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Journalism of Courage
Like the Reserve Bank, the Securities and Exchange Board of India Sebi has also proposed to set up an Ombudsman for the capital market, so that small investors can get a quick hearing and swift redressal of their grievances. Sebi is now looking for funds to create the necessary infrastructure and has sought a contribution from the Investor Education and Protection Fund IEPF which has nearly Rs 230 crore in its kitty. While the ombudsman would certainly help resolve investors8217; grievances, there is a catch. A group of consumer and investor associations who met at Ahmedabad at the end of February were of the strong view that since IEPF is carved out of unclaimed dividends, the money must only be used to fund investor programmes and not by the regulator. While Sebi does need to fund the Ombudsman8217;s infrastructure, these activists felt that the money must come from fines and penalties imposed on capital market intermediaries and traders, under Sebi regulations. An amendment to the Sebi Act has hugely enhanced the regulator8217;s power to levy hefty penalties but curiously enough, a slew of recent Sebi orders have chosen to bar wrongdoers from the capital market instead of imposing deterrent monetary penalties. Yet, all over the world, financial penalties are considered the most effective deterrent against financial crime.
Skybus progresses
Sanctity of contract
They did it in connection with Enron and they are doing it again. Newspaper editorials have waxed eloquent about the sanctity of Ten Sports8217; contract to broadcast matches played in Pakistan and have criticised the judiciary for meddling. While they are right in arguing that Doordarshan and all Indian cable service providers ought to have worked out a commercial agreement with Ten Sports, let8217;s not forget a few pertinent points. First, that Indian viewers had already missed two minor matches because no agreement was forthcoming. Secondly, until the eve of the first One-Day International, there was no agreement.
Third, Ten Sports has a record of blanking hapless cable viewers from major international sporting events while trying to extract higher payments from cable service providers. It has shown scant sympathy for the fact that paying viewers are deprived of their legitimate right because of its dispute with operators. Fourthly, without India8217;s one billion cricket-obsessed viewers, Ten Sports broadcast rights for matches played in Pakistan would have been just a fraction as profitable. If cricket is readily acknowledged as a national obsession, then public interest as well as law and order considerations make it necessary for the judiciary and the government to step in, especially when it was clear that business considerations were not leading to a practical resolution of the problem.
Tailpiece: A knowing wag makes this interesting observation. Have you noticed, he says, that all the Reliance Energy advertisements carry the tag line 8216;A Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprise8217;. However, this is not true for the rest of the Reliance group. For instance, Reliance Infocomm, which was the first to exploit Dhirubhai Ambani8217;s brand appeal with the mere papa ka sapna campaign and Dhirubhai Ambani Entrepreneur scheme, doesn8217;t carry the same tag line. Is it merely an oversight, lack of a clear group policy or a deliberate difference? For those who don8217;t get the picture, Reliance Energy is almost exclusively managed by one Ambani brother and Infocomm by the other. email: suchetadalalyahoo.com
