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Written By asj - 13 July, 2009
[Forked off from BMTC thread. Moderation takes time, so do be considerate and create new threads for off-topic stuff. Like you'll all listen, but still :) - Moderator]
SB, Thanks for bring the focus back on the crux of the matter. To me this thread is about how to better the system, as are most of the threads, but we just don't seem to get away from bombastic phrases and rhetoric which blindly support privatisation as 'the' cure and socialist incling as the worst ill. As this is a public forum, I hate to think of the impact it will have on the reader passing by if some tangential, irrelevant and out of context statements which do not represent reality were left unchallenged. Air India example is so useless for this debate - for goodness sake, look around and there are heaps of big and small private airways in trouble. Not once have those who support models with socialist tinge suggested there is not a problem in their current avtar, nor has anyone said there is no need for improving - if anything we are open and accept there are problems unlike this blind love for privatisation as answer to all ills when examples of poor accountablity / corruption / poor service in privatised sector abound around us (I mean the reference to private postal service in India - frankly its unregulated, disorganised and pathetic compared to Govt post - we are just too lazy to go to the post office and want someone to come pick the post from our doorstep). Please take this debate to another thread if it helps satisfy the need to deny reality around privatisation.
Further, every sector privatised in India, there have been pushes and pulls from private players who have great influence within the Govt / ruling politicians. How come they manage to get all over the place when it comes to building a sea link or a metro? Let us talk privatisation using TVS or Tata or someone else if they show any incling to being part of this business where clearly the returns are not as high or risks big. Why would Tata get involved in public transport which affects sales of Nano? Is there any player identified, if not its pointless waste of our energy which can be invested in improving the current system.
BEST or London or where ever, there are bound to be sour grapes. Considering the amount of corruption the average BEST passenger mat be exposed or participating in, the BEST manages fairly high standards on this one. BEST already is expanding its useage of smart cards, they now have one which can be used on central railway as well and soon WR will become compliant with this.
Yet, to minimise loss, random ticket checking is required (BEST also uses plain clothes checkers). If we try and hypothetically agree that like London, Indian cities target 1% of all bus users, how many TCs do we need. If one checks 2-4 tickets a miinute but needs to spend 30 minutes on average getting the culprits to pay fine and do paperwork relating to it - how many passengers will one TC manage to screen per day per shift, how many are needed in BMTC to get there?
ASJ
COMMENTS
No ism works when basic social fabric is corrupt.
psaram42 - 13 October, 2012 - 07:14
In kali Yuga, where fence eats the crop, nothing works. We get what we, as a society, deserve. We have to wait for Rama rajya after the present kali Yuga
murali772 - 12 October, 2012 - 07:34
To understand what ‘reform’ means, recall the early 1990s, when P V Narasimha Rao, as prime minister, was skilfully U-turning the Nehruvian socialist India that had put most economic space in government hands. See the sea of changes he brought about, without much ado. He repealed the draconian industrial licensing law that destroyed Indian entrepreneurship and the monopoly law which put a cap on the size of Indian corporates; abolished capital issue controls and brought in regulatory SEBI; instituted the National Stock Exchange and digital trading in stocks; brought about rationalisation of import tariff, excise duties and income tax; raised the FDI limits for foreign joint venture partners to 51 per cent. This integrated package reducing the government’s role in command economy illustrated economic ‘reform’.
For the full text of the article by Mr S Gurumurthy, in the New Indian Express, click here.
Yes, he has criticised 51% FDI in retail. But, otherwise, he is talking a language not too different from what the overall trend amongst PRAJAgalu appears to be.
On the question of FDI in retail, as far as PRAJAgalu is concerned, the jury still seems to be out, and will perhaps remain there - check this.
bank-based vs market-based reforms
murali772 - 12 October, 2012 - 07:41
Take Japan, Germany, France and other Continental European nations. The GME Consulting study on the saving behaviour of West, citing researches on ‘market-based’ and ‘bank-based’ economies, says, ‘one of the fundamental differences’ continues to be ‘the traditional division between the Anglo-Saxon ‘market-based’ economies and the Continental ‘bank-based’ model. Germany and other southern European countries remain heavily dominated by their banking sector”. It also shows that the savings rate in bank-based economies is higher. According to Business Week (September 30, 2010), in the end of 2009, stocks constituted just 3.9 per cent of German household financial assets; life insurance 28 per cent and cash and bank deposits 38 per cent. Japan is identical. In a paper presented to the Bank of International Settlements in May 2009, Bank of Japan officials point out that ‘Japanese households prefer bank deposits over risky financial assets when all the financial instruments are so well-developed and heavily traded in Japan unlike in other Asian markets’. The ‘bank-based’ Japan and Germany are as efficient as the ‘market-based’ US, if not more.
- - - Indian ‘reform’ process has to be endogenous. Not exogenous. Yet, Indian ‘reformers’ are habituated to search the waste paper baskets of the ‘market-based’ US for its outdated ideas to ‘reform’ the Indian economy. Are the ‘reformers’ listening?
For the full text of the essay by Mr S Gurumurthy in the New Indian Express, click here.
The question that arises is can bank-based reform by itself take us to the level of growth required for addressing our 40% + poverty levels
blrpraj - 13 October, 2012 - 05:52
A socialist model does not work. Just look at former USSR and the pre-liberalisation India, North Korea etc. And when Govt. gets into the business of manufacturing, providing services etc. it sucks, especially when they are a monopoly and that too run by the Indian Govt. Not convinced? Look at Indian Railways; look at Air India (thankfully in this case govt allowed private airlines starting in the early 90s);look at HMT etc. and of course, how can we forget the AAI run cowsheds that we used to call airports until recently.
The way to go is the capitalist way, but of course it needs to be a "regulated" capitalism. An unregulated capitalist system is probably equally or more dangerous than a socialist system..look at worldcomm, enron, loehmann brothers,sathyam etc. or in fact private bus operators (lack of enforcement and unregulated private bus operators are causing havoc, there are so many bus accidents in india and is spiralling out of control, see travelbyvolvo.blogspot.com which has a complete section on bus accidents if you don't believe me).
Bottom line is govt has to act as the regulator, watch dog and enforcer. It's job is to create a level playing field and provide a skeleton of basic social services for the economically backward, leaving the manufacturing and providing of services to the private sector.
murali772 - 30 May, 2012 - 09:19
This is why taxes were cut in 2008-09-to generate a big stimulus for an economy hit by the Great Recession. At the time, the left supported a strong stimulus to help the aam admi. Yet today, some tax cuts are being called "revenue foregone" and decried as corporate loot.
- - - The finance ministry must abandon its ridiculous methodology for calculating "revenue foregone." I am all for exposing the long list of tax exemptions, many of which are unwarranted, but oppose nonsensical calculations that mislead instead of clarifying.
For the full text of the column by Sri S A Aiyar in the Sunday ToI, click here.
This "revenue foregone" is a favourite bogey of CPI parliamentarian Mr D Raja, whenever he comes on TV debates on economic issues. And, by inventing such terms, the 'PronobDa' s of this world are just playing into the hands of the likes of D Raja. Or, more likely it is competitive Socialism between Sonia Congress and the Left.
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