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Through Vikram Doctor and Titoo Ahluwalia I received an email about the medieval and abhorrent Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalizes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” with punishment upto life imprisonment. Section 377 is being challenged by various groups in the Delhi High Court lead by Naz India, a […]

The next Bombay Bloggers Meet will be held on Saturday, April 29, at 4 pm at the Cafe Coffee Day, Nirmal Lifestyles, Mulund, Regal Barista on Colaba Causeway, I have the pleasure of announcing that Nitin Pai of the Acorn will be flying down to Mumbai just to meet up with all of us!
Important Update: […]

The Mises Institute has a thought provoking article on zoning, comparing it to theft.

Zoning uses all the standard interventionist lines of thought, most notably the concepts of externalities and utility. Those who advocate zoning really believe that acting man does not have the ability to create communities that are functional and prosperous. Without plans and […]

The Freakonomics blog has an interesting letter from a 10 year old in India.
Hello. I am Rohan Patel, I am 10 years old. Your book was amazing! I loved it, but I found one mistake in it. In the chapter “What Makes A Perfect Parent?” it says that changing schools does not have an impact […]

Headlines Today is having a panel discussion on blogging today at 1:30 pm. I’m on the panel along with Sabeer Bhatia who talks about his new blogeverywhere concept, Pawan Duggal, the IT lawyer, and Arindam Chaudhari of IIPM. Watch it if you can. I’ll post a transcript next week.

The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival starts today. And will go on till next weekend. Do come along if you’re in Bombay. And if you can’t, hop over to the spanking new Kala Ghoda Gazette where I’m blogging on the festival along with an illustrous set of co-bloggers with some lofty aims. Join us.

Read a very funny cartoon strip today. (This is Our Life, Rajneesh, in the Mid-Day) Here it is, verbatim:
“In reality shows, the losing contestant cries, his teammates cry and in the end even the winner cries. I like it.
We should have something similar with politicians. Put 6 of them on TV and eliminate one every […]

The next Bharateeya Blog Mela is being organised by Nilesh. Go over and drop in a nomination!

There’s an interesting debate on in the Indian blogistan about regulation and free markets. I may add my 2 paise later. For now, here’s a question: who regulates the regulators?
Cop show flouts 10 pm noise ban
The Mumbai police last night flouted a law they are otherwise adept at enforcing — the 10 pm deadline […]

Blogs may not be the first place to get breaking news (TV trumps here) but blogs are faster in circulating news. Here’s a small example. Amit Varma points to a good article by Sebastian Mallaby on the auto component industry in Chennai yesterday. The Indian Express republishes it verbatim today.
I think as filter […]

I recently came across this 2003 piece by Cato’s Adam Thierer on self-regulation in the US video game industry.
In 1994, the video game industry established the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a comprehensive labeling system that rates over 1,000 games per year and has rated more than 8,000 games since inception. The ESRB applies five […]

From the Economist:
Some of the dodgiest marketing outfits now use the phone to tout their offers. In Britain, the latest trick is to use automatic dialling machines to call mobile phone numbers at random, but then to hang up after just one or two rings. Seeing a missed call, the unsuspecting recipient will usually ring […]

We have a new member of the famous libertarian cartel–Kunal Sawardekar. Hop over to read his blog Ceteris Paribus.
For those who came in late, here’s a brief note on the cartel. We welcome more Indian libertarian bloggers to join in. Write in to us (but beware, you might have to take the test)
Here’s an updated […]

As an atheist, I find the entire concept of Intelligent Design (ID) absurd. But sometimes with strong emotions, clear thinking gets clouded. Uriah Kriegel questions not whether ID is true or false or even whether it’s good or bad science. He questions whether it is science at all. And he uses a clear […]

Rosa Parks, one of the heroes of America’s civil rights movement, died recently. Amongst the many obituaries and tributes, I stumbled upon this insightful gem from Thomas Sowell — Rosa Parks: Pursuit of Profit vs. Racism.
Most people look at the government as the savior from the dignity sapping effects from racism. But segregation […]

I am no fan of Che Guevara, I think he was cruel man and a mass murderer. What surprises me is that he was also a bumbling fool. For more, read Humberto Fontova’s article in Capitalism Magazine: Che Guevara: Assassin and Bumbler.

Noam Chomsky, recently voted as the world’s top public intellectual is a closet capitalist. Don’t shake your head and drown me in his numerous speeches and books. Instead of listening to him talk, watch what he does. Hoover Institute’s Peter Schweizer did exactly that and here’s what he came up with:
One of the most persistent […]

I’m not Schwarzenegger, but I’m back. It’s been a long hiatus necessitated by some important life changing decisions. There’s been a lot going on in blogistan while I was away and I’ve spent a large part of my Sunday catching up. There’s a lot of interesting stuff to write and comment upon, so, without much ado, I’m going to dive in.

Please welcome our new guest blogger, Kaushik Das. Kaushik is a research economist with SBI Capital Markets. His pieces on economic and social issues have appeared in the Business Standard, Indian Express and Financial Express and he has contributed a number of articles to international free market websites like mises.org and striketheroot.com

A print of this painting by the Dutchman Jan Vermeer hangs opposite my desk in the office.