Arresting the pandemic of corruption
Economic Times,
August 29, 2011
By Pradeep S Mehta
Corruption
has now become a part of our DNA and is now a pandemic. The
Lokpal Bills will now be debated before the Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Law and Justice. A refreshing and
welcome change is that their proceedings will be public…With
the movement now on the Lokpal Bill that has already had a
salutary impact on our economy and the governance system, we
need to start a similar movement at the level of the states
and our districts. Only then can we hope to arrest the
pandemic of corruption.
More...
Housing comes under heat
Financial Express, August 24, 2011
By Pradeep S Mehta
Even while
the case where the Competition Commission of India (CCI)
imposed a penalty on NSE for abuse of dominance was still
under public debate, CCI has followed up with yet another
crackdown on abuse of dominance, this time by India’s
largest real estate company, DLF. DLF Limited was slapped
with a record Rs 630 crore fine for abuse of dominance of an
exploitative nature. DLF Limited was found guilty by CCI of
imposing arbitrary, unfair and unreasonable conditions on
apartment allottees of one of its numerous housing
complexes, the Belaire situated in Gurgaon.
More...
Competitive neutrality in public policy
Business Standard, August 22, 2011
By Pradeep S Mehta
The
Government of India has launched discussions on a draft
national competition policy. Such a policy is needed to
promote healthy competition in the Indian economy, so that
growth is assured, inflation is controlled and more jobs are
created. As it is, a number of competition distortions or
impediments arise owing to our policy framework in different
areas of economic governance. As part of work on a
competition policy, the government has undertaken an
exercise to unravel the huge range of competition
distortions, which may be over 3,000 if we consider the
number of policies, laws, regulations and praxis at the
level of the Central, state and local governments.
More...
An abuse of dominance
Financial Express,
August 08, 2011
By Pradeep S Mehta
The order by
the Competition Commission of India in the case of set top
boxes has not endeared it to consumers, leading to the
questioning of its capacity to deal with the rampant
anti-competitive practices in the country. The issue is
quite simple. DTH operators get set top boxes made to their
own specifications, which are not usable on a competitor’s
service. This means that interoperability is lacking, thus
tying down a consumer to one provider. This, in turn,
creates disincentives to shift to another provider. This
also affects innovation adversely as such dominant practices
dampen the desire to innovate by offering better quality,
lower prices and so on, and thus be ahead of rivals. In
competition jargon it is defined as an abuse of dominance as
the supplier ties you down to their own products.
More...
Uganda oil revenues can spur EAC growth
Business Daily
Africa, August 04, 2011
By Fredrick
Njehu
There has
been a lot of debate surrounding the oil and petroleum
sector in Uganda in since the discovery of this vital
natural resource. First and foremost, it is important to
appreciate the concept of international law which grants
every country sovereign over its natural resources and in
this case, Uganda has all the powers to extract, explore and
sell any natural resource within its jurisdiction in
accordance with its national laws.More...
|