The fact that I’ve posted in one day about two separate reforms that aren’t getting noticed suddenly reminds me of Ravikiran’s thesis that the only time the UPA can carry out reform is when the Left is distracted with other things (follow-up 1) like privatising airports when everyone is concentrating on the Tsunami.

The thing is that the Left has now been replaced by the SP, so I’m not sure how far this idea is still valid. But maybe the UPA is now so used to doing stuff by stealth that by sheer force of habit they announced the (limited) liberalisation of foreign media when everyone was distracted by the Delhi blasts, the Delhi encounter, and the I-banking crisis. Again, it’s slightly depressing that carnage and loss of life and livelihood is required before something happens.