HC seeks Government response on spectrum allocation policy
The Delhi High Court sought a response from the Centre on a petition challenging its first come-first serve procedure adopted in spectrum allocation. This mechanism under priced the scarce resource and since the license got resold in the secondary market it transferred rents to private companies causing a huge loss to the public exchequer. The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mr. A. Raja, said that he will resign if allegations made against his decision to allocate 2G mobile spectrum on a first-come-first-served basis was proven wrong. Was he wrong in following a first-come first served policy in the allocation of 2G spectrum?

Our view is that by doing so he committed a major policy blunder and accountability asks for him to lose his job, but will it ever happen in our country?
Read More ...

Cabinet clears the long-pending Right to Education Bill
The Cabinet cleared the long-pending Right to Education Bill, which promises free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14. If this Bill gets passed in the parliament, education would become a fundamental right; it would be legally enforceable duty of the Centre and the states to provide free and compulsory education. A group of ministers  cleared the draft legislation early this month and also maintained the contentious provisions of the original draft like 25 percent reservation in private schools for disadvantaged children from the neighborhood at the entry level.

Our view is that this measure is a reasonable mechanism for social inclusion through public private partnership (PPP).
Read More ...

Custom duty on Jet fuel scrapped
Government withdrew 5% Customs duty on jet fuel and Oil companies also cut Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices by Rs 9,429.87 per kl from midnight of October 30. This decision is expected to reduce operating costs of carriers by up to 8% Fuel contributes 40% to the total operating cost of a full-service carrier. In the case of a low-cost carrier, the cost is as high as 52%.

Our view is that high taxes and administered price of ATF causes huge distortion in the sector compromising efficiency and this is a step in the right direction.
Read More ...

Cabinet Okays bill to raise FDI in insurance to 49 percent
The government has decided to increase the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in insurance companies from 26% to 49%.