DailyPost 2653
REGULATION AND THE REGULATOR!
The quality of regulation defines the quality of life in any country. Quality of life in not regulated by the availability of luxuries but the ease and surety of basic essentials of life. Same applies for ease of business and for propellants of growth and development at all levels. The quality of regulation encompasses in its realm the nature of regulation – whether it covers all the elements correctly and completely, the enforcement mechanism and how it fans out in day-to-day operations. The taste of the pudding is in eating it. Do these regulations make a difference on a measurable basis to the area it is catering to?
The effectiveness also needs to keep improving with the passage of time, delivering in a better manner; improved resources inclusive of human and updating on technology and data aspect of it, on which every human activity is dependent now. The quagmire is of Indian origin, where regulations by way law, rules, SOPs, directives etc are all created but the appropriate and effective mechanism to implement keeps hanging in mind air. The inherent domain worth of regulations is another issue. The implementation mechanism is incapacitated by in some way or the other; numbers, resources, expertise, attitude in some combination or the other. And to top it all, the ones who are mandated to monitor themselves lack the grit and the spine, to push the task down the throats of the recalcitrant.
Generally regulators don’t come to any area by any stand design of governance. When there is hue and cry, regulators are created. Many an area there is no regulator at all. The impression which is generally provided is that there is necessity for a regulator in addition to the mechanism already in place. First, in any area the concerned department or organisation is tasked with the regulatory job in some variant or the other. It can be made full proof if the head of the department or ministry is clearly tasked with this job. At times there can be a committee working under the head serving that particular task. It becomes one more task under the overall boss / dept. A regulator as an exclusive, independent, legal entity only for that purpose comes with its own issues.
Unregulated at differential levels is the order of the day in this country. The missing areas go completely uncontrolled. The surge pricing of our airlines can be case in point. Then what about the estimated 15 lakh properties in Bangalore city without A or B khata, all regulations in shreds. Even worse, there are 198 areas in the city prone serious flooding due to the encroachment / disappearance / wrong usage of the rajakaluves. The less said about the potholes the better. On the other extreme we have the unregulated social media, the intermediary rules so far don’t seem to have made a dent. No one knows who the regulator is. What is the quantum of revenue generated by these companies out of advertisements? It needs humungous study, effort and determination to even to reach the regulation.
INDIA HANGS IN BALANCE BETWEEN THE UNREGULATED AND THE REGULATED, TILTING TOWARDS THE FORMER.
Sanjay Sahay