Fond du Sac Told Compulsory Acquisitions Come in More Than One Flavour

One is fast. It was used for the Lepep tram, an entirely unnecessary project that will cost billions, solve nothing and is defacing important parts of several towns — the LP's version would have been as useless. The one citizens of this village got tastes different. It takes forever which explains why their lives were turned upside down three years in a row after rain fell.

But there is more at play here than a two-flavour system. Indeed government doesn't have enough money to undertake the most basic works that ensures that lives are not put at risk. Repeatedly. Even though public debt is ballooning. Blame it on the 15% flat tax which has reversed the clock of progress for an overwhelming majority of us. It will cause the Sithanen toohrooh to increase by over Rs358 billion (to at least Rs1.86 trillion or 3.5 times its 2014 level that was enough to cause a big political earthquake) by the end of 2019, likely an election year.

This GDP gap will be responsible for a government revenue shortfall of Rs71.2 billion this year alone. That's enough to change all leaking pipes, build enough drains to accommodate normal and not-so-normal downpours and help create the environment to allow the most educated generation of Mauritans to push their country forward. And in the interest of PJ's political survival to add a few tax brackets in the forthcoming budget.

A Hundred Years Later, Amritsar Still Awaits Apology

Elizabeth II has been there. David Cameron too. But so far no apology. A kniefall à la Willy Brandt for the massacre that helped liberate India would be a good start. And give the British an opportunity to come to terms with the atrocious role they've played in the loss of millions of lives in one or more Indian famines. 

A Polling Station Atop Mont Blanc, Almost

At 15,256 feet the one in Tashigang, Himachal Pradesh is now the world's highest and only 521 feet shy of the Franco-Italian roof but 856 feet higher than nearby Hikkim, the previous record-holder. One of over a million polling stations it has been set up for any of the 48 people that are allowed to vote there on May 19, the last of seven days of voting in the 2019 Indian general election. But it will not be as exclusive as the one erected in a remote Gujarati forest solely for Mahant Darshandas.

There will be an extra 85 million eligible voters -- roughly the population of Germany -- bringing the total to 900 million who will be tasked to elect 543 MPs in as many single-member constituencies (SMCs). 543 is unchanged from 5 years earlier -- our local political bonobos should take good note. India will have to wait for the 2029 election to cross the billion-voter mark. By that time she would have just overtaken China as the most populous country on spaceship Earth.

Voting starts today. Results will be proclaimed on May 23.

Sithanen Flat Tax Fuels More Street Protests

This time it was in Curepipe. Citizens were outraged that they've been without running water for up to two weeks. But what else could we expect when regressive tax policies have crippled government so much that it can't even pay for its own eye-hospital? And things will get worse as long as we remain on the wrong side of compounding. Boolell was there trying to score some cheap points -- the government revenue shortfall between 2005 and 2014 was big enough to change the 1,600km of leaking pipes at least five times over.

24/7 water is unlikely to happen when Collendavelloo completes his first term as Minister in the next few months. This is kind of obvious. See, when he took over about 45% of households enjoyed an all-day supply and this week he said it had reached 70%. So if it took 4 years to increase the percentage of subscribers getting round-the-clock water by 25 percentage points (by probably changing around 730km of leaking pipes) it will surely take more than a year to add the last 30% subscribers. Even if the Bagatelle dam comes into operation soon. In fact on the current trajectory 24/7 is not happening before the 2024 election year. Which is a good reason to put as much pressure as possible on government so it brings back some sanity to our tax structure. Because we surely don’t want 400,000 people to have water problems for another 4-5 years.

Public debate on this matter can also be enhanced if the Minister puts at least three very basic series of data on the CWA's website (the last annual report available there is for 2015). These are the length of the water network at the end of each year and the length and cost of pipes laid each year since the end of 1967.