But a more innocuous issue that threatened to become a rallying cause was the privatisation of airports. Corporate interests, political jingoism and a reluctance to see the writing on the wall combined to stall the policy for over two years. Every party in the fray claimed it recognised the need to improve the condition of the airports, but it is interesting that nothing moved for over a decade, before the privatisation model was mooted.

In the meanwhile, the ever-growing air traffic through Mumbai and Delhi airports created snarls on the runways, with ground facilities too stretched. The Airports Authority of India has for some time held reserves which could be invested, but it was only after the clock started ticking for the Commonwealth Games that alternatives to the current privatisation plans started being bandied about. At the same time plans for Bangalore airport went every possible way, from being almost scuppered to being days away from the contract being awarded, but very few lost sleep over it.

However, the award for the longest playing drama is the one on electricity privatisation. But there is still no real consensus on how to progress with power sector reforms. The crux of the debate is the levy of user charges. The central government has, for instance, experimented with setting up the Power Trading Corporation (PTC) to act as a buffer between generation and distribution companies. It has issued special bonds to public sector power companies against the dues of the state electricity boards, and privatised distribution. All these have helped but no political formation has been able to prove a simple economics principle wrong — there is no free lunch.

... contd.