I missed the NEN summit today because of the Jet Airways pilots' strike. The role of the government in the strike is very interesting. On one hand, it is the government that is seen as safeguarding the rights of workers to unionize, though no one must have imagined that this right would be claimed by pilots earning Rs. 30-50 lakhs a year in a multi-player industry. On the other hand, the government can use the Essential Services Maintenance Act to end the strike and anyway bears the responsibility of preventing any group of people from holding the rest of the country hostage.
There is always such a balance wherever the government gets involved - or doesn't. Till the 1980s, the Indian government interfered everywhere, and the result was very slow growth in both the GDP and in the technological modernity of the country. (I have somewhere a thick Industrial Policy publication from the 1980s, which spells out in detail how the government plans such trivial things as the production of digital electronic watches and microwaves ... you have to read it to believe it.) Today, we are probably seeing in the US the effects of the opposite type of misjudgment - the extreme deregulation of the financial industry.
How does this all this affect entrepreneurs? Well, most aspects of government regulation hinder (and few seldom truly help) entrepreneurs, and they distort their incentives. This must be set off against a few really good causes - such as preventing a oligopoly of industrialists from exploiting workers, even though trade unions can sink businesses to everybody's detriment (think General Motors) and even a simple minimum wage can lead to unemployment.
The balance is a difficult one!
14 comments:
Hi Sir, it was one of the best opportunity of ur life to learn so much things in a single day. we missed you a lot, your words would have added more glow in the complete learning process.
Dear Sir,
The condition is appalling and we as the consumers are the ones who are finally losing as the government will not let go of its,tax income on the aviation fuel, neither the operators are going to reform their policies, he pilots who are overpaid are also taxed up with their schedule and so general consensus is virtually impossible. every aspect is the ball game of Indian government. I ould like to thank you Sir for updating my knowledge from a different perspective
Hello Sir,
It is very true that government has to maintain balance between regulation and deregulation. My view is somehow different. Sometimes it is very tough for the government also, because it has to think for all(for people & business both). In that case some get advantage and some not.
To solve it, one thing government can do that it can improve efficiency to handle such problems.
Second young professionals have to join and try to handle.
Please suggest other solutions for it...
Sir,
We miss you a lot in the event.
how any irresponsible strike can affect an individual, first time i could realize this.
Hello Sir,
We missed you during this event.
Hello Sir,
We missed you for the NEN summit and i feel that it is indeed necessary for the government interference as because of their involvement we are not hit hard from the effects of recession.
Another example which comes to my mind is Telecom sector.
As the private players increases their prices, BSNL comes with a bust and gives hefty discounts because of which private players have to come to a competitive price to sustain in the market.
Regards
Vidit Shah
Indore Campus
Dear Sir,
We were missing you too, any way the summit was wonderful, it enlightened us a lot
and we have previlege to listen to the 6 successful entrepreneurs in a day.
Sir,
Thank you for this post. I want to share one fact that during their strike of five days they had loss of Rs. 200 Cr. So why they are still facing finance scarce.
Umesh, Anurag, Deepesh, Shashank, Hardik, Vidit, Ritesh, thanks for your comments. I see many of you regularly read and comment on the blog and I learn from your comments.
Dear Sir,
We all missed you very much during the NEN Summit, especially the MNIP folks.
Thank you for the insight. Yesterday I was going through the news channel in which they were showing that the situation between the Jet Airways and its employees are going to get stabilized.
When we say that the governments have a choice, in the same way we can relate this with the entrepreneur's life. Whatever decisions we make in life; good or bad, "we always have a choice".
Thanks and Regards
Good Morning Sir,
Now the role of government became more important.It will really not an easy task for the government to take decision either in favour of pilots or in the favour of management.
Thank you sir for sharing such a useful thoughts with us.
with regards-
Deepali Ayetay
Happy Engineer's Day Sir
Dear Sir,
We missed you a lot in the summit.I felt very bad to know the cause of your not arrival in the summit.By this event I came to know how an event effects an individuals' important work.
By refering to the article I must say that that this tye of behavior does not expect from the responsible unions like pilots.And government should stand on a particular front rather than keep switching on both the aspects.Because then only government will be able to deal these kinds of situation.
Dear Sir,
The NEN summit indeed gave a mind altering insight in context to the emerging enterpreneurs.
In reference to your article,it is startling to know how government intervention in private sectors such as airlines could have ebbed the hardships caused to 28,000 people and would have restored the credibility of Jet management too.
Regards,
Aditee Sathe
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