Telecom sector not to lay ‘golden egg’ for a while, says Kapil Sibal
4 April 2013 1:58 AM GMT
Speaking at a session – ‘The Governance Conundrum: Is it Law or Enforcement?’ – organised at he annual general meeting and National Conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Wednesday, telecom minister Kapil Sibal said, ‘Telecom which was the golden goose that was having lakhs of crores in its kitty, today has only Rs 1,000 crore and is in debt of Rs 2.50 lakh crore.
‘At one point telecom was seen as a golden goose, and the interference of the Supreme Court has made it sure that it never lays golden eggs,' Sibal said, adding that nobody had gained from the court’s decision to cancel the 2G licenses that were granted in 2008.
Courts should not interfere in the Government policy making as they do not have the experience or the ability to deal with economic policy issues, said Sibal. ‘Between 2010 and 2013, with all the experiments, instead of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, the government has made just Rs 1,000 crore; consumer tariffs have gone up while operators are under a debt burden of Rs 2.5 lakh crore,’ he added.
Laying emphasis on a collaborative approach to policy making and implementation, he said if implementation was not right it could end up alienating people. Suggesting the use of technology to reduce human intervention, Sibal said the Electronic Delivery Service Bill was committed to delivering all public service electronically by 2020. Criminal justice system was one area where technology could play a huge role, he mentioned.
‘At one point telecom was seen as a golden goose, and the interference of the Supreme Court has made it sure that it never lays golden eggs,' Sibal said, adding that nobody had gained from the court’s decision to cancel the 2G licenses that were granted in 2008.
Courts should not interfere in the Government policy making as they do not have the experience or the ability to deal with economic policy issues, said Sibal. ‘Between 2010 and 2013, with all the experiments, instead of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, the government has made just Rs 1,000 crore; consumer tariffs have gone up while operators are under a debt burden of Rs 2.5 lakh crore,’ he added.
Laying emphasis on a collaborative approach to policy making and implementation, he said if implementation was not right it could end up alienating people. Suggesting the use of technology to reduce human intervention, Sibal said the Electronic Delivery Service Bill was committed to delivering all public service electronically by 2020. Criminal justice system was one area where technology could play a huge role, he mentioned.
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