‘We have autonomous regulators, but there is limited oversight...we don’t ask them questions we should’

: •P. VAIDYANATHAN IYER: I don’t think Rajeev needs any introduction. He was one of the pioneers of India’s Telecom revolution in the early 1990s. Now, as Rajya Sabha member, his interests range from urban development to managing inflation. I request him to start with what’s occupying his mind these days as the President of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry. This can then follow with questions.

Thanks for inviting me. It’s a bit unusual as I’m not usually invited to these forums — so I don’t know whether I’m popular or not. In early 2007, when I had been an MP only for a year, I was asked what the biggest threat to India’s growth was. Unhesitatingly, I said it was politics, for which I was severely criticised. The point I was trying to make then and what I still believe is that politics can be disruptive as well as enabling. A politician’s lack of focus on specific issues is today the biggest threat to the country’s growth. Our institutions of governance pose a challenge in our path to becoming a hypercompetitive and efficient economy. We see what is happening today, with the slightest hint of inflation. We have a less than confident picture of the PM and FM making statements in Parliament accusing people of cartelisation, talking about price fixing, and still being unable to do anything apart from requesting for price reduction. This is what has gone wrong with institutional organs of the Government — we have autonomous organisations, regulators, laws that give power to these entities, but there is limited oversight as we do not ask these institutions the questions we should.

•P. VAIDYANATHAN IYER: What does one do when politicians and ministers look at regulatory bodies as their own turf?

Independent regulators and autonomous bodies were created and have been enacted by Parliament to be independent of the political and administrative executive. If an independent regulator is not to report to a minister or secretary, who is it reporting to? What is the oversight mechanism that is envisaged in the concept of an independent regulator? People haven’t realised that Parliament has a legislative role of enacting law, and more importantly, the role of overseeing the executive. A parliamentary committee model is in place to question a regulator about its actions. However, as the regulatory oversight mechanism is not working, people will do...

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