Policy Somersaults

Since no convincing reasons have been given for imposing the ban, all kinds of meanings, mostly relating to Karnataka, will be read into the decision. This should surprise no one, because it has become almost a norm now for governments to act arbitrarily and in order to please one lobby or other. For example, last year, the Congress government steadfastly refused to increase the free sale quota of coffee because the resulting increase in prices would upset coffee drinkers. But this year, the producers have become more powerful and the free sale quota has been increased to 100 per cent. Examples of this sort of ad hocism abound and one would have thought that five years of reform, not to mention the imperatives of coalition politics, would have induced some coherence into decision-making. But, as the decision to ban further foreign investment in the liquor industry shows, that has not happened.