My Krishna Realisation Journey So Far....

I was lucky to be born to a mother who could recite Bhagavad Gita by heart since she was 15. But as Spiritual Journey is an individual process of realising Krishna, I had to embark on my own journey. While my early years were spent on adjusting in this material world, I believe Krishna was always at the back of my mind, nudging me gently towards him.

The recession of 2008 was a god-sent opportunity when the automotive sector was badly effected and we went into 3-day week and I had to decide between taking 2 jobs or doing what makes me happy. Luckily I chose the latter and my Krishna-Realisation Journey formally began. 

My first project at ISKCON's Bhaktivedanta Manor in London was a 'Krishna Conscious Children's Book Project' in 24 languages by Mother Urmila. It was a project with a tight 99 day dead-line and involved working with committed volunteers from all over the world. It's successful launch led to an invitation by Sita Rama Das to join him on the 'Ahimsa Milk Project' (www.ahimsamilk.org)

As with any startup, Ahimsa 'slaughter-free' Milk Project was very ambitious and first of its kind in the Western World but with very lean resources. It was fun to do 2.00 AM milk deliveries in NW London, setting up systems, solving logistics problems, negotiating with the farms and much more with a wonderful team. While presently, the project is operationally set, other strategic challenges remains and I even though no longer associated directly in the project,  would be happy to see this project become a template for all dairies across the world during my life-time.

As they say, godliness is next to cleanliness, I was lucky to be given the opportunity to serve in the Radharani Bakery at Manor, every Sunday in cleaning services and it gives me great satisfaction to clean the bakery, kitchen and sitting tea-room for all the Krishna's guests every Sunday.

As consistency in any field comes with knowledge, devotional service is no different. This led me to join the wonderful courses run by College of Vedic Studies at Manor viz., Explore, Gita Life, Bhakti-Life & Bhakti-Shastri.

A life changing event during my Bhakti-Shastri Course gave me an opportunity to live Bhagavad Gita practically. As Gita became my guiding light during the darkest period of my life, I was motivated to join 'College of Vedic Studies' so I can assist it's wonderful team in organising many such courses and Spiritual Retreats more efficiently.

As Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita 10.10, "To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me."

I can clearly see Krishna's hand in every step of my life now and in this wonderful journey, I have made some lovely and caring friends and relationships, which I hope will last more than a life-time.

With Kind Regards,

Pradeep Kabra

'KAPUT'alism

Looks like it is going to be a 'dead-decade' for the West after the bankers triggered the financial crisis resulting in not just mass unemployments for the youth but also financial crisis across countries.

So, what is 'broken' with Capitalism in it's present form? This is the question we all are asking in the present crisis.

I would like to point out a few quirks which needs to be amended asap if the system is to bring long term prosperity to masses and hence the peace across the world.

1. Role of Government - An example of better management presented via this 'Utilities Example' by Martin Wolf & Prof. Helm on 13-Jun-2008 in FT.

A regulated utility consists of a set of assets, an operating function and a co-ordinating function. The second, in turn, consists of two activities: running the business day to day and planning and implementing investment projects. Professor Helm argues , persuasively, that lumping all these together has led to inefficiency and a rip-off of consumers*.

Utilities have high capital costs and low operating costs. The purpose of the regulatory regime is to assure owners of the assets that they will not be expropriated. Thus the regulatory regime needs to offer a return sufficient to persuade investors to finance existing assets, known in the UK as the regulatory asset base. The regulatory regime also needs to offer private contractors sufficient returns to operate the business and develop and implement new capital projects.

Under the assumption that all these functions are to be carried out by a single entity, the solution has been to offer a so-called "weighted average cost of capital", whose components are debt and equity. Prof Helm's argument is that this is a mistake: the weighted average cost of capital is too high for finance of the regulatory asset base and too low for finance of the other activities. Worse, the private sector has understood this, with two dire consequences: excess profits on ownership of the assets and tendencies to under-investment.

The obvious way to finance the asset base is via debt. There is no reason to force customers to pay higher charges than are needed to service debt raised against the assets. Why, after all, should customers compensate investors for the risk of expropriation, which the regulatory regime exists to eliminate? Because the weighted average cost of capital is well above the cost of debt, investors have been able to buy the companies (BAA and the water companies, for example), replace the equity with debt and enjoy a licence to print money. Prof Helm estimates that this financial arbitrage has been worth up to £1,000bn a year, at the expense of the customers, predominantly in water. This is, quite simply, a scandal.

Yet this is not all. While the weighted average cost of capital is too high for finance of existing assets it is too low for the risky operating and, above all, investment activities. Not surprisingly, the companies have little interest in undertaking these.

The solution is to disaggregate the regulatory regime and the functions of these companies. Interestingly, the market itself is carrying out much of this, via its financial engineering. Finance of existing assets should be by debt, with the cost of capital set accordingly. Operating the assets and adding new ones could (and should) be franchised out, as is done for water in France. Instead of setting returns, as the regulators now do, the franchiser would discover the returns the market seeks via competitive auctions. Should franchisees fail to act in accordance with the contract, they would lose their franchise. What a simple solution that would have been to the problem of BAA!

When one looks at it this way, it seems obvious that the finance of assets is a suitable function for the public sector, which has one huge advantage - the ability to borrow cheaply. The difference between public finance of the assets and debt finance of a privately owned regulatory asset base, whose service is guaranteed by charges on customers set by a publicly appointed regulator, is, to put it mildly, not obvious.

The most sensible solution would have been for the public sector to own & finance the assets, with the operating and investment activities contracted out.

So simple. But what do the Government's do. They go from one extreme to another at a high cost to the people - all in the name of CAPITALISM.

2. Financing of Political Parties in the so called West & Democracies.

Different countries have different political systems all within the 'Democracy'. In one form or other all the major politicians are financed by the big business people and companies.

3. CRR Ratio to be set by Independent Central Bank and not the Commercial Bankers.

While CRR Ratio should not be more than 1:4, Debt should be punished and Equity rewarded not other way round

What the government's should understand is just keeping today's youth on dole will not make the problem go away. What about their minds? As the mind is restless and it needs productive work to be stable, only a stable economy with sensible policies can help achieve that. Otherwise, today's unemployed will become tomorrow's terrorists.

Kind regards,

Pradeep

My First Encounter With A MAYAVADI!!!

19-Aug-2014

Hare Krishna Dear Sender,

Thank you for your essay but unfortunately you are repeating what we call Mayavadi Tone.

If you want a proper assessment, you have to see both sides of the view and then use your intelligence to distill noise out from the tune.

If you take just few words and focus on them without context, then you get Mayavadi 'formless' philosophy.

Krishna very clearly states in BG 9.22 that "For those who worship me with exclusive devotion meditating on my TRANSCENDENTAL FORM, to them I carry what they lack and I preserve what they have"

Further in BG 4.6 Krishna very clearly defines the Transcendental Body - "Although I am unborn and My TRANSCENDENTAL BODY never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original TRANSCENDENTAL FORM."

When his transcendental body never deteriorates, how can the highest state be FORMLESS?

As lots of so called Godmen have made a big business out of Religion, they interpret it as per their convenience. Before quoting Osho, you have to find out which Parampara or Succession he belongs to? Otherwise, we end up wasting our time discussing spiritual things in mundane way with a lot of mental speculation which takes us no where.

I wish you all the best on your spiritual journey as when I see people with difference of opinion or even when mental speculators try to argue, I remember BG 4.11 - "As all surrender Unto ME, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha"

There are many paths to the almighty but we are lucky that Prabhupada distilled the most simple and direct path from the Parampara beginning  with Krishna to Brahma to Narada to Caitanya Mahaprabhu on to him. So, my personal experience is, this direct approach is not just simple to follow in this age of Kali as Caitanya Mahaprabhu decreed but is also very very effective and clear without any mental speculation.

Kind regards,

Pradeep

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18-Aug-2014

Dearest Pradeep

It was wonderful meeting you on Sunday and thankful for the time you took out to talk to us. Please find attached document for your attention (see below). Look forward to your reply.

I have the privilege of writing an essay on some of the points we discussed in the informal question 

and answer session on Sunday. The issue is not with the main philosophy as these tend to be selling 

points and like most spiritual organisations, they are more universal.

However, there is an issue with one of the basic principles taken from www.mayapur.com ‘We are 

not our bodies but eternal, spirit souls, parts and parcels of God (Krishna). As such, we are all 

brothers, and Krishna is ultimately our common father. We accept the process of transmigration of the 

soul (reincarnation).’

We must agree that we are eternal beings, not only part of All That Is but also the Eternal too. 

Although universally we are all one despite the diversity seen and God can be seen as the Father 

(Creator) but He can be seen in His children too. We can call Krishna by any name since all names 

of the Eternal Spirit are merely nicknames and not the true name or sound. Everything that describes 

the Eternal are mere pointers to this Energy and must not be mistaken as the Formless Energy itself. 

The main issue here is that the process of reincarnation is generally accepted but is it the definitive 

answer? Not really.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 8, verse 5, Krishna says: “And whosoever, leaving the body, goes forth 

remembering Me alone at the time of death, he attains My Being; there is no doubt about this.”

We have heard and read this line many times. What does it mean? We have to remember that 

Krishna is not talking about his Form but the Formless Energy that he is – His viraat roop. Now, if 

one remembers the Almighty then these lines states that he will become the Almighty – So what is 

the question of the soul going through reincarnation again? It cannot be if he has remembered the 

Ultimate Reality and will merge into that. Krishna when he says ‘My Being’ does not been anything as 

a gross or subtle form – it will be formless. 

Of the same chapter (8), we go to verse 21 and Krishna says ‘What is called the Unmanifested and 

the Imperishable, That they say is the highest goal (path). They who reach It do not return (to this 

cycle of births and deaths). That is My highest abode (place or state).” This highlights that the highest 

attainment is enlightenment. Enlightenment means that the person transcends the cycle of births 

and deaths because a devotee reaches such a level that only God can reside in. The highest state is 

the abode of formlessness – that which is Unmanifested and Imperishable. Everything with a form – 

gross or subtle can be destroyed but that which has no form whatsoever can never be destroyed as it 

cannot be created – it simply IS. 

In verse 24 of the same chapter (8), ‘men who know Brahman go to Brahman.’ This highlights that 

once you know Brahman, the Supreme, the Ultimate, they merge into Him.

 As it is said in the Guru Granth Sahib ‘Brahm Giani Ka Sagal Akar, Brahm Giani Aap Nirankar’ and 

translates as ‘Brahm Giani pervades the whole manifest creation. Brahm Giani is Himself the formless 

Universal Lord.’ This shows us that the one that realises the Formless, Shiva, Nirankar they become 

the Lord Himself. This is guaranteed in the scriptures. If this is the Ultimate Realisation then we need 

to accept that we are not separate to God. God is in each one of us as the one who has attained Self-

Realisation pervades the creation and is the viraat roop himself – he becomes Krishna himself!

Now let us go deep into the element of Brahman. It is said that Krishna is The Supreme Personality of 

Godhead. Firstly, God does not have a personality. Osho says ‘I am trying to raise God. When I say 

there is no God, I mean there is no person as God, there is no personality as God’

Before we go into this quote, what does personality mean? It means ‘the combination of 

characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character’. This is the modern day 

version of what a personality means, however that is not the complete truth. Persona means a false 

mask, something that an actor does. A personality is the characteristics of an actor that he dons 

whilst in the role. God is not a made up role. Also, God doesn’t have a character. A formless being 

may have qualities but these qualities do not create a personality. A personality is something only 

humans have and it is unfair to say God has a personality as He is beyond all impressions and labels. 

As Osho says, we are trying to make God a human being and subjecting him to that means he has 

an ego, is jealous, manipulative etc. God doesn’t have thoughts the way we do. A passing thought 

is a passing shadow for the Lord. Osho does state that ‘The difference between the enlightened 

person and the unenlightened person is not of quality – they both are absolutely alike. There is only 

one small difference: that the enlightened person is aware; he recognizes the ultimate pervading the 

whole, permeating the whole, vibrating, pulsating. He recognizes the heartbeat of the universe. He 

recognizes that the universe is not dead, it is alive.’ We can see that God is not a personality. It is 

an energy that is very much alive. Osho then comes to the final conclusion, which is beautiful ‘God 

has to be freed from all concepts of personality. Personality is a prison. God has to be freed from any 

particular form; only then he can have all the forms. He has to be freed from any particular name so 

that all the names become His.’ We need to free God from our concepts and delusions. When we 

free our minds of that which we think is God then maybe god will come to us. We have to be open to 

the Divine so the divinity can enter us. However, if we fill ideas about the divine then we will miss the 

divine entering our being. The Divine being separate will not cause the permanent change that we 

may require. If we want stillness, calmness, peace then we need to attain in this form – the formless 

state. God is a state of being. 

Let us go into the Bhagavad Gita on chapter 13:

13. I will declare that which has to be known, knowing which one attains to immortality, the 

beginningless supreme Brahman, called neither being nor non-being.

14. With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears 

everywhere, He exists in the worlds, enveloping all.

15. Shining by the functions of all the senses, yet without the senses; unattached, yet supporting all; 

devoid of qualities, yet their experiencer,

16. Without and within (all) beings, the unmoving and also the moving; because of His subtlety, 

unknowable; and near and far away is That.

17. And undivided, yet He exists as if divided in beings; He is to be known as the supporter of beings; 

He devours and He generates also.

18. That, the Light of all lights, is beyond darkness; it is said to be knowledge, the Knowable and the 

goal of knowledge, seated in the hearts of all.

19. Thus the Field as well as knowledge and the Knowable have been briefly stated. My devotee, 

knowing this, enters into My Being.

20. Know thou that Nature and Spirit are beginningless; and know also that all

modifications and qualities are born of Nature.

21. In the production of the effect and the cause, Nature (matter) is said to be the cause; in the 

experience of pleasure and pain, the soul is said to be the cause.

22. The soul seated in Nature experiences the qualities born of Nature; attachment to the qualities is 

the cause of his birth in good and evil wombs.

23. The Supreme Soul in this body is also called the spectator, the permitter, the supporter, the 

enjoyer, the great Lord and the Supreme Self.

24. He who thus knows Spirit and Matter, together with the qualities, in whatever condition he may be, 

he is not reborn.

As we can see that those that attain liberation, who know Krishna, will not be reborn. We see the 

qualities of Brahman here. We can see that God is a state of evolution and if we understand the 

metaphors, we see that he is continuously expanding his form yet his essence is formless. He resides 

within us and this is shown in the Upanishads: ‘Brahman is the First Cause and last refuge. Brahman, 

the hidden Self in everyone’ This shows us that Brahman, Krishna or whatever name we call it is in 

within everything. Therefore, if we are subject to reincarnation then so is Krishna. But since we have 

the opportunity to transcend the cycle of birth and death, we can attain salvation and be one with 

Krishna forever. It does not state anywhere here that when you achieve the highest state that you will 

regress back into the cycle. 

I will make my final point about mantras. I am not against reciting mantras but I do not feel it 

is needed to attain the Ultimate. Constance remembrance and remaining still in the meditation of the 

Formless can give us liberation. Nirankari Baba ji has said: ‘Through rites and rituals also we may 

achieve certain things, but not salvation. Salvation becomes possible by merging the drop of 'I' into 

the sea of 'Thou' only.’

As we can see that salvation is not through rituals. Even if chanting God’s name is a ritual, it will not 

give us the Ultimate. We need to become one with All That Is and after that, chanting His name and 

knowing Him is important. As we must remain in remembrance. The name isn’t everything, it is just a 

tool to create awareness of your supreme nature. 

The Avtar Bani (Nirankari scripture) states in verse 168:

He is the perfect True Master, who knows God - the eternal Truth;

The Master, who asks his disciples only to enchant a word, is imperfect.

What is the use of such a Master who can't remove one's doubts and delusions?

What type of enlightened saint is he, who does not feel the presence of God with him?

O' man, the True Master reveals God in a moment;”

Here we see again that it is all about knowing God and feeling His presence. It is important to find a 

Guru that can show you instantaneously without a question or anything in return. Chanting words will 

not get us anywhere unless we know the origin of that word – the origin of everything is Brahman/

Nirankar! 

In the Katha Upanishad it states: Blessed are they who, through an illumined Teacher, attain to 

Self-realization. The truth of the Self cannot come through one Who has not realized that he is 

the Self. The intellect cannot reveal the Self, Beyond its duality of the subject And object. They 

who see themselves in all And all in them help others through spiritual Osmosis to realize the Self 

themselves.’ Therefore, it is important to find a living Teacher who has realised that He is the 

Ultimate Self. As I end this essay here, I ask you to come to know the Truth. The Truth is not far away 

from you. As you can see, the basic philosophy of liberation, which is transcending birth and death is 

accepted in Hinduism and in the Bhagavad Gita. It shows that the expectations of ISKCON devotees 

is not to know the Ultimate Goal. My main thing against ISKCON is that it teaches rebirth and not 

salvation – therefore not the truth. It also states God being a personality but as we can see from 

the Bhagavad Gita itself that God is a non-being too which eliminates any possibility of a personality.

Real Financial Reform!!!

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/152ccd58-3294-11e4-93c6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3CLWNUe1Y

It doesn't need a book by Mr. Martin Wolf of Financial Times or X number of articles to tell us what is correct reform. It can be summed-up in just 2 lines:

1. The CRR should be no more than 1:4
2. Debt should be punished and Equity rewarded not other way round

Finally, Printing Money should be a) the last option not the default one b) It should be completely under the control on Central Bank and not under the Investment Bankers as it is presently.

It's not complicated is it? But then, when all are controlled by the bankers (including the politicians, the central bankers, the consumers, the businesses) for different reasons, then we need tonnes of articles and books to understand what went wrong and loads of regulation to show that something is being done!!!

Regards,

Pradeep

Malaga Spiritual Retreat Presentation Notes with Bhakta Charu Maharaj - 17-20 Jul 2014

Theme 1 : Our understanding of Sirla Prabhupada as Founder Acarya of ISKCON:

My Understanding:

As the basis of ISKCON as an institution is spreading 'Krishna Consciousness' across the world, and that is done via the teachings, purports, books and writings of Sirla Prabhupada, who in the true spirit of Guru Succession passed this transcendental knowledge of 'Krsna' in the digestable form set by the Gaudia-Vaisnava heirarchy, thereby protecting us from the vast number of mental speculators who try to project 'Krsna-Katha', 'Bhagavad Gita' & Other Vedic-Spiritual Literature to suit their own needs.

This combination of True Knowledge, Desire, Resourcefulness, Man-Management, Organisation Skills and Adaptation filled with practicality is difficult to find in a single personality, not just within the realms of ISKCON but also in the other Spiritual / Business Organisations.

When you couple all the above with Pioneer Spirit (spreading Krsna-Consciousness in West & Rest of the World) along with the Start-Up Mentality / Initiative, one gets a very unique combination, which is irreplaceable. 

The future generations of Gurus & Acaryas in ISKCON can only take his legacy forward fulfilling his and his spiritual masters' desire / goal of spreading 'Krsna-Consciousness' across every nook and corner of this world.

Theme 2: Effect of Sirla Prabhupada in your Life:

Effect in My Life:

a) By establishing the global network of Hare-Krsna Temples, which serves as a platform for devotees to come together and 'Associate' in practicing 'Krsna-Consciousness' and 'Enlightening One-Another' thereby progressing in one's own Spiritual Life and getting closer to Krsna.

b) By setting up Courses like 'Bhakti-Shastri' and 'Bhakti-Vaibhav', helping in systematic study of this 'Spiritual-Science'. This knowledge and the friendships/association attained during this process is very Joyful.

c) By facilitating my understanding to put 'Krsna' as the Centre of all my Activities.

Haribol

Pradeep Kabra

Goodbye RCB!!!

If I was in the RCB Dressing Room, my comments would be as follows on getting knocked out of IPL 2013 Play-Offs:

1. Too much reliance on batting superstars:
Apart from Gayle, Kohli and DeVilliers I can't recollect any other batsmen in the team. That means, while these three score heavily and quickly most of the time, the real problem starts when they fail. When they fail, the others have neither the exposure nor confidence to take the team through.

Maybe, rotating the other lot in batting order and giving them few opportunities should do the trick.

2. Inability to play percentage cricket and hence finish-off tight games:
While playing exciting cricket is good for box-office, it is not enough to win games. Scoring 250+ is great but you can't do that in every game.

Hence, the basic approach of doing as Dhoni says 'little things correct' should do the trick.

3. No bowling-pack leader:
Apart from Zaheer Khan in the last 2 games, I honestly can't recollect a single bowler from RCB even though I watched their 12/16 games on the TV.

Spending the budget evenly on bowlers and batsmen along with all-rounders should do the trick even if they have to sell Gayle in the next season to achieve that.

4. Inexperienced Captain:
A Captain should be more than a batsman or bowler. He should not just lead the team on the field but also outside of it. That comes from presence, cool-head and experience. Unfortunately, the talented and young but intense Kohli lacks that at this stage of his career.

For the next couple fo seasons, DeVilliers should take charge of the team and by then if Kohli learns the ropes and tricks, he can ease into the Captaincy Role.

Regards,

Pradeep Kabra

Little Girl's HAPPINESS!!!

When a little girl in a candy shop ran out of her pocket money, she innocently asked her daddy "Daddy, why can't we buy more money?"

Well, the little girl should rather have asked "Daddy, why can't we print more money when the central bankers are doing it all the time?"

Do Mr. Bernanke or Mr. King have any answers to this little girl's question?

When the average salary of Goldman Sach's employee was more than half a million dollars, we knew there would a run on the leveraged banks. Then instead of reigning in the greedy wonkers, the politicians and media were extolling the genius of leverage.

When finally there was a run on the banks, George Bush appoints the biggest crook of all, the then CEO of Goldman Sachs, Hank Paulson as his Treasury Secretary. Paulson naturally protects the interests of his pay-masters and pours billions of tax-payers money in saving the same banks all in the name of "saving the economy from Armageddon". Very neatly he converts the 'banking crisis' into 'sovergein crisis'

Now, enter the Act II players like Mr. Ben Bernanke and Mr. Mervyn King. All in the name of saving the economy they open up the printing presses. We hear terms in QE1, QE2, QE3, Bond Purchase etc., thereby laying the platform for the next mutation of the crisis which is the beast called Inflation.

Well, if the hell of inflation is the final destination for all of us, then why not make the little girl happy and let her dad print money?

Kind Regards,

Pradeep Kabra

Anatomy of a Modern Trader

Since you can't 'beat' market, why not 'cheat' market!!!

As the Wall Street Journal reported today, the cheating is done via a technique called 'layering'

Step 1 - Register the trading firm in tax-haven to avoid paying taxes in a 'legal' way ofcourse.

Step 2 - Get some high-speed computers and hire traders in far-flung parts of the world from China to Romania.

Step 3 - Make them work across the time zones aligning with New York / London / Tokyo

Step 4 - Play the game as follows:
a trader might buy a small number of shares at $ 10 and place an order to sell them for $ 10.10 on an alternative trading venue, such as a dark pool. He also places a series of large orders to buy this same stock on an exchange for higher prices—$ 10.20, $ 10.30 and $ 10.40—“layering” on orders that create an impression of strong demand.
When this apparent demand prompts other market participants to raise their “buy” orders to $ 10.10, the trader’s “sell” order is executed and he instantly cancels his large buy orders, pocketing a 10- cent- a-share profit.
The trader also may do the opposite— placing a small buy order at $ 9.90 and simultaneously several large sell orders at lower prices that will draw the market price downward, the direction the trader now wants it to go.

Step 5 - When caught, pay the fine without admitting or denying the charge after dragging it in courts for few months against regulators.

Step 6 - Disband the company and go back to Step 1 with another name.

Regards,

Pradeep Kabra

Re: A canny way to revive our moribund housing sector

Dear Sir,

M/s Besley and Leunig give some good suggestions on finance and supply side of housing market.

However, it will not solve the first-time buyers conundrum. The problem is not shortage of properties. The population of UK has not exploded in the last 50 years that the houses are short.

The problem is the available homes are allowed to be taken up by the non-resident foreigners who not just take up the properties meant for locals but also inflate the price in the process thus creating a shortage of properties and rendering the surrounding properties out of reach of the first-time buyers.

The second problem is easy finance available to privileged few to gobble up multiple properties thereby locking up the properties creating artificial shortfalls for first-time buyers.

The solutions are as follows:

On the finance side, the properties should be available on mortgate to foreigners only if they are resident in the country. Also, the deposit rate for more than one house owners should be atleast 50% of the value of property.

On the supply side, the planning regime is robust and decentralised enough.

It is not the planning authorities who are at fault as the authors suggest. It is thanks to the planning restrictions that UK didn't go the Spainish way where there are more than 700,000 new finished unsold homes which distorted the Spanish economy beyond means and is the root cause of their financial downfall.

The fact is many commentators in the past and present have used first-time buyers as a front-end to fulfil their or their masters (read banks, construction firms) needs.

Kind regards,

Pradeep Kabra


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A canny way to revive our moribund housing sector

By Tim Besley and Tim Leunig in Financial Times on 12-Jun-2012

The construction industry has ground to a halt. The Office for National Statistics reports that house building in the first quarter was 20 per cent down on a year ago, 50 per cent down on 2005, and 80 per cent down from levels that prevailed in the late 1960s. This is bad for growth and bad for employment.

There are two problems. First, the need to rebuild balance sheets means that lenders are not offering mortgages in reasonable quantities, particularly to first-time buyers. Second, the planning system inhibits the availability of land even when people are willing and able to cover construction costs. The result is high land prices and high house prices.


Both problems need to be addressed simultaneously. If we sort out finance but not supply, house prices will rise. If we sort out supply but not finance, no one will be able to buy the newly built houses.

As regards finance, we propose that government should give the best housing associations a new role. They would issue bonds – underwritten by government – at low interest rates, secured on their (new) income stream. These bonds should appeal to pension funds who want long-term secure assets and would generally offer fixed rates of interest. Such bonds may be acceptable to the Bank of England were it to widen the scope of quantitative easing.

Housing associations would then contract with developers to build houses and flats, which the association would sell or rent in the open market. Crucially, it would also offer mortgages on the properties it sells. The interest rates would be low, reflecting the association’s low cost of capital and not-for-profit status. The private rented market is relatively buoyant, so the housing associations can build safe in the knowledge that they will be able to sell or rent the completed properties.

Housing associations would have conservative lending criteria in line with their not-for-profit status, but they would offer long-term, fixed-rate, low-start mortgages. The fixed rate means borrowers will not face large rises in monthly payments when interest rates increase from their current low levels. Low-start mortgages would have monthly payments with an optional 2 per cent per year rise, so payments increase roughly in line with inflation. The initial payment would be calibrated so that, if the borrower always accepts the rise, they will own the property after 25 years. If they never accept the rise, then they will own half the property after 25 years, at which point the mortgage can be extended, or they can be moved on to a part-own, part-rent model. Housing associations are experienced in this.

Housing associations would be able to buy land with planning permission from developers. To ease supply constraints, we propose allowing councils to offer farmers £75,000 a hectare for their land – and then to grant themselves planning permission before selling the land on to developers, including the housing associations. Important amenity land, including the greenbelt, would remain protected. Admittedly, £75,000 is far less than farmers would get were they to receive planning permission by conventional means – but far more than the land is worth for agriculture. This scheme would therefore appeal to farmers who did not expect to receive permission conventionally. The council, of course, stands to make money. This could pay for new services or lower council tax and would help persuade local residents to support rather than oppose development in their area. In order to prevent the land being banked, the planning permissions would require the purchaser to develop the site within three years.

This is not a strategy for the long term. In the long run, we need well-capitalised banks able to lend to credible borrowers, to buy houses built by commercial developers who can obtain land in a timely manner.

Today, however, we are in a deep recession of uncertain duration, and that calls for unconventional measures. Governments can and sometimes should underwrite markets and create institutions that can reduce risks by internalising them. In this case, and for two or three years only, housing associations, underwritten by government, get the housing sector moving again. This will increase employment, and growth, and allow more people to be housed decently than are now.

The writers are a professor at the LSE and chief economist at the CentreForum think-tank respectively

We're All In It Together - ARE WE???

It's been 4 years since the financial crisis started as soon as Lehman Brothers went under. Still there is no light at the end of the tunnell. While the unelected central bankers are printing loads of money without any thought for the hardworking strivers and savers, the blame game goes on...

While The Bankers blame everybody (regulators, politicians, central banks low interest rate policy, greed of people, rating agencies) EXCEPT THEMSELVES.
The Regulators blame everybody (bankers greed, meddling politicians, central banks low interest rate policy, lack of resources, audit firms) EXCEPT THEMSELVES.
The Politicians blame everybody (greedy bankers, party in power, care-free independent central bankers, rating agencies, audit firms) EXCEPT THEMSELVES.
While the 'unelected-unaccountable' Central Bankers don't care to blame anybody, at the end of the day, it is the hardworking strivers and savers whose money these market-players are devaluing.

Welcome to the today's capitalist world of 'privatised profits and socialised risks' where 'the hardworking strivers and savers are punished while the free-wheeling risk-takers on other people's money are rewarded'

And then having the nerve to say 'We're All In It Together'!!!

Regards,

Pradeep

Re: Halt the Silicon Valley histrionics

Dear Mr. Gapper,

Thank you for the article on piracy in the FT on 19-Jan-2012.

The point missing from your article is 'what you sow is what you reap' - meaning, you never mention the copyright protection which used to be less than 20 years is now ridiculous to more than 100 years. How can the artists and industry claim to lose out when they are extending the copyright from 20 to 100 years?

The fact is when the industry/artists got greedy, silicon valley came as a boon to the consumers to check the industry's greed using technology.

In the end, what one sows, is what one reaps."

Regards,

Pradeep
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I entirely agree with that - I think it was a fundamental error for corporations to extend copyright protection in that way - not only because it is unjustified but because it clearly divorced the interests of creators from corporations. I've written that in the past.

John G.
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anuary 18, 2012 8:07 pm
Halt the Silicon Valley histrionics
by John Gapper in Financial Times

The internet industry scored a tactical victory this week with Wednesday’s blackout of sites such as Wikipedia and Reddit, and the White House’s decision to oppose parts of two bills intended to curb the file-sharing of films and copyrighted material. “Piracy rules,” tweeted Rupert Murdoch angrily.

I hope not, because Silicon Valley damages itself with its persistent scaremongering over efforts to crack down on piracy. By refusing to engage in a serious effort to prevent it – instead of equating copyright enforcement with censorship, or with “breaking the internet” – it undermines its credibility.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which it now holds up as a model, was awfully dangerous back then; music companies were stupid to “sue their customers”; governments that halt internet access to persistent file-sharers are breaching their human rights. And now the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) merits a blackout by websites that it isn’t meant to affect.

“Don’t limit your opinion to what’s the wrong thing to do; ask yourself what’s right,” the White House’s internet advisers warned on Monday. So far the industry has ducked that challenge, preferring to stick to its trusty, empty talking point: “Piracy is bad but [fill in the blank] is the wrong solution.”

There are exceptions. Google, despite using its US homepage in protest at Sopa and the Senate’s Protect IP Act – and Mr Murdoch’s tweet that it is a “piracy leader” – has a serious position. It believes that rogue sites should be starved of payments and advertisements.

Mostly, however, the industry’s stance is exemplified by Union Square Ventures, the New York-based venture capital group, which plastered “Stop Censorship” over its logo. Fred Wilson, a partner, argues for ditching Sopa altogether and sticking with the DMCA because internet start-ups “are the golden goose of the economy and we cannot kill the golden goose to protect industries in decline”.

The logical flaw here is that the DMCA is a domestic law that does nothing to halt the abuse targeted by Sopa and Protect IP – mass piracy through foreign rogue sites. From a tactical point of view, Silicon Valley has done a fine job of conflating the two but that is misleading.

Indeed, it is because the DMCA has been effective in limiting the copyright abuse that was once rampant on sites such as Google’s YouTube that pirates have moved offshore. From cyberspace – out of reach of the DMCA or domestic enforcement – torrent sites provide free downloads of others’ films and music, making money through subscriptions and advertising.

Not only is this wrong but it is a scourge on investment in creative work. I don’t trust the statistics thrown around by either side about how precious they are – does the US really lose $58bn in economic output annually from piracy, as the Motion Picture Association of America claims? – but authors, songwriters and film-makers clearly suffer.

Writers and publishers such as Cory Doctorow and Tim O’Reilly argue that they benefit from free distribution of their work as a form of free marketing. That suits them but it should be an individual choice – copyright has existed in the US since 1790 for good reason.

When Maria Pallante, the US register of copyrights, tells Congress that if it does not address offshore piracy “the US copyright system will ultimately fail”, she ought to be taken seriously. It is inadequate for Silicon Valley to dismiss it as the whining of a rival industry, although there is some of that.

Silicon Valley’s biggest rallying cry was that Sopa included (until the provision was withdrawn last week) court-ordered blocking of rogue sites by internet service providers. Civil rights activists such as Rebecca MacKinnon, a New America Foundation fellow, compare this to censorship in China and others claim it would “break” the architecture of the web.

If so, the internet is already broken in the UK, which has blocked child pornography sites through ISPs since 1996. Following a high court ruling last year, Cleanfeed site-blocking technology will be used against foreign pirate sites by BT and other British ISPs.

Indeed, plenty of search engine links are removed and sites blocked in the US, both under the DMCA and anti-counterfeiting and prescription drugs legislation. Go Daddy, a domain name registrar that initially supported Sopa but then retreated, suspended 150,000 sites for illegal or malicious activity in 2010.

The question is not the nature of the technology but whether its use is merited for copyright infringement. That is a fair debate but the UK judge who examined the issue of the right to free speech versus the right to intellectual property protection on the web under the European Convention on Human Rights came down in favour of blocking.

Blocking now appears to have been stripped from Sopa, which leaves other mechanisms such as cutting off payments to rogue sites through credit card companies, and removing US advertisements. If the internet industry wants to demonstrate good faith, it should suggest what might work, not endlessly protest.

Ms MacKinnon rightly points out that overzealous enforcement can harm other liberties – any regime must be balanced. But the absolutist Silicon Valley line that its rights override Hollywood’s – “intellectual property is theft”, tweeted John Perry Barlow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation – is wrong.

The blackouts were a dramatic gesture but curbing piracy does not “destroy the internet as we know it”. It would be wiser for Silicon Valley to cut the histrionics and help to fashion a decent law.

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Re: Letter to Netanyahu: time is no longer on Israel’s side

Spot-on analysis. What the author doesn't mention is that America's one-sided middle-east policy controlled by Israel will lead to its unilateral foreign-policy epitaph because very soon China will stamp its authority on the issue by siding with the Palestinians. Chinese have nothing to lose and that single master-stroke will shift the whole middle-east and its oil towards China leaving Israel and Saudi as pariahs.

The two-state solution is simple. And Israel should take it while it is available on platter. After that if the Hamas or any other organisations don't keep their side of bargain, Israel has enough power to protect itself. Isn't it disingenuous to claim that Israel cannot protect itself even with America's Nukes on it doorstep?

But as Mahatma Gandhi demonstrated, success can be achieved by stretching your hand out first. So, as a friend of Israel, I think the long-term peace and stability of the region and Israel's own long term security is in the hands of Israel itself. But does it has the strength to stretch its hand out first? That is the trillion-dollar question.

Regards,

Pradeep

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Letter to Netanyahu: time is no longer on Israel’s side
By Kishore Mahbubani

Friends of Israel unite! The time has come to send a common message: time is no longer on Israel’s side. Geopolitical forces are moving inexorably against it.

One cardinal mistake no small state should make is to put all its eggs into one basket, even a basket as strong as the US. Despite its huge influence, Israel cannot change the shifting geopolitical tides. America’s power has peaked: its economy will not shrink in absolute terms but it will shrink irresistibly in relative terms. This would have happened naturally but gradually. But the continuing economic crises in the US will hasten the decline in America’s influence. Shrinking budgets will cut defence and aid expenditures. A crippled economic giant with no rockets to launch its astronauts into outer space will lose its “mystique”. Countries will no longer hesitate to vote against American preferences.

This is what happened with the Unesco vote of October 31. The news agencies reported correctly that 107 countries voted in favour of admitting Palestine into Unesco and 14 countries voted against. What they failed to report is that these 107 countries represented 77.5 per cent of the world’s population; the 14 countries just 7.3 per cent. The American founding fathers called in the Declaration of Independence for “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind”. The American decision to suspend Unesco funding clearly showed no such decent respect.

There can be no doubt where the opinion of “mankind” is headed on the Israel-Palestine issue. The world is exasperated with Israeli intransigence on the two-state solution. It is even more exasperated with the continuous increase in illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Some European states voted with Israel but their citizens are clearly sympathising more and more with the Palestinians. The world knows that while Americans and Europeans love to preach the virtue of speaking “truth to power”, they have displayed total cowardice on the Israel-Palestine issue.

This cowardice now poses the greatest existential threat to Israel. Few friends of Israel dare tell it the inconvenient truth that time is no longer on Israel’s side. American power is declining relatively. Europe is becoming progressively irrelevant. Equally important, the power of the Islamic world has troughed. Now the relative influence of the Islamic world can only increase, despite the many challenges it faces. Turkey’s assertiveness, especially on the Israel-Palestine issue, is a sign of the new world order that is emerging.

The democratic revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia also end the era of pro-Israel dictators. Future leaders of these countries will have to reflect their populations’ sentiments. No future Egyptian government can impose sanctions on Hamas as Hosni Mubarak did. Pressure to speak out against Israel will grow. In Saudi Arabia, Prince Turki al-Faisal has warned that, “With most of the Arab world in upheaval, the ‘special relationship’ between Saudi Arabia and the US would increasingly be seen as toxic by the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims, who demand justice for the Palestinian people.”
The 5bn non-American and non-Muslim peoples of the world will have to make a clear choice: between supporting Israel (with lukewarm dividends at best from a declining America) or voting against Israel (buying insurance from a rising tide of anger in a more assertive and democratised Islamic world). Equally important, justice weighs in favour of giving the Palestinian people a right enjoyed by virtually every other people in the world: statehood.

Neither the US Congress nor Israeli nuclear weapons can protect Israel when the balance of geopolitical forces tips against it. And Israel could well trigger such a tipping point with any unilateral military strike against Iran. No one can predict the consequences when Israel becomes totally isolated from the global community. But it will not be a pretty picture. Hence, Israel’s friends should act quickly and send a short letter saying: “Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu, time is no longer on Israel’s side. Please work quickly to implement the two-state solution that President Bill Clinton proposed in January 2001.”
The late Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban once said: “The Palestinians never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Sadly, the same may some day be said of the Israelis.

The writer is dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at National University of Singapore, and author of The New Asian Hemisphere

A message to the new Apple CEO - a humble plea

Dear Mr. Cook,

I'm a Apple consumer and fan. Since Steve Job's death two things bother me:

1. In the keynote you addressed - you mentioned that the overall market share for Apple's iPhone is just 5% and there is a huge scope to grow.
What do we make of this statement. Steve Jobs never ran after market share. He created markets and let consumers come to him.
Does this mean, you are going to run after market share and in the process stop innovating and let the service levels fall?

2. I pre-ordered Steve Jobs Biography from the app store. On the day, when it was due to download, I had loads of problems. Finally, it loads but the front page ironically wouldn't load where Steve Job's photo was on.
After 2 days, I get an email from Apple explaining me to delete the book, logout and login and then re-load it. I did and it worked and I thought it was a one-off glitch and would never happen again.
(incidentally, it never happened in the past) But I was willing to give Apple the benefit of doubt.
Yesterday, after I tried to download The Spectator Magazine again (I had lost it because I had upgraded to iOS 5. Again, losing one's data when upgrading software never happend in the past). While downloading The Spectator, it gave errors atleast 6 times. I tried 30 minutes later and then it finally worked.

What worries me is, will Apple go downhill from here???? both in terms of product innovation and service levels?

Contrary to what some people who have never used Apple products say, I can vouch that using these products has changed my life not just in terms of efficiency or security but in every possible sense.

Please do something before the culture is changed for ever.

I hope Steve Jobs has put in place the systems needed to sustain the high level of innovation and service. Being the immediate CEO after Steve Job's passing away, it is your responsibility to make sure that the culture of innovation and service and the resulting pipeline of products is maintained. Your first responsibility is towards your consumers and not towards market-share or share-holders. If you can keep hold of the existing customers, rest will take care of itself. The only way you can keep hold of them is by continuous product innovation and high-quality service.

Regards,

Pradeep Kabra

Indian Cricket's 'artificial turf' Moment???

While a billion+ souls in India argue about the cause(s) of the present annihilation of Indian cricket at the hands of the magnificent Strauss & Co's England viz., the illogical scheduling by the BBCI, the over-the-top old legs or the Men Vs Oldies argument, I wonder, if technological change and the resistant to it has anything to do with the future of Indian Cricket?

Once upon a time, in the good old days, Indian Hockey was at the top of the world. Hockey was played on grass and the Indians led by the Legendary Dhyan Chand & Co, won everything in their sight. Then came the 'Western Conspiracy' to overthrow the Indian hegemony. This was 'achieved' by introducing the 'artificial turf'. No matter what the Indians say, the fact is that, the Indians just couldn't or didn't adapt to the new platform and are still playing the catching-up game.

I wonder if the same is true for Indian cricket now? In the longer version of the game, Indian batsmen's technique to survive is to bring the legs forward and block the ball with the pads. The umpire cannot rule LBW because the batsman is too far outside the crease. But now with the introduction of the technology like hotspot and hawkeye, the trajectory and direction of the ball can be accurately projected in time thus negating the front-foot blocking technique of which the Indian batsmen are masters. Now, they will be forced to play every ball on merit. That needs the re-adjustment of technique and they need to un-learn and re-learn pretty quickly.

This 'artificial turf' moment is the real reason why Indian cricketers and BBCI has been resistant to use the hotspot for LBWs. Only after the present crop of veterans including Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman retire, we will know if the Raina's, Kohli's and Sharma's have it in them to adjust and adapt. That is where the future of Indian cricket lies and not in the present fiasco, whatever the cause for that maybe.

Pradeep Kabra

Re: China crashes into a middle class revolt

Dear David,

Thanks for this article in today's FT.

Don't you think your article smacks of the western double-standards when dealing with China.

Especially your interpretation that after 40 people were killed in a rail accident in a country of 1.5 billion, will the banking system or the management of the economy to be safe is a stretch.

If you compare the same with India - which is of-course West's darling democracy - more than 40 people die virtually every day in rail accidents. But nobody bothers about it. I haven't seen any articles in any of the Western newspapers including FT when thousands die in major rail accidents in India every year. Why? Because India is a 'democracy' so the Western firms from News Corp to GM can easily do business in India.

But in China, the West and it's companies find it difficult to deal with the Communists who keep them out or in line. That is the real cause of grouse and not the accident.

Four months after the nuclear disaster, the contaminated food is still coming out on super-market shelves. How come there is no major articles on that in the Western press. If it was in China, you guys would have wrote zillion of articles criticising the communist party. I don't see how the democratically elected Japanese parliament is doing a better job than say what the communist party is doing in China managing 1.5 billion people.

Instead of becoming a mouth-piece of corporate interests or be overtly political, why don't we empathise with the tragedy and the affected people, suggest expertise from our experience and help to prevent such disasters in future and move-on instead of displaying such sycophancy?

Regards,

Pradeep Kabra

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China crashes into a middle class revolt
By David Pilling in Financial Times - published on 04-Aug-2011

When a student asked Sigmund Freud about the meaning of his cigar-smoking habit, the Austrian psychoanalyst is said to have replied: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” By the same token, sometimes a train crash is just a train crash. But the recent high-speed rail accident in China is not one of those.
For many Chinese, the crash and its subsequent mishandling – including what looked to some like an attempt to bury the evidence – have been a revelation. An outpouring of anger has exposed a profound cynicism about how China is governed.

The death of at least 40 people on a high-speed rail line that had become a totem of China’s sleek progress towards wealth, modernity and national prestige is symbolic on many levels. If the trains are not safe, what of the banking system or the management of the economy itself? The tragedy has become a public relations disaster for a Communist party leadership dominated by engineers and technocrats. Just as Mao Zedong sought to create an industrial revolution by force of will in the Great Leap Forward, so China’s present leaders seem to think they can leapfrog technology through modernising zeal alone.
China’s high-speed rail network, built in less than a decade, is the world’s longest. Its trains were supposed to travel at speeds that would put Japanese technology to shame. Instead, the crash has exposed hubris, incompetence and corruption in a single, tragic crunching of metal. Perhaps not since Tiananmen Square more than 20 years ago has the Communist party looked so naked in the face of public contempt.
Certainly, previous scandals have exposed the rotten governance lurking beneath economic success. In the past few years alone, Chinese people have seen their children crushed by poorly constructed schools and poisoned with tainted milk. Both tragedies resulted from corruption and lack of regulatory control that the state subsequently sought to cover up by suppressing press stories and imprisoning the parents of affected children. The train crash is different in at least two respects. First, high-speed rail was explicitly a national project. The leadership took great pride in China’s ability to “digest” and “improve on” foreign technology. Officials had already laid out ambitious plans to sell the Chinese system to Malaysia, Brazil, the UK and the US.
The national endorsement has made it difficult to pin the problems on local officials. Even before the fatal crash, the government sacked the rail minister on suspicion of corruption. A subsequent decision to lower the maximum speed from 350km per hour to 300km was a tacit admission of dangerous technological over-reach. We don’t yet know the reason for the crash. But pushing the system beyond its technical capacity and cutting corners to free up slush money are plausible factors.
Second, many of the crash victims must have come from China’s new wealthy elites given the, much-criticised, high price of tickets. When school buildings collapsed in Sichuan in the 2008 earthquake, the victims tended to be the children of poorer families. Melamine-tainted baby formula affected a broader cross-section of people. But wealthy urbanites would have had the knowledge and money to buy foreign formula if they chose. That made it slightly easier to quash the story, particularly in an Olympic year when the country was in celebratory mood – or else!
Partly because the victims of this tragedy are members of the new middle class, it has been impossible to keep a lid on the story. Users of Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging site, have produced an outpouring of contemptuous comment. One posted photos of the rail minister’s fancy watch collection, an indication of his less than modest lifestyle. Weibo alone boasts 140m users, mostly from the urban middle class that the Communist party is supposed to have co-opted into its modernising project.
A middle class revolt is particularly dangerous for the Chinese leadership. It undermines a recent truism of Chinese analysis, sometimes referred to as the Beijing consensus. This contends, among other things, that people don’t worry too much about democracy, freedom of expression and free markets so long as they have a technocratic leadership capable of delivering economic progress.
The cult of GDPism appears no longer to hold. China grew at 10.3 per cent last year, and should clear at least 9 per cent this year. But while taxi drivers riot in Hangzhou over low wages, the revolt over the train crash has been over the more abstract concept of governance. China’s middle class wants a leadership that can contain corruption, ensure safety and not put pride above engineering principles. It wants, in the arresting words of a commentary in the People’s Daily – of all places – economic growth that is not “smeared in blood”.
The anger appears to breathe life into an old argument, all but abandoned in the face of China’s relentless economic progress, that a rising middle class will demand more accountability of its leaders. If that turns out to be true, then, alongside the people who tragically lost their lives on the tracks outside Wenzhou, the Beijing consensus itself may also have perished.

david.pilling@ft.com