Assizing of idlies

It was sometime late 60s perhaps extending into early 70s (I cannot be sure).

In the Tamil weeklies like Ananda Vikatan, Kumudam or even Kalki there would be a few corners marked for single-frame cartoons (say 4-5 cm squares), let us call them “cartoon-corners”. The material did not, as I remember them now, offer much insight but were good enough for a fleeting laugh for a boy in his teens.

In my life, I would see in hindsight that period as the peak of rationing of grocery items. Cost of grocery items must have gone through the roof. I do not know how provisions were rationed for eating joints. There must have been some limits, I am guessing.

That is when the Government of Tamil Nadu assized potions of eatables like the weight of idlies, diameter of dosais, the size of the potion of upma, milk content in coffee/tea, decoction and sugar in coffee, the total length of strings (I don’t know what we call them) in idiappam, oil in the vadais, (!just my stab at humour) offered in what we now under COVID-19 call eat-in joints. Take outs were not quite so “in” those days, as far as I can tell.

The reasoning behind? With their eyes on the bottom line, business people (starting from the road-side tea-stalls all the way up to fancy restaurants and everyone in between) would reduce matter content in their offerings. Not unreasonable. But implementing assizing? Worse than monitoring face masks these days.

There were too many cartoon-corners on this topic, and my parents and others I was coming into contact with were also into the spirit of things. Publishers would not have missed the opportunity to take a swipe at the politicos. A typical supposedly literate reader could have said, “What is this, how can we be confident that the idli the server has set in front of us would weigh at least this many grams?”

From where did the government get this idea? Things get interesting here.

I am reading Adam Smith’s, “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations”. About six years ago, I started reading it and got up to about 60% of it; things happened in my life that forced me to set the book aside, as my priorities shifted.

Only about two months ago, I told myself to get back into it. I knew I had forgotten what I had read, and so I started afresh. I was aware of one thing, though not the name of it and till I came across it in the re-read. I knew then I hit the pot of gold (material for one blog) at the end of the rainbow.

The word assize is that pot of gold.

From where did I get the meaning of this word? Most probably from Wikipedia, but I am not sure; again. Now, none can blame me for plagiarising!

Quoting Adam Smith from his book, “The assize of bread means regulating the quantity and quality of bread (my emphasis, all through). This was the practice in 13^th century England and Wales.”

How does Adam Smith come to talk on assizing? He brings it to emphasize the asymmetry between masters colluding, enabled by the monarchy (George III, who was in favour of the masters; it goes with the implication that workers received the short end of the stick). He says, “In ancient times, too, it was usual to attempt to regulate the profits of merchants and other dealers, by rating the price both of provisions and other goods. The assize of bread is [must have been by weight], so far as I know, the remnant of this ancient usage.”

Therefore, what the Tamil Nadu Government did in 20^th century was to copy what was done in England and Wales at least seven centuries earlier.

But, our government seems not to have read further what Adam Smith said, conditionally: “But where there is no [exclusive corporation], competition will regulate it [quality and quantity] than any assize.” He also said, “The want of an assize occasioned no sensible inconveniency, and the establishment of one, in the few places it has yet taken place, has produced no sensible advantage”.

Or, the assize in Tamil Nadu could have meant that the government could not have directly regulated the eat-in industry, and the government found it better to use assize. Take your pick between not knowing Adam Smith’s views on assizing or could not regulate.

My choice is the second.

Had any economist in government service known this, the “cartoon corner” may have had a hard time finding topics that engage readers of those vernacular weekly magazines so immediately.

Raghuram Ekambaram