Comments on: Who’s the boss? — Part 2

By: Pavan

Pavan — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:24:34 +0000

Band-aid solutions and stop-gap measures can be good provided you have a government that is nimble enough to fix the underlying problem quickly while the band-aid is in effect.

India’s is not such a government, but I wouldn’t categorically snub band-aids.
For example, I would say it is wise to use a band-aid on the greenhouse gas emissions problem. In the long run we can invest in new technologies and embark on whatever social engineering we need to so that we may reduce our use of greenhouse gases. But for now, putting hard limits on emissions seems to be the only way.

The other big example is welfare in the United States. It is, essentially, and anti-starvation measure for people until they get themselves a job. Sure it serves to create some market distortions, but the alternative is having a lot of poor people in the streets without housing or food.
Isn’t there some utility to be gained by all of society by paying out some amount to keep the poorest clothed and fed?

By: Sudipta Chatterjee

Sudipta Chatterjee — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:02:34 +0000

As always, Atanu, I feel awed by the argument, because you express some intuitions which I hold so well in words. I would love to read your post on fixing Taxi fares.

By: Amit

Amit — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:58:59 +0000

Re: rent, when my dad bought a house in Delhi (we were living in another city at that time), he decided to rent it to only army people or bank officers (through the bank) as that would guarantee against any hanky-panky that Vednas mentions, and which is quite common in India. Maybe he got less rent money than he could’ve got, but it also ensured that when my dad finally moved to Delhi, the house was available right away.

By: Vednas

Vednas — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:16:57 +0000

Examples of adversarial laws abound. Rent control, for instance. It is supposed to penalize the landlord and to favor the tenant. Perhaps good in intent but results in lack of affordable housing.

Fuck the Indian government. We had to sell our house at half of it’s market price because of our inability to turn out our tenants for 24 years. We knew that we would lose if we sued him. In the end it was decided that the house should be sold. But who will buy it? No one was interested to buy a house with a lovely long-standing tenant. We had to sell it at half of its market price!The local muscleman who bought it was able to kick out the tenant because he had a 9mm thing and he never hesitated to use it.

Here I see glittering and sparkling shops upon which rest a dilappidated sad-looking but magnificent houses.One can easily guess the earnings mismatch between the landlord and the tenant. The shopowners would earn a fortune but pay a pittance to the landlord. And what’s worse the landlord can not even dare to ask for higher rent to maintain his crumbling house! I knew a friend who had 2 unemployed cousins but they could not kick out tenants who paid a majestic Rs. 50 rent per month.

Long live the Indian government! Mera Bharat Mahan!

By: dodo

dodo — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:12:47 +0000

I am quite in agreement with Rishi. Here is what I have learnt through my daily commuting in cabs and autorickshaws in Mumbai for the last 3 years:

1. One needs a permit along with a license to run an auto or a cab in Mumbai

2. The last time BMC released permits for autos and cabs in 1996 ( and the window was open for 1 month).

3. Now the existing permits are sold like stocks. Three years rent for a permit for an autorickshaw is Rs. 70,000/-.

So this mechanism ensures that the number of cabs and autos are constant in the city, which is adding more than 3000 persons every day.

By: rishi

rishi — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 20:14:29 +0000

Atanu,
What you have raised is a very emotive issue for middle class Indians. People who live here face the situation of no service to certain locations, overcharging and in times of emergency the rates of the rickshaws even double or triple.

This law is required as long as there are other imbalances in the system. But it is basically a band aid job and a pretty ineffective one at that. The root cause of all the above is that there isn’t an open market in autorickshaw’s. The govt restricts the number of licences granted per city. Licenses must be granted to everyone who wishes to use a rickshaw.