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Just how to regulate wisely - remains the question today
Written By murali772 - 30 July, 2008
In the West, the Left tries to conserve the welfare state. The liberal, economic right wants to dismantle it. Beyond that, the distinctions are blurred. The Right has accepted transfers to the poor but it wants them to be efficient. The Left no longer wants government to run businesses. Few oppose the market - the debate is on how to regulate it wisely. Read more in this TOI column.
We too are moving in the same direction, and correctly so - except some refuse to see it. In this post, I had stated that government appears to have made up its mind to get out of manufacturing. However, even today, units like KSDL, KAVIKA, etc continue in business only to perpetuate all kinds of artificialities in their respective domains.
For the sake of KSDL, the government has to 'protect' the sandalwood tree. The text of the letter I sent to the press in Nov, '07, in this connection, is reproduced below:
Veerappan was just an ordinary tribal living of forest produces until the government turned him into a criminal (sandal-wood smuggler), and later to a monster, using some archaic law, the need for which nobody quite understood fully. Somewhere along one had read that the law was being amended making dealings in sandal-wood a lot more liberal. Apparently, that is not quite so, going by the reports about Natesan Antiquarts, who by all appearances were doing a fairly good job of promoting age-old Indian traditions in handicrafts by creating a lucrative market for them in wealthier homes in India and abroad, landing up at the receiving end of the law.
The fact of the matter is that there are so many laws in this country that even by the mere act of breathing fresh air, you may be violating one, and the numerous babu's who have nothing better to do, can use it against you to extract their pound of flesh. It is a true testimony to the spirit of Indian entrepreneurship that it is flourishing inspite of all these.
BESCOM is obliged to procure not less than 50% of its requirement of distribution transformers from KAVIKA. Incidentally, KAVIKA's original name was Government Electric Factory (GEF). Back in the 60s, the government decided that it needed to upgrade technologies and promoted NGEF (the N here being for 'New'). NGEF was a technology and market leader during its heydays. All the same, the government didn't bother to sustain it - politics playing a major part in its eventual death. The GEF (or KAVIKA), even with its outmoded technology and Jurassic age facilities, chugs along merrily, thanks to BESCOM patronage - another reason why power distribution desperately needs to be privatised - read more here.
Muralidhar Rao
COMMENTS
srinidhi - 5 March, 2014 - 02:24
Sandalwood trees have been 'stolen' from the state CID HQ..can it get any worse?
For all we know, the same cut trees will end up as gandadha koradu at the homes of officials..or even adorn the homes!
murali772 - 3 March, 2014 - 09:55
The following was the comment by CB in a googlegroup is response to my posting a link to the debate on it:
Yes, Govt created the shortage. Now people with young sandal trees chop them down to prevent outsiders with guns getting there when the trees grow a bit older (Is legal to chop the young plants down).
The same is happening with rose wood. Some people let the fallen trees rot, rather than let the govt officials get into the act (if they ask for permission to use the wood) and persecute them. Obviously, they cut down the saplings on their properties so they do not have to deal with this later.
Will the government ever get down to removing such artificialities from life?
srinidhi - 3 March, 2014 - 13:11
The tree smugglers can be really audacious..last december they cut and stole a sandalwood tree from lalbagh..in front of the directors office..with guards already stationed there..
Its really hard to do something like this w/o the authorities knowing it..so they are easily involved in it..
Rosewood takes wonderful polish after cut but its brittle..but as a tree it looks amazing..
only if people can appreciate the true wealth when the tree is alive..
Its not just the authorities..its the society itself which is sick!
murali772 - 28 February, 2014 - 14:05
Is there a crisis in Gandhada Gudi (temple of sandalwood) as Karnataka prides itself? Experts at an international seminar here on Wednesday believe there is.
They cited the increasing instances of smuggling of sandalwood and the sharp dip in its production to back their crisis theory. The seminar 'Sandalwood: Current Trends and Future Prospects' was organized by the Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST).
Where did things go wrong? "State ownership was a cause of concern. Despite opening it up for farmers to grow this commercially-profitable species, apart from forest lands since 2001, the prohibition on free trade has been a big area of concern," said HS Anantha Padmanabha, forestry consultant.
"The only tree in the world which is sold in kilograms, sandalwood in its natural habitat is always a plant. Before it grows into a tree, it is cut and smuggled out. Farmers initially struggled to grow sandalwood over a height of 1 foot, but now they're cultivating it successfully. The problem lies with the state's policies," said V Ramakantha, director, IWST.
Significantly, the government of Karnataka retracted this monopolistic policy in 2001, and Tamil Nadu did so in 2002, liberalizing sandalwood cultivation and harvesting by individual entrepreneurs and corporate bodies. Yet, they retained control at all levels. Farmers in Karnataka can sell their produce only to government agencies.
The experts hoped the Sandalwood Protection Bill, the draft of which was placed before the Centre in August 2012, will make a difference. They felt the rules must be farmer-friendly.
For the full report in the ToI, click here.
The farming liberalisation happened in 2001. From then, it has taken over a decade to place a bill before the centre to correct certain anomalies. But, when the caption of the bill has the word "protection" in it, I am not sure, it's going to make much of a difference. Sandalwood needs protection more from the government than anybody else.
And, another decade down the line, the another international seminar will be held, delegates will fly down from across the world, will make similar noises, wine and dine, and go back home. And, the Sandalwood tragedy will continue to cause shedding of bucketfulls of tears for the sacred tree.
murali772 - 26 June, 2012 - 13:07
In a fallout of the Tatra truck scam in which public sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) allegedly sold “over-priced” Tatra trucks to the Indian Army, defence minister AK Antony has instructed the three service chiefs that PSUs should not be the preferred choice in awarding defence contracts.
For the full report in the New Indian Express, click here.
The only reason for retaining the BEML's of this world as PSU's was perhaps on account of their being large suppliers to the defence services. Now that that privilege has been withdrawn, where is the need for that to continue? On the other hand, there is every need to bring about better accontability, which can happen a lot better when the government disinvests from them, and they are subjected to the rightful scrutiny by the regulators as well as the market forces.
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