Modi govt should simplify archaic laws

1) Increase simplicity and responsiveness of the ministries and coordination amongst the various ministries, especially the infrastructure related ones. Increase the prominence of the PMO in decision making, do away with the CCI. Narendra Modi should also reduce the number of ministries. E.g: Petroleum, coal, renewable and power can be merged into a single Energy Ministry with each department served by a Junior MoS.

 

2) The PMO and the new FM, hopefully Arun Shourie or Arun Jaitley, will have to hit the ground running as they need a healthy exchequer to fuel grand infrastructure plans. Two ways of achieving this are by divesting stakes in PSEs and cutting back on petroleum subsidies gradually.

 

3) The Modi government has to kickstart the process of simplifying many of India's archaic laws. This will lead to transparency and increase investor confidence. There are many low-hanging fruit like labour law reforms, GST, DTC Bill and Insurance Bill for the new government to start with. These measures will surely kick-start the 'achhe din' we all hope for!

 

(The author is a student of IIM, Shillong, 2013-15 batch)