Why blame development economists when government follows convenient suggestions

Where on earth does our government get the bizarre ideas that it seeks to thrust on a puzzled citizenry? We are writing laws that might be suitable for an affluent Sweden, but are outlandish in the wretched confines of our country.


The law of the land now states that no one can run a school if the teacher-to-student ratio exceeds 30:1. While this sounds reasonable, just and desirable, the fact of the matter is that our state and local governments will end up being the greatest violators of this law. In most government schools, one or two teachers turn up and make a feeble attempt to educate hundreds of children.

Sometimes, even these teachers do not turn up, as they are busy escorting their own children to private schools of their choice. Presumably, the headmasters, the municipal education officials, the state secretaries of education and possibly even august state ministers of education will be punished with fines and imprisonment.

Right of Refusal, to Growth

The law of the land states that if tomorrow we discover a large oilfield — for argument’s sake, bigger than the oilfield in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia — then some 51 residents of a nearby village, with a population of 100, can prevent any attempts to drill and recover the oil in the ground.

The law of the land states that if you buy 10-acre parcels of land from five willing sellers, for a total of 50 acres, if one of these sellers objects, then you cannot begin to construct anything on the land — certainly not a factory that might employ hundreds of persons.

I do not know what the law of the land says. But according to the television advertisement of the government of India, if a shopkeeper claims that (s)he does not have stocks of subsidised grain, then a well-spoken young woman appointed by the government is entitled to accuse the shopkeeper of lying, and can incite customers to confront the shopkeeper.

Till now, there is no mention of incitement to lynch. But watch this space — we really don’t know what is next on the anvil.

Selective Amnesia

Many of my friends are convinced that all these strange laws could not have been thought up by the weak intellect of our present rulers.

They believe that these ideas have been inspired by the malevolent Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen. They are now emerging as targets of anger and abuse. I thought it only proper that someone rises to their defence.

Drèze and Sen are vehemently opposed to what they refer to as “regressive subsidies” for diesel and LPG. On this count, we do not see an activist government paying attention to the eminent Drèze and the extremely eminent Sen. At best, half-hearted announcements are made. For every two steps forward, one step is taken backward.