India is easing its regulatory burden on businesses, but the battle against its inspector raj will be hard fought
The 1991 reforms dismantled the licence raj, but largely left the inspector raj untouched— the rule of the factory inspector, labour inspector, pollution inspector, tax inspector and so on. Many have draconian powers. In that context, the recent policy changes should be seen more as an overdue start towards deregulation, rather than the completion of the very difficult task of simplifying a tangled mess of rules across levels of government, departments and regulatory agencies—an opening note rather than a crescendo.
Post Comment