mastered and assuming Khushab has been running for lets say 10 years.

The Trial of a Nation #77

Of course I dont expect GOP to tell me. I want your views on it.

The Trial of a Nation #72

Well then why dont you tell us:

- do the missiles have uranium warheads. If yes how much weapons grade uranium does Kahuta produce?
- If not where did the plutonium come from?

- If it all comes from Kaushab, how large is Kaushab? also open sources say Kaushab started functioning only in the mid `90`s. Is this false?

Here We Go Again ``the 3 test cases have proved that Jinnah`s vision of India (Pre-1940) was right and Gandhi and Nehru were wrong.``

You must be relieved with that result, for a moment I thought Gandhi was going to come out on top, but good old Jinnah pulled though in the end.

Here We Go Again #159

yeah you guys are Hitler`s chosen people, rejoice.

Here We Go Again #151

How did Harimau become ``mine``, who the heck is he? for all i know he could be Albanian taxi driver in Chicago.

#152

I see no humor in it, maybe your ``sense of humor`` is more finely developed.

Here We Go Again #145
``In fact, he is probably one of the nicest persons at Chowk with a great sense of humor. Ali is first and foremost a Pakistani, and a distant second anything else.``

you sure have a warped sense of niceness. On this very set of interacts Ali expresses how he sees no problem with Pakistani Jihadi groups which carry out murder and mayhem in India.

Maybe calling for murder of innocents is the first test of Pakistani nationalism. He certainly passes that test.