Invest in Real Estate ! Lessons from History    [ July 2009]

Motilal Nehru gifted Anand Bhavan. And that has been shouted about a Trillion times. Result ?

His son and his dynasty have had India on long or short lease for a major part of the last 60 years.  Investment in real estate pays in the long run.

Real Estate prices are down. Buy them cheap. Your progeny can gain.

The great, great, grandson of Motilal [Nehru ] is the next Prime Ministerial Candidate.

Jawaharlal Nehru is my choice of the Third Rate PM of India. Some may think of V.P.Singh but Nehru wins hands down, for the following reasons

The resources / advantages that he had

He had the opportunity, power and support to lead India on a growth path. He had near complete support and trust of the people and his party for a long time

Yet he failed. That is why he is my choice of my third rate PM. Some major failures are highlighted

India, with its present geography, is a legacy of the British. The unification / consolidation of 500 plus princely fiefdoms into the main stream was due to the efforts of Sardar Patel and V.P. Menon.

That was a monumental task and vision. As a presumed historian, [ his letters to his daughter was prescribed as a history book in Schools ], he should have realised the value of that achievement

No. He divided India into different States on Linguistic basis in 1957. It is a wrong move for future. He made the beginning with Language as the basis. With over 200 spoken languages in India, how do one stop at the level of say 2007 and where does it end. A bad precedent has been set firmly

His daughter tried to subdivide further, with religion, in Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. In Gujarat, birth place of Gandhi, lasting tribute was paid to him by Madhasi Solanki with KHAM - Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslims. Laloo contents himself with MY - Muslims and Yadavs

[ Proof: Humchi Mumbai - Shiv Sena was born. 'North is prospering, South is decaying' - DMK started taking strong roots. Cauvery belongs to Karnataka and they have to get a major share - Cauvery dispute is on. 4 Hindi speaking persons killed in upper Assam in August 2007 ] 

 

He perpetuated the Kashmir Problem

We wanted Kashmir at any cost and took it, we agreed that plebiscite is the solution or we chose to part it away. Notionally, India holds to the territory that it has as does Pakistan. God alone knows what the Kashmiri majority wants. The unproductive stalemate continues leading to constant friction between the 2 countries. And in the meanwhile, Kashmiri Pundits spend their lives in Refugee Camps.
 

Prosperity to the Public

Despite the grandiose initial 5 years plans, the real wages of the Industrial workers decreased during the 2nd and 3rd plan periods. Real wage is money wages adjusted for inflation / by Consumer Price Index or wholesale price index

The real wages increased during Lal Bahadur Shastri's period - despite limited tenure, drought conditions / poor monsoon. This is what I found while writing a term paper in 1968 for a course in Industrial Relations. As I took the course lightly, I did not do deep research. But the figures that I collected are right to the best of my belief and conviction. I felt ashamed then that like many others, I also used to laugh when Shastri would appear on Indian newsreels. ]

 

He Polluted India forever

He thrust Indira on India with despicable methods. The all India atmosphere got changed. Corruption became institutionalised. Religious and Caste Politics was conceived / nurtured and allowed to spread. Now no power on Earth can make them vanish. It would always simmer

As if that is not enough, his ashes were scattered to increase Air Pollution. What if other ego maniacs like him wish to do the same with their ashes ?

An Agrarian Economy was starved of Water and Funds - Misconceived Focus

Some of the Rivers could have been interlinked. Many Canals could have been made for better irrigation. 60% of the people would have easily benefitted then.

Do Narmada Dam, provide more water to Gujarat now ? Does Indira Gandhi Canal provide more water to earlier arid land in Rajasthan ? [ I do wish that somebody thought of compensation the way, Sajjan Jindal did in West Bengal. He has set a standard that can only be improved upon ]

Today, you cannot think a dam or canal without major public protest, political cheapness and very high costs ? Who lost ?

The NRI  - the non respected Indian - commoner or a poor Agriculturalist.

Over 125 people have died due to floods in Bihar in August, 2007. 40 people died in Andhra Pradesh due to crop failure. 8 persons committed suicide in Maharashtra, unable to pay their loans. The average annual income of Marathwada farmer is Rs 7000/. Newspapers and TV news channels report these for 48 hours and go to sleep or sing the praise of growing GDP. Government Organisations announce immediate compensation to the highlighted persons / families but never bother to probe the cause and bring about an improvement

If only they had become a bit more wealthy over time like the permit license raj beneficiaries ! Nehru needlessly drove the bus on a wrong route, pretending to be a know all on everything  
 

Sonia and her followers want to broadcast to the world through newspaper advertisements also that they have done a great thing, which was not attempted earlier. If they mean, what they say

They were dozing for the last many / 50 years - Manmohan also as he was the FM in 1993

Nehru, in their own words, was a third rate prime minister

But some can say, others did no better and V.P. Singh was much worse

V.P Singh admitted that he is resigning from Chief Ministership of UP as he was not able to save his own elder brother. Despite that, others around, chose him. You and I would not have given him an inch. All said and done, he was a blunder

Nehru was a Disaster in comparison

V.P. Singh did not inflict these lasting pains. Secondly, fellows like V.P. Singh, Deve Gowda, Gujral and umpteen others did not stay long. [ some stayed just enough to get the perquisites of an ex PM ]

So, Nehru is a Third Rate PM in my scale 

 

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Main / original content:  2001: Last minor modifications: June 12, 2010:     Personal website of R. Ranganathan M.Sc., [ MBA - IIMA]