India's ambitious plan to cut red tape gets tangled in ... red tape

This is not a problem with red tape or rules that were created in the first place. It’s got to do with ministers and their egos. Protecting the fiefdoms that they create in the first place and assuming that they need to be consulted for anything and everything is part of the Indian psyche that causes a lot of misunderstandings between ministers.

The simple answer to this is not to have so many minsters and ministries. Have a finance minister for all aspects including commerce, a home minister, a defense minister, a foreign minister for all aspects including trade, a health care minister, an education minister, a minister for all communication and information related activities, a labor and hr ministry and of course the prime minister. The rest of the ministries should go away. Environment ministry is an important functionary, but need not have a minister in it’s own rights. Instead, a regulatory body needs to be created. Rural and Urban development ministry should be abolished and the Panchayath coordination committee should be prepared. Agriculture ministry, Commerce ministry is not needed at all. They all should be handled to the civil services. Remove all ministers of state, they are wasting their time.

However, the language used is regrettable – if something is against the business community, it’s red tape, and if it’s in favor, how much ever bloated it is, it’s a great!

It is a mystery to me why Reuters insists, in all of its “economic reform” stories, on only relying on the version of one side. The ENvironment Ministry’s letter clearly states that the total clearances granted so far for most major infrastructure sectors (including power, coal mining, etc.) far exceeds the targeted capacity expansion in these sectors over the next 15 – 20 years. This fact was also reported in the Indian press quite widely and makes it obvious that the reason for delay in these projects has nothing to do with environmental clearances. Indeed, rational logic indicates not that clearances hsould be sped up but that no further clearances should be granted in these sectors at all until the cleared capacity comes into existence. Yet Reuters ignores this issue entirely and reprots the viewpoint of corporate heads who, naturally, are interested in securing clearances for keeping their stock price high and engaging in speculation – much as what happened in the captive coal block scam. Your blatant bias is quite sad.

POSCO,Vedant,many coal blocks,Swaraj pauls plant and many more are examples of policy paralysis of the govt. Recently Rahul Bajaj had stated ” Bajaj prospered inspite of the govt” — ” we did not diversify into areas like power,IT and coal to avoid getting bogged down in red tape”. Our the ministers are like the animals in the circus playing to the whip of the ring master and the PM is like a pet. It is anybody’s guess as to who is the ring master. As someone rightly described in another media, UPA2 is the govt of the family by the family and for the family.

Indian democracy is suffering from Stockholm syndrome

The NIB will not solve India’s problems. When structural problems exist, the right solution is to address the problem, not to create a priority window to circumvent the problem. It creates an elitist system. India doesn’t lack in entrepreneurs to create a thriving economy. The problem is red tape. If you want to start a business, no one can tell you how many loops you have to jump and under what regulations you will be governed. India is a system created for lawyers and company secretaries. You just have to open shop and business starts pouring in. Try being a successful entrepreneur and everyone is out to suck the blood out of you.

Create a meaningful system that connects risk with success. Make the system accessible to everyone and see India thrive. NIB may be a necessary short-term fix. But history says that we have only short-term fixes and no long-term vision.

“Diverse society is bound to fail (USSR, EU, India)” –Robert Putnam.

If the Environment Ministry cares about the environment it can only be a good thing.