Watch out for the Cobra Effect

Government should weigh the pros and cons of a solution before putting it into effect to ensure it does not end up creating even bigger problems down the line

As we enter our 72nd year of Independence from the British we must remember the Cobra Effect, where the solution is worse than the problem. It gets its name from India’s colonial period when the British tried to solve Lutyens Delhi’s serious cobra problem by offering a cash incentive for every dead cobra skin brought in. But despite many dead Cobra’s brought in for cash under the scheme, Delhi’s cobra problem was not improved. Cobra farms had sprung up around Delhi and were being used to breed cobras for the cash offered. When the British discovered this and ended the