Best of BS Opinion: Govt's economic policymaking, labour market, and more

The ruling regime works hard to gain credibility in the eyes of the world as the next big destination for foreign investment. But when a lower court accepts a petition allowing an FIR to be filed against signatories to a letter addressed to the PM, foreign investors are unlikely to loosen their purse-strings anytime soon. An arbitrary legal system that ascribes sedition, breach of peace and hurting religious sentiments to a letter expressing concern for the security of fellow citizens is unlikely to enhance investor confidence. The letter signed by 49 celebrities drew the PM’s attention to the growing incidence of mob lynching of Muslims and Dalits. It is unclear how its contents “undermines the impressive performance of the prime minister” or “supports secessionist tendencies,” as the petitioner has alleged. Demonising critics, putting labels on citizens and harking back to a mythical glorious past may play well with the electorate, but does it amount to a coherent policy of progress for modern India? Shyam Saran compares the Indian regime’s manifest anti-English, anti-western focus with China’s embrace of these values to explain why India could miss her tryst with destiny. Read it here. Labour reform, audit regulations and the quality of economic policy-making are the other views on the opinion pages today. Kanika Datta sums them up

The Modi government’s inability to come up with a coherent policy to tackle the economic slowdown stems from his inability to put together an effective economic advisory and policy-making team, says A K Bhattacharya. Read it here

 The labour minister has written to industry organisations and trade unions asking for consultations to address India’s jobs problem. But in restricting discussions to those who represent workers in the minuscule organised sector, the ministry is ignoring the concerns of the far bigger cohort of unorganised labour, says the lead edit here

The second edit says the ministry of corporate affairs would do well to ban audit firm affiliates from offering clients related services. Read it here

M Damodaran explains why gaps in rules and laws have resulted in the rising incidence of turf battles between regulators. Read it here

A change in the way DTH homes are calculated has reduced coverage by some 18 million homes. Is this plausible? Vanita Kohli-Khandekar explains the intricacies here 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

‘We would like to believe that you too would support the right to freedom of expression, so ‘mann ki baat’… does not become ‘maun ki baat’.”

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to Narendra Modi on the FIR filed against prominent citizens who wrote him a letter on public lynchings