Journalism of Courage
With no transparent policy on natural resource allocation,picking on individual firms defies reason
in year one.
The larger problem is this: since there is,even now,no transparent policy on allocation of natural resources,through auctions,for instance,it is not clear how an industrialist can acquire the coal and bauxite mines he needs for his business,and indeed the economy,to run. It would be one thing if,while there was a policy for auctioning coal mines,Birla had manoeuvred to get the secretary to allot him a mine on the side. But the fact is,there was no such policy,the mine had been applied for way back in 1999,and it was meant for a power plant which was part of a larger Rs 11,000 crore aluminium plant,not a licence being bought only to resell at a premium.
Nor is this restricted to Birla and coal. It applies to steel,bauxite and,in certain phases of its history,even to the telecom sector. With Rs 38,000 crore of penalties levied on telecom firms,including PSUs,MTNL and BSNL,for instance,it is evident the policy is at fault,and individual firms are simply reacting to a bad policy environment. If the government is to dig up decade-old cases,its easy to see the bureaucracy kicking even routine decisions all the way up to the cabinet.
