Best of BS Opinion: Ethanol blend welcome, but water security a key concern

Today's wrap of the Opinion Page considers the E20 mandate and its potential impacts, what a US court's ruling on Google means, India's spice trade, and the regulatory aspects of options trading

The announcement of achieving E20 fuel - a 20 per cent ethanol blend in petrol - five years ahead of schedule must be welcomed at a time when rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have made urban pollution a nationwide health crisis, says our first editorial. Ethanol production can bring significant benefits to farmers, but from the consumer point of view, the transition could have done with better management. In Europe and the US, motorists are given a choice of E10, E15, or E20 fuel, whereas India has mandated a blanket E20 supply. Indian automakers initially hinted at performance-related issues, but seem to have fallen in line with the government’s position. The sudden change in industry opinion is unlikely to assuage consumers' concerns. There are also unintended consequences of the switch to rice- and maize-derived ethanol: poultry- and cattle-feed may be hit. What's more, both these crops are highly water-intensive, and widespread adoption in states like Punjab, Haryana, and Maharashtra can play havoc with the water table. The government must ensure that food and water security is not unwittingly sacrificed at the altar of energy security.

 

Our second editorial looks at the recent US court judgment, wherein Google emerged from a five-year antitrust case less damaged than expected. It won't be forced to divest Chrome or Android, but will have to share some of its search data with competitors, and cannot make exclusive, exclusionary deals. The judge also noted that generative artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the search landscape, where many of the searches driven by AI prompts can be considered “skins” for Google search. The court explicitly referenced the European Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires Google and others to share certain click and query data with third parties while maintaining privacy. However, the US court's order is narrower and more “temporary” than the DMA’s. Google puts up with the DMA to do business in the European Union. If American courts ask for similar data-sharing, it could lead to other jurisdictions (including India) asking for the same. This ruling may set the scope of tech antitrust remedies in the world’s largest market. Blocking exclusivity and asking Google to share data with rivals addresses barriers to entry that could open up search to competition.

 

An ongoing debate on whether the state should prohibit weekly option contracts is being framed incorrectly as a trade-off between speculation and investor protection, write Ajay Shah and Urvish Bidkar. The correct framing is about whether India should continue on the path toward creating more liquid and more complete markets. The primary concern has been about the losses to individual traders. While understandable, a ban would be a policy error, and risks damaging financial market development. To ban the product is to punish the entire market for a failure of surveillance or individual decision making. It also contradicts a core principle of economic liberty: consenting adults should be free to enter into contracts. The state’s role is to enforce contracts and prevent fraud, not to prohibit risk-taking. Policymakers should see this not as a threat, but as an opportunity to build a more sophisticated and resilient financial system.

 

India’s spices sector seems to be doing quite well, but some glaring gaps need to be fixed to realise its full potential, writes Surinder Sud. At present, exports are confined majorly to a few bulk-produced spices. Despite growing almost 48 per cent of global spices, India’s share in international trade is relatively low. The bulk of the spices, over 75 per cent, are consumed locally. Worse, most exports are of raw spices, rather than processed and value-added products, something countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil and China are doing. Demand for organic spices, especially in developed countries, is also not being capitalised on, despite liberal incentives to promote organic and natural farming. Transformative action is needed on several fronts: productivity must be boosted using new technology and better agronomic practices; safe use of pesticides must be encouraged, especially in export-bound cargoes; and meeting sanitary and phytosanitary standards, which is now pivotal in international trade. 

 

What do today's most famous billionaires like to do? Well, build big rockets that can get people to the moon (and Mars). That is what Christian Davenport's 'ROCKET DREAMS: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race' is out to capture, writes Rebecca Boyle in her review. Both Bezos and Musk have plenty of money to spend, with no one to stop them; in fact, Nasa welcomes their inputs and designs. What no one asks, including in this book, is why this is something we should encourage billionaires to do, let alone praise them for it. The book is a fine piece of reporting that historians will be able to use as a first draft of rocket history to craft deeper analyses of our first real steps as a space-faring society. However, Davenport’s portraits of the duo are frequently sympathetic, even complimentary. The overall picture is of two visionary men committed to getting humans and eventually industry off this planet, while the Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine is portrayed as a cynic. The space race between Bezos and Musk does not feel like an adventure or an elevation of the human spirit- in this book, it is more like a cynical quest for likes and power.