A poor country is a country which cannot afford to have a President and yet it has a President. A poor country is a country which cannot afford to have a Parliament and yet it has a Parliament. A poor country is a country which cannot afford to have a brigade of ministers and yet it has such a brigade with a Prime Minister as the Brigadier General. The President, the Prime Minister and the ministers of a poor country are stunningly more expensive than their counterparts in a rich country. The administrators of a rich country are hopelessly less paid as compared with the administrators of a poor country. One cant help believing that every administrator of a rich country must be yearning to exchange his status with the status of an administrator of a poor country. But the yearning can never become a reality. No administrator of a poor country is such a fool as to exchange his gold for wood. Administration in a rich country means great responsibilities. Administration in a poor country means pure fun and revelries. In a poor country, the rulers have an army of advisers. The advisers have their own advisers. Sometimes the total number of the advisers far exceeds the total number of the ministers. Imagine the cost But to hell with the cost. To have a herd of advisers is a matter of great national pride for the rulers of a poor country. The administrators of a rich country feed the masses. The administrators of a poor country starve the masses. The administrators of a rich country are not paid much for feeding the masses. The administrators of a poor country are paid torrentially for starving the masses. In a rich country, the rulers are at the mercy of 'justice. In a poor country, 'justice is at the mercy of the rulers. In a poor country, every common citizen keeps asking every other citizen: Please, could you tell me what is 'justice? Every citizen answers: The word keeps hitting my ears round the clock but what it means has always been a mystery. Poor citizens They can never know the meaning of 'justice because 'justice is not permitted by the rulers to enter the country. Darwin says that only the fittest survive. Obviously, he means that only the physically strongest are the fittest to survive. But the rulers of a poor country have denounced the Darwinian doctrine as sure rubbish. They firmly believe that only the richest are the fittest to survive. Since they have a passion for living as rulers throughout their entire lifespan, they keep amassing wealth by all sorts of foulest means. Since they cannot rob other countries, they keep robbing their own motherland. They rob it so recklessly that nothing is left for the masses but starvation. The motherland is extremely depressed. The motherland alternatively looks at its robber-sons and the starving-sons. It just doesnt know what to do. The robber-sons enjoy the helplessness of the mother. In a poor country, the rulers initially grab the national wealth by mysterious means. As the grabbing continues, a time comes when the wealth develops an addiction to be grabbed by the rulers. It enjoys being grabbed so much that it starts pouring itself voluntarily into the rulers pockets. The wealth enjoys the companionship of the rulers so much that it hates tasting even a casual look at the masses. The economists have told us that the masses of a poor country live below the poverty-line. But they have never told us where the rulers live. They know it but they dare not disclose it. They are mortally scared of the rulers. They apprehend that if they were to give a full-blooded picture of the lifestyle of the rulers, the rulers will get furious and they might slaughter the economists and throw the corpses to the vultures. It is a moral obligation of the rich countries to get the masses of a poor country liberated from the barbarity of the rulers. But, unfortunately, the liberation would be extremely damaging for the liberators. The reason is that the rulers of the poor countries keep their wealth in the rich countries. Obviously, a liberation effort on the part of a rich country would be economically a very risky business. India is a poor country. The majority of its population lives below the poverty line. It has manufactured atomic weapons. These weapons are meant for protecting the citizens against the foreign invaders. But India has manufactured no weapons for protecting its citizens against poverty. India doesnt mind if the citizens are crushed by poverty. But it would not allow foreign invaders to crush its citizens. The writer is an academic.