Dinosaur ascendant

The civil aviation ministry has cause to be jubilant. Its untiring efforts have finally borne fruit with the withdrawal by the Tatas of t...

The civil aviation ministry has cause to be jubilant. Its untiring efforts have finally borne fruit with the withdrawal by the Tatas of their airline proposal. It is severely in doubt however if the government has nearly half as much cause for joy. This is a resounding, and entirely well-deserved, slap in its face even if the Tatas have been careful to insist that what stood in their way was the dinosaurs of the civil aviation ministry and not the government of India. The Tatas have obvious reasons for such restraint, but surely this is hair-splitting. The government has to take responsibility for what it allows to go on under its nose by one of its own ministries.

Of course the Tatas8217; action spares it the agonising that has been on display for everyone8217;s benefit. But it would have to be severely perverse minds that celebrated the withdrawal of an offer to invest almost Rs 1,500 crore, the sort of offer not too many Indian promoters can make even today. The ministry is littered with such minds, and it isnow of little relevance to this case whether or not the entire government is too. The fact is that the government has willy nilly allowed this obsolete and redundant ministry to run away with the ball in a crucial area of infrastructure which moreover has a lot to do with the way the rest of the world views India. Never mind that the majority stake was to have been Indian: foreign investors will draw the same lessons from this shameful affair that any other investor in his right mind would.

At the risk of repetition, it is worth outlining just what outrageous games have been played by this and previous governments to keep this airline from materialising. Jet Airways, whose interests are most directly served by what has happened 8212; rather than the public sector airlines8217;, as has been made out 8212; is allowed to operate with 40 per cent foreign equity. A new civil aviation policy is announced specifically to scupper the Tata proposal. This ridiculously keeps foreign airlines from having a stake in airlines.When the Tatas oblige, it is insinuated that the proposed equity from foreign institutional investors and the technical collaboration with Singapore Airlines is an attempt at backdoor entry for SIA.

Proof is not sought. It is enough to insinuate and tarnish. And now civil aviation minister Ananth Kumar has the gall to say that he retains an 8220;open mind8221; on the proposal and that foreign investment in airlines everywhere is carefully 8220;monitored8221;. As to his open mind, it looks as though he has got to keep it open for a goodish time now till some other unfortunate entrepreneur sees fit to rush in where he should rightly fear to tread.

And perhaps the minister would care to be more forthcoming about whether 8220;monitoring8221; elsewhere involves making investors stew in their own juice for two years, and several more if the initial Singapore Airlines proposal is considered? Finance minister Yashwant Sinha likes to go on about stimulating investment and thereby growth. If this is how he, Ananth Kumar, and therest of this allegedly indigenous-industry-friendly government goes about it, the country can be forgiven for thinking it is time it started discouraging it instead.