The Arguments
There are two powerful arguments that support Dhan Vapasi: the economic and the moral.
The economic argument is that of efficiency. For something to be efficient, it has to be free of waste. Not employing assets in their best use results in avoidable waste. Bringing all the assets — public and private — into productive use increases efficiency, and therefore increases overall produce. Countries that are more efficient are wealthier.
Dhan Vapasi brings all the available public resources such as land into production. It also provides the proper incentives for people to put in the effort to use those most efficiently because they are the owners. Owners care more than managers. When the public wealth is under the direct control of the people, they enjoy the gains or suffer the losses.
The economic argument stresses efficiency and gain. But even if you were to disregard that, even if people were not very good at economic decisions, even then it would be morally right to give people direct control over what belongs to them. The moral argument hinges on the immorality of theft. Depriving someone of their property is theft, even if the law says that it is okay to do so, even if the taking is done by the government. Theft and robbery is immoral and not justified even if the robber is better than the owner in its efficient use.
Not all legal acts are moral, and not all immoral acts are illegal. In our case, it is legal for the government to take our public wealth but it is not moral. It is still theft.
Finally, let’s remember that India is a democratic republic. The Indian government must not be allowed to treat the citizens as incompetent children that need to be forced and managed. Doing so is immoral and unprincipled.
Tomorrow: Part 5
