Why, Oh Why, do we over-legislate and over-regulate?

For instance, cinema ticket pricing or CAS pay channel pricing.

We introduce inefficiencies, make corruption more rampant, hobble the businesses and create more red-tape.

DPA in trouble?

What greed can achieve, greed can definitely undo. The DPA, which is a ragtag collection of parties gathered together by the greed of the party supremos, seems to have been undone by the greed of the low-level functionaries.
The PMK seems pissed off that the DMK rebels bagged some of its allocated seats in the election for the heads of the local bodies. These lucrative posts were obviously to have been the price of the ‘unconditional’ support PMK provided to DMK in the state assembly.

The plan to set up a satellite township, which may have improved matters a bit here at Chennai, was derailed by PMK for some paltry monetary gain, so I am happy that they have been exposed (again!) for the nasty little buggers they are. The only (rather flimsy) hope is that J and K have the guts to ostracize this party and cut it down to size.

The CAS chaos

In the current row about the TN government’s proposal to take over MSOs, the two mattais (the DMK and the ADMK) resemble nothing more than two brawling street urchins (“avan mattum …”, “nee mattum …”, “did too”, “did not”, …). It does not matter who struck first and who struck worst, it only matters that these squabbles distract from more important issues.

While opinions in the news magazines by readers express the hope that this will end the ‘deep distress’ and ‘untold misery’ (in other words, inability to watch stupid cricket matches) caused by CAS, I have not heard anyone question whether the business of government is to run every (allegedly errant) business itself. This government did this before with sand quarrying and TASMAC, and seems to building on that experience. Doesn’t this only indicate that the government itself does not believe that it can perform its role as a regulatory authority, ensuring fair trade practices and a level playing ground? When it can not do that, how can it run a business well, being responsive to consumers and adaptive to changing technology?

The lack of concerted opposition to these efforts only indicates that the Nehruvian “nationalization good, privatization bad” mentality is still wide-spread among us.

Either that, or we do not want to be seen as one more street urchin joining the fray.