Best of BS Opinion: DHFL resolution, the collapse of Indian cinema & more

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Friday

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation imploded after it made bad bets and failed to service its debt. Its promoter Kapil Wadhawan was imprisoned on charges of money laundering and diversion of bank funds. Later DHFL’s creditors and the Reserve Bank of India approved the Piramal group’s proposal to acquire it after an intense bidding war. Now, months later, the National Company Law Tribunal has directed lenders to reconsider Wadhawan’s proposal. This order not only defies logic but makes a mockery of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which bars promoters from bidding for their defaulting companies. The idea should be rejected immediately, the top edit argues here.   
 

In other views:
 

The second edit says ONGC needs to take a hard look at safety protocols for its frontline staff working on rigs in the Arabian Sea. Read it here
 

Aakar Patel shows how the government has been inept at all that was required of it: taking the pandemic seriously; strengthening the healthcare system in view of the coming second wave; and vaccinating as many Indians as possible. Read it here
 

Vanita Kohli-Khandekar discusses the collapse of Indian cinema owing to Covid-19. Read it here

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

‘A dictatorship is going on. The Prime Minister is feeling so insecure that he did not even listen to the chief ministers. What is this fear about?’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee