David Cameron of Kolkata RIP

My Tribute

For obvious reasons, I’ve been thinking a lot about my friend David Cameron these days. He’s always been a bit of a go-getter, full of beans and brimming with ideas far ahead of his time. Not everything’s paid off. But at least David’s settled into a good home now.

I first met David and his wife Angela some 40 years ago. He was already famous in Calcutta’s Anglo-Indian community as an audacious sort of chap. Some even called him a lovable hustler. His children were my pre-teen companions — Rodrick, John and the pretty young sister, Maria.

David began as a teacher in a Christian school in Howrah. He graduated to become principal of St Thomas’ School at Khidirpur, right near the city’s dockyards. The letter ‘E’ defined David Cameron. Education was his profession, entrepreneurship his calling and anything equine his passion. Well before it was conventional wisdom, David realised the potential of schools as a business. In the 1980s, when past 50, he chucked up a good, safe job to run a start-up boarding school in McCluskieganj, near Ranchi.

When the school was up and running, David, the eternal wanderer, sought new pastures. He had a thing for horses and owned a few racehorses in Calcutta. Indeed, he was a regular at the races, especially on the New Year’s Day. The vast open frontiers of McCluskieganj gave him an idea: this was the perfect location for a stud farm.

It was a crazy dream — to breed racehorses in the middle of Jharkhand (then south Bihar). David’s ‘partner’ was a priest who owned the land where the stud farm was set up. After the priest died in a two-wheeler accident, David became the solo boss. He imported mares and brought in Midnight Cowboy, a legendary racehorse from Calcutta, as the farm stallion. An investor from Doha put in some money, with a plan to export colts to the emirates of the Gulf. Just outside sleepy Ranchi, in those soporific pre-liberalisation days of the 1980s, David Cameron was thinking big.

In 2010, all that survives of that stud farm is a large vegetable patch. The dream has retired, the dreamers have gone. Angela now lives in Perth, as do Cameron’s children, John and Maria. Rodrick, a horse-lover like his father, looks after the stables of the royal family of Bahrain. In his charge are not racehorses but free agents who go long distances, uninhibited by the horizon — just the way David Cameron lived his life.

Today, pushing 80 at the Mary Cooper Old Age Home in Calcutta, David must be counting his wild gambles and unusual schemes. Did his ambitions extend to being elected prime minister? I almost wonder.

[This article was carried by Hindustan Times | Tuesday, May 25, 2010]

State of the Indian economy

Transcript | Speech in Parliament on the state of the Indian economy | August 13, 2013

Sir, one year - they say - is a long time in politics. Or eleven months is a long time in politics, but we, Sir, from the Trinamool Congress were actually walking the talk, and making our actions speak louder than

our words, because eleven months ago, we walked out of this government and left the Congress to run a minority led UPA. And it is interesting that with this subject today, we are discussing the state of the economy, because when we left the government eleven months ago, we also had some very serious issues on the state of the economy. The core issue was the price rise, especially - we will come to that later, but there were also issues of fertilizer hike, there were issues of LPG cap, petrol and diesel.

Sir, but it pains me, that even after eleven months, even after we moved out, and now more people believe what we said eleven months ago, the Congress party is still living in denial.

Sir, internationally, The Economist has an index which they call the Big Mac Index. The Big Mac Index, Sir, is an index which gives you purchasing power parity when you look at the price of a hot dog or a hamburger in different countries of the world, you get to know what the local currency is in response to the dollar.

Forget about the Big Mac Index. In India, our belief is, there is an even more important index which is called the API – which is the Aloo Pyaaz Index. This Aloo Pyaaz Index is something which this government has never understood one year ago; they do not even understand it today, Sir. The Aloo Pyaaz Index is basically price rise in agri-commodities.

Sir, two clear views here, Sir. One is, we believe, there has been a total negligence on capacity expansion; and the second one – a total lack of increased production.

Sir, for onions specifically, we understand and we appreciate that rainfall could be one of the reasons. But the second one – and the more important one, is the lack of logistics, and not anticipating the problem before it comes.

Now in case we mention something like this, the excuse is always that ‘you know, the opposition parties --- they didn’t allow Walmart…’ – we are looking for good governance. We are not looking to outsource our problems to Walmart, Sir. When it comes to anticipation, let me give you a small example of my own state.

In Bengal, in June 2012 – knowing something like this could happen, a task force was set up by the Chief Minister of West Bengal, headed by the Secretary, Agriculture, and it had people from agri, horti, vendors, retailers, together, and that is why today, Sir, in Bengal, there are still ten markets with mobile vans – where onions are available for Rs 35 to 45 today. There were still fruit markets in Bengal during Ramadan – through these same mobile vans, where fruits were available at decent prices. I am not saying that is the only solution, but the point I am trying to make is that there was some anticipation before the problem arose.

Sir, the Prime Minister keeps talking about a global economy. I am actually beginning to believe him now, because nowadays, even in the price of onions, we are paying global prices. We are paying $1.50 cents for a kg of onions. Sir, the Congress party proved again today – the erudite speaker Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar obviously is still in denial, because he selectively quoted the growth rates of the US, and said the US is 1.4, the UK is 1.2, so we are doing very well – we are doing 4.7. But, Sir, two points here. One is, what is the base, on what base are we talking about – that these economies are growing at 1.2 and 1.4; and the second point here, Sir, is look at Indonesia – 6%. Look at Philippines. Look at Sri Lanka. Look at Vietnam.

Now the Congress party decides to keep quoting selective figures then, Sir, it really is a problem. The Finance Minister is here, and I have some pointed questions, which I hope he will address in his reply.

Sir, the LPG cap – that is one of the issues (the Trinamool Congress gave up one cabinet minister, six ministers of state). Sir, how much have you saved in terms of real rupees from the time of this LPG cap you have fixed at 12 and now 9? Sir, how much have you done for fertilizer prices, where fertiliser prices – the world knows, the biggest scam is gold plating, and now instead of being self-sufficient we are still having to pay for imported fertilizers. So my specific question is what steps have you taken in the last one year for gold plating of fertilizers?

The previous speaker spoke about gas prices, and I want to take that one further. Gas prices are going up – substantially, but what is the magic date, Sir? Please enlighten us - about April 1, 2014. Why not October? Why not November? Some people would believe that by April 1, 2014 you would not only have played  a cruel joke on the nation, but you may not also be in government – but that is another story, Sir. That is on the fertilizer prices.

Sir, I would like to take a minute to share four figures to tell you how my own state is doing. For GDP - National Average 4.96 – just four figures. Last year – National Average 4.86, Bengal 7.6. Industry growth – National Average 3.12, Bengal 6.24. Agriculture – National Average 1.79, Bengal 2.56. And the most significant one - and that is why the economies like the Philippines are growing so much, for Services – National Average 6.5, Bengal 9.48.

Sir, I want to go back to the story of the onion, because there is a lot of pride with the phrase the aam aadmi – I am quite sure that I know who the aam aadmi is, but there is a sense, and there is a belief that the Congress also knows who the aam aadmi is, but that aam admi is in the grocery shop of Khan Market. Otherwise we would not have had these figures of Re 1 to Rs 100 - you can get a meal in some state, depending upon your state of your mind, or Rs 12 rupees in Bombay, or Rs 18 somewhere else, Sir.

Sir, the Egyptians worshipped this something because it had concentric circles, Sir. The Greeks - athletes took this to eat, because they thought they would perform better. The Roman gladiators rubbed the juice from it on their muscles – Sir, I am talking about the onion. But, for the Indian housewife, it does nothing of this Sir, it only brings tears to her eyes. I want to finish, Sir, now by going back to my story about the API - which is the Aloo Pyaaz Index.

Sir, in 1998 (and before that in 1980) this Aloo Pyaaz Index benefitted the Congress Party, gave them Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. I am not an astrologer, Sir, but the people of this country - who have been cursed by this shameless minority government insisting on staying on even when they are not wanted - by 2014 or before that, Sir, on this same Aloo Pyaaz Index will send the Congress where they duly belong.

Thank you, Sir.