It has been long since I posted on this blog. But since, I wrote many times regarding the spectrum allocation scam through these columns, I thought it appropriate to express my happiness at the resignation of the minister. I am always asked how does policy research help - given the obdurate/venal nature of our politicians, who are immune to any economic advice if it goes against their vested interests. My belief has been that by continuously bringing public policy research in the public domain through media and other platforms such as these we are able to create some pressure. The columns that were written by me and other policy commentators may not be directly responsible for fixing the responsibility, but they kept the pot boiling. The process is slow and at times frustrating but events such as these keep us interested in sometimes “pointless” work.

Below is the picture that I had downloaded three years ago, it shows the “flawed” policy of the first-come first served in execution. The queue is outside the DoT for the getting the LOI to be eligible for getting the licence. All these poor souls are the representatives of the companies armed with Demand drafts that were to be submitted in a short notice of 45 minutes.

The state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs) are moving towards a multi-year tariff (MYT) regulation. However, this adoption is slow and tardy. MYT falls under what is known as incentive regulation and the current approach adopted is the Cost of Service (CoS) or the Rate of Return Regulation (RoR) regulation. Why is incentive regulation more preferable to the CoS regulation? (more…)

Rural Electrification is viewed as the key component for accelerating rural development. However, a large section of the rural population in India is still devoid of this basic minimum requirement for a decent living. According to the latest statistics, only around 60% of rural households (more…)

The other day in a conversation at office, my colleague made a passing comment that policy research is all useless as the policymaker knows what to do but does not want to do it. I was almost in agreement with him but then there are many paths through which research can influence policy and affecting the policy regime is only one of them. (more…)

Naxalites are one facet of society and not distinct from it.   (more…)