Markets on track-II

Bureaucrats are frequently blamed for inefficiency and corruption in the delivery of government services but they often have their hands tied by skewed policy. Or so a senior official in the railway ministry put it when he humorously described the touts who infest the railway ticketing system as "market forces". "Since the entire issue of ticket prices is highly politicised and lost in the debate driven by populism, the market takes care of the pricing," he said. Thus, he explained, if an agent sells you a ticket at a premium, that represents the true state of supply and demand sans government intervention. That is an interesting point but the fact that the bureaucratic machinery recognises it and is helpless is both amusing and worrisome.