We always believe in the concept of ‘customer is king’; this also implies that subject to conditions of state security, the Government should not take any measures that compromises on the choices available to consumers. Now, what does one make of Government attempts to protect the Indian Postal Department from the courier companies through imposing severe conditions on the courier companies. People make a decision to select courier companies vs. post offices depending on the convenience and cost. One major factor could be the willingness of courier companies to be much more flexible, including regular pickups of the required articles from the premises of the person wanting to send the letter or material. On the other hand, the Postal Department is more useful for its wide coverage, but not necessarily for its flexibility and convenience to customers (as many people could testify). Inspite of all these factors, the Government is trying to put in a bill that would limit the courier companies:

This is one mail courier companies would be praying is returned to the sender. A Cabinet note circulated by the department of posts has mooted 49% cap on FDI in courier business. If the proposal goes through, multinationals like Fedex, DHL, UPS and TNT who hold more than 49% in Indian ventures will have to pare stake. The draft of the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill has another whammy in store for the private sector.
It proposes to make letters, parcels and packets weighing up to 150 gm the exclusive preserve of India Post. Private players will have to charge 2.5 times the tariff specified by Speed Post to operate in this segment. “The proposal to charge 2.5 times the Speed Post rates is not only unfair competitive advantage being provided to a competitor (India Post), it would also be a unique case not prevalent anywhere in the world. The global practice is to charge a price multiple on the lowest weight slab of the basic postal service offering. In India, it should be on the 20-gm weight of an envelope and not on corresponding weights and on a premium business segment like Speed Post.

It does not make sense to limit the choices available to common citizens in order to protect the postal industry. Just like the introduction of private players in the telecom industry has a multiplier effect on the economy, having multiple choices in the business of letters and other such articles increases efficiency and competitiveness and benefits consumers overall.

By now, there are numerous cases where banks have indulged in force when trying to recover loans. In many cases, these measures have resulted in humiliation, injuries, hospitalization and sometimes even death of the person being hounded; banks typically claim that they are not responsible for the actions of these recovery agents. The RBI has been mostly quiet when all this has been going on; one would have expected the IBA (Indian Banking Association) to be quiet, but the RBI is the authority that has controlling authorities over all the banks in India, and one would have expected them to intervene. It is courts that have been taking the lead in acting against these recovery agents.
Now finally the RBI seems to have woken up. It says that it will issue a circular on November 15, that will impose a directive to banks to make sure that their recovery agents do not indulge in these kind of activities:

MUMBAI: Concerned over growing litigations against banks and high-handedness of recovery agents, Reserve Bank on Tuesday issued strong warning to banks to check such practices or be barred from engaging such services.
An urgent need has risen to review the “policy, practice procedure” involved in the engagement of recovery agents by banks in India, he said, adding that banks are urged to follow prescribed specific considerations while engaging them. The directive to banks follow a series of complaints received by the apex bank regarding abusive practices followed by the recovery agents. “This invites serious supervisory disapproval, which includes imposing temporary or permanent ban if such practices persisted,” he said.

Even this measure seems inadequate. Why the delay till November 15 ? And banks are not instructed to follow the law of the land, but to ensure that banks review their recovery procedures; this seems strange. It would have been simple to instruct banks to ensure that their procedures do not flout the law of the country; even the penalty seems to be limited to just preventing banks from employing recovery agents - nothing more stringent than that. No review of their licenses for a patently illegal act, no threat of de-recognition, it seems like almost a slap on the wrist is all that is threatened.

Public Utilities need to be more consumer friendly. A good thing to say, right ? But it is very necessary. We all depend on public utilities such as the electricity generation and transmission, water works, sewage handling, etc as absolutely essential for a basic level of comfort in the cities. In most times, we have very little contact with these utilities in terms of need for visiting them for complaints or resolving of some disputes, but when such a need arises, it is typically found that most of these utilities lack in terms of being consumer-friendly and understanding the concerns and difficulties faced by normal citizens. One would expect a higher level of courtesy and understanding than what we normally find. Take a loot at the behaviour of Lucknow’s electricity generating utility:

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration’s (Lesa) high-handedness and the penchant for blaming consumers for any defect in meters has drawn flak from denizens (read consumers) of the state capital. The consumers want necessary changes in the method of meter installation and the way Lesa treats consumer whose meter is found defective.
“They usually come without any notice, apparently in their bid to make fast bucks from a hapless consumer,” charged Sanjay Mukherjee (43), a government servant and a resident of Alambagh. He demanded that the authority should install ‘pool meters’ (a common meter) from where connections could be given to individual consumers. “They can then come and check any time of the day. No individual would be targeted in that case,” he added.

It is necessary for the concerned authorities and Government functionaries to be much more responsive and understanding of the needs and concerns for citizens. And it is really a must that the utility should not automatically assume that a citizen is out to cheat or steal power.

Typically, when a city runs out of land for housing, the focus shifts to the surrounding villages and semi-urban land. Given the way that there is big focus on housing and a great increase in property prices in the recent few years, the temptation is to use any means, legal and illegal, to get more money. Mix this with the fact that a majority of the land being acquired is owned by villagers, and the mix becomes explosive.
There is a need to ensure that villagers are treated with respect, and when their land is acquired or bought, it is done legally following due process including the payment of market rates such that the villagers feel adequately compensated. Else, as we have seen in the case of SEZ’s, there is a possibility of tension and violence, and massive delays. But. we will always see cases of people trying to use illegal means to get rich quick, and there is a need for the administration to investigate and haul up the offenders when they see something like this happening, as in this case:

PUNE: The anti-extortion cell of the city police on Friday arrested Pradeep Runwal, managing director of Amrit Runwal Multi Housing Pvt Ltd, and two of his staff - Ankush Parakh and Jaydeep Limaye - for allegedly duping 270 farmers from Manjri village off Pune-Solapur road and for making bogus power of attorney (PoA) documents of their lands.
According to the police, the company had allegedly taken over 108 acres of farmers’ land by making bogus PoA documents without their knowledge. The case came to light after the company itself registered an extortion case against one of their former employees, who in turn exposed them.

In such cases, the investigation should be done quickly, and if they are indeed guilty, the punishment should be quick. There is a need to ensure that justice is seen to be done, else we will soon face a situation when villagers start to take justice in their own hands.

How many times would this have happened to you ? You are at a retailer buying a phone, or some consumer durable (TV, fridge, AC, DVD player, etc) and the retailer says that you need to pay 2% extra if you are paying by credit card. You really don’t have that much cash in hand, and do not have the patience to go back and get the required cash. So, you grumble a bit, and then end up paying that 2% extra. Well, congratulations, you also gave the shopkeeper the saving he wanted at your expense.
A credit card is supposed to cost the retailer that 2-3% of the total amount (that amount being the amount he needs to pay his bank, your credit card company and the Mastercard/Visa company). And why does he pay that much money ? Well, he no longer has to worry about whether the money he is getting is genuine or counterfeit, he is liable to get customers who don’t have cash in hand but want to buy the item (thus ensuring higher sales), and he no longer has to worry about handling cash (thus avoiding the risk of theft).
Read some text from this article that also advises against paying the 2% extra:

For some years now, it has been observed that certain merchant establishments-especially budget jewellery, electronics and grey market outlets-ask customers to shell out about 2% extra for purchases with credit cards. All card-issuing banks TOI spoke to, and the Credit Card Holders’ Association of India specified that merchant establishments cannot do so.
Says Sachin Khandelwal, head, cards group at ICICI Bank, “Typically, there is a fee a merchant agrees to pay for a terminal… If a merchant tries to recover it from customers, they must walk out.” Khandelwal also advises consumers to report such cases to credit card-issuing banks. “We may then blacklist them (the outlets) and remove our terminals.” An official at another card-issuing bank adds, “It is a bad practice. If someone charges 2% above MRP, you should report it to a consumer forum, irrespective of the value.”

Given all the advantages that credit cards enjoy, there is absolutely no reason for consumers to pay extra. All you have to do is exercise your right, and stand firm.