The headline suggests the focus is on the capture of regulatory agencies by retired IAS officers. But it is more, a wide-ranging discourse on problems of regulatory governance. It is a pity that the arguments are harmed by sloppy blame attribution: how can TRAI be blamed for spectrum auctions, when the article itself recognizes that is in the province of the Department of Telecommunications?
So how do we reverse this capture of important decision-making bodies by the bureaucracy? In 2006, the Planning Commission published a report (Approach to Regulations: Issues and Options) with some suggestions. The report highlights the fact that there is no uniformity in thinking behind setting up independent regulators. It points to the fact that many of them differ in terms of the extent of powers, tenure of members, selection procedures, and more. The petroleum regulator, for instance, can issue licences but has no say over tariffs. CERC fixes tariffs and issues licences, while trai has only recommendatory powers. To fix these things, it suggests setting up a regulatory affairs department in the Ministry of Personnel and having a minister for regulatory affairs. The idea was to bring in some oversight.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/revenge-of-the-babus-liberalisation-expanded-power-of-bureaucracy/1/312039.html
3 Comments
Abu Saeed Khan
Appointing Raghuram Rajan as the Governor of India’s central bank is a good example of meritocracy dwarfing the bureaucracy. The writer has referred to FCC commissioners’ appointment but ignored the hiring of Rajan. There is no scarcity of equivalents like Rajan in other sectors. Lawmakers in the world’s largest democracy, however, lacks moral authority to govern the bureaucrats.
“After the last general election, 162 of the 543 members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house, had criminal cases against them, including charges of rape, murder and kidnapping, according to civil rights watchdogs,” wrote the Financial Times on September 27, 2013. Indian bureaucrats fully exploit the lawmakers’ such abysmal image and fortify their position. Pity!
Rohan Samarajiva
But how does Bangladesh make appointments to the BTRC and the energy regulatory agency? Perhaps the systems are superior to those in India?
Abu Saeed Khan
The situation is worse in Bangladesh. We have developed a veracious appetite for everything wrong in India and Pakistan. It has been a tug-of-war between the civil and military bureaucracy in telecom regulatory commission. Civil servants control the energy regulator. Disgraced military dictator Ershad had hijacked the civil aviation authority and gave it to air force. No democratic government, since deposing Ershad in 1990, has changed it. The list is long, very long…..
Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia: South Korea Country Report
This report on data protection in South Korea is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) project, which aims, inter alia, to create and mobilize new knowledge about the tensions, gaps, and evolution of the data governance ecosystem, taking into account both formal and informal policies and practices. This report presents a focused case study of South Korea’s evolving data protection framework and its efforts to balance strong privacy protections with data-driven innovation
Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia: Nepal Country Report
This report on data governance in Nepal is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) project, which aims, inter alia, to create and mobilize new knowledge about the tensions, gaps, and evolution of the data governance ecosystem, taking into account both formal and informal policies and practices. The report provides an overview of Nepal’s constitutional and governance framework and examines the laws, policies, and institutional arrangements that shape the collection, processing, storage, access, and sharing of data.
LIRNEasia Policy Fellow Ashwini Natesan Participates in South Asian Regional Dialogue on AI Governance
LIRNEasia Policy Fellow Ashwini Natesan participated as a panellist at the Regional Dialogue on AI in Governance held on 19 February 2025 in New Delhi, India. The high-level discussion marked the culmination of a regional initiative delivered under Canada’s Indo-Pacific Engagement Initiative, in partnership with Humber Polytechnic and Social & Media Matters.
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
9A 1/1, Balcombe Place
Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2026 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific