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Journalism of Courage
Why,under the United Progressive Alliance,does even the most basic economic transaction seem to need government action? Why must a statist song-and-dance accompany normal market activity,and everything be presented as requiring a clearance or concession of some sort? For evidence of the lacklustre commitment to market principles and to simple,firm decision-making of UPA 2,consider one example,the Cairn-Vedanta deal. One company wants to buy another. No market-twisting monopoly will be formed,and no shareholders are likely to be unfairly victimised. In a modern economy with a sensible political dispensation,this would not be something that the government would need to concern itself with. But not,it appears,under UPA 2. Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy has waited for months for government approval not yet forthcoming for the simple sale of its majority stake in its Indian subsidiary to London-based Vedanta Resources.
And look at the pathetic excuses trotted out for this statist high-handedness. For example,that Vedanta has no experience in petroleum. Big deal. The operating company for Cairn Indias various operation remains: Cairn India. Its UK-based ownership might change and anyway,why should the government have to take a call on that? This governments commitment to actual economic independence for the private sector looks half-hearted,and this case is the worst advertisement for Indias economic reform. Nothing is more calculated to create uncertainty in the minds of investors,foreign or otherwise,than the sight of a government that revels in placing obstacles in the way of the market,even as it claims a commitment to liberalisation and reform.
