But how can you compare our situation with America’s? We have a per capita income of $700, they have $22,000 per year, so the argument will, predictably, go. Similar arguments were used to keep gas connections, scooters, cars and telephones in short supply for nearly four decades after Independence. And what happened when you opened up? The tax payer did not have to spend a paisa more. And today we are acknowledged to be a rising global power in car manufacturing, the second fastest growing telecom market, and coupon books for MPs’ LPG quota went out of print years ago.

But there are areas where they still remain. An MP can still give you a coupon or a letter for admitting your child to a Kendriya Vidayalaya. Please go and stand outside the HRD minister’s house next month and you will find hordes of ordinary people waiting for help in getting their children some reasonable education unmindful of the signboard that firmly tells those seeking Kendriya Vidayala admissions not to crowd the entrance.

Why would the minister now use a part of his hoard (particularly after the education cess) to build a couple of hundred more Kendriya and Narvodaya Vidyalayas, to expand and build new IITs and IIMs? He won’t because he will then lose the power of the coupon and the quota. And his bureaucrats won’t allow it because this is by far the most important area of our economy they can still fully control. The power of keeping an IIM director waiting for weeks for his joint secretary’s clearance to attend a prestigious foreign conference is heady. More institutions, more seats, private investments all add up to the loss of that power.

... contd.