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While wandering along the blogosphere, I came across with a nice post published by Greenhornet on the topic Government dictating people what to do or not.
The author explains cleverly how bad it is for governments to use power they have to dicating what to read, watch and eat. I agree with him, 95%, but there may be some points where government would have to interfere for the betterment of vast majority. That's democracy. Otherwise, what the purpose of having a government?
For example, if some one want to run a XXX rated video on Public TV, should the government allow it? If some one is publishing a news paper which threats the security of general public, should the government allow it? If the school children wanted to smoke freely in school cafeteria, should the government allow it?
As I said, we can agree 95% of the fact that governments should not "dictate" what to eat and what to read. But, there may be occassions that it's better for the general public, if the government interfere.
Coming back to my subject matter today, which goes slightly in line with above blog post, "The Government has imposed a Rs.1 Million Tax on TV stations who broadcast after 10 pm"
According to this, TV stations have 2 options. Pay the tax or stop transmission. The reason put forward by the government is "to save energy"
Now, my friends laugh loud for that joke, and read further. We know how well our government saved energy by altering clock time by one hour.
Now, try to understand this too. We (Consumers) pay electricty bill when we watch TV after 10. It includes all government taxes. TV stations pay their bills as well. So, why they hell do we (rather TV stations) have to pay again, for watching TV after 10? It's double charging and double taxing!!! Unfair enough.
Another reason they give is, CEB cant meet the demand for electricty because people watch TV late night. Laugh again, This is funny. If we have a government like this, we don't have to watch those late night comodies at all.
If the CEB cant meet the demand, that means there's a market un explored for electricity in Sri Lanka. General knowledge of economics will suggest you strategies like,
1) Improving production capacity of CEB
2) Licencing Private companies to supply the excess demand
3) Alternative energy etc.
Who was the decision maker thought that restricting people's right to use electricity is the best strategy to cover up inabilities of CEB?
Very soon, they will say "Don't drive your veicle for more than 20 km per day. Ceypetco can't meet the demand for fuel"
24 hours electronic media is a "must" for a developed society these days. Turning that back is foolish. Many might say, ok we have cable or dish TV (I know most sefish ones would have already thought so). But, for vast majority of Sri lankans, they can't afford those yet.
Suddenly another Tsunami hits after 10. How do we get news alerts? Minister of Power going door to door saying "Tsunami enawo.. Tsunami enawo.." ??
How many things around us there, that if the government take better action we could be a more efficient nation. As few example, save electricity wastage in government offices, better road and transport system, to save fuel & people's "working" time, taxi meters for Three wheelers etc etc.
I wonder, how the TV stations gonna respond to this, but for sure this is some thing not going to work. Over the time, government will have to roll this back. The culture is moving forward, to a 24 hours society with electronic media and internet. Governments cant dictate people when to sleep and when to get up in such a society.
Any views of your own?
Friday, June 23, 2006
Government Says "Sleep after 10"
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5 People Had Something to Say about this post. Read them and add your thoughts....
Quote:"General knowledge of economics will suggest you strategies like,
1) Improving production capacity of CEB
2) Licencing Private companies to supply the excess demand
3) Alternative energy etc."
General knowledge of economics could suggest these strategies, but one must delve a bit deeper to inquire as to whether these strategies haven't already been explored. Let me answer that myself. Yes. All 3 of these have been looked into at great length, not to mention significant steps to activate relevant policies in this regard. Let's take each point individually.
1. Improving capacity of CEB - hell yeah!. It's abso-bloomin-lutely the 1st thing we should do. And yes, it's been attempted. And is ongoing. Significant restructure of the CEB is already underway, but as you would've read in the news, the parliamentary paper approving further restructure of the CEB has been stalled by the unions and the JVP. A few nights ago President MR withdrew the CEB paper prio to it being taken to parliament. He felt that more dialogue with unions and other relevant stakeholders need to take place.
2. Licencing Private companies to supply the excess demand
Ok, this is stale. The CEB purchases quite a bit of its electricity for the national grid from private electricity companies. This was started many years ago when we had the ultimate electricity shortage and strike in the late 90’s. It was further accelerated by Hon. Karu J during his term as Power & Energy Minister under the UNP regime. It was how we pulled out of that energy crisis. It was also why LECO (Lanka Electricity Company) was set up. You might say, ok then…just buy more electricity from them! Firstly, the CEB cannot afford this, as already they pay a premium price per electricity unit when buying from these pvt electricity suppliers. This was the only way these companies could be incentivised during the crisis of a few yrs ago. It has remained so ever since. Secondly, it seems like the capacity of these private companies have been somewhat exhausted, and the possibility of them contributing more to the national grid is unlikely. But this latter point is debatable. Until we have the coal power plant up and running, we are, to put it very bluntly, screwd. If the Upper Kotmale project goes ahead this screwed-factor might be slightly dampened, albeit at a huge ecological cost. (Personally, I’m not a major fan of cutting off the water to the lovely St. Clair’s Falls.). In a news update here at home, the CEB has announced a tariff hike, effective from August this year. The last hike was in 1992. There is not enough power being generated in the national grid, and the price of existing power is far to high. This has become a severe dis-incentive for production, falling profitability, and a serious loss in competitiveness in the int’l trade arena. Worst of all, it is our biggest cloud over Sri Lanka’s investment climate.
3. Alternative energy. - Yes, this has been looked into. Many times. By many people. Local authorities. And keen foreign investors. With lots’ve money going into feasibility studies. Norochcholai is underway, after much “hoo-haah” and seemingly endless delays. Next, Sri Lankan industries are actively looking into Dendro power. It’s absurdly abundant and access to it is easy. Setting up Dendro-power plants requires relatively less capital outlay. It’s cheap. Not so environmentally friendly. But it’s cheap. Just this week, President MR announced that arrangements will be made to provide loans at concessionary rates for starting up alternative-power projects, especially solar power.
I understand all this was probably not the heart of your post, and you were more on the issue of the ‘go-to-bed-by-10pm’ story. But I was compelled to comment on the 3 strategies you mentioned as it seemed as if you suggested they had never been considered. If this was not the case, may this (exceedingly large) comment serve as enlightenment to those who think a ‘quick-fix’ to this issue exists, and the only reason they haven’t been implemented was because the people entrusted with the job, are a bunch of lemons.
A lengthy comment but yet, shedding some light on some interesting areas. Thanks for that, first of all.
I agree, that all these 3 strategies have tried several times by many authorities but was it in the best interest of adressing the crisis we are heading in? (Imagine in 10 years, when the population grow and people starts to spend more on luxury, how big would be the electricity consumption of SL)
Forming LECO was no difference from "rebranding" Ceypetco. We can't accept it as a good attempt to liberalize the market for elecricity to private sector. Even the smaller power plants licened in several parts of the island are all small scale.
I never intended these are quick fixes or readily availeable solutions. But, these are the way forward. Regulating people consuming electricity is way backward, trying to take the country a decade back.
About the union acts, I have the same perception towards it. It's those labour unions which ruine our country, since many decades.
Why they oppose reforming CEB is not because they are in love with CEB. They fear, they have to work more for the same salary. That's how most labour unionists think.
I remember one of my Economics teachers said in a lecture, "In Sri Lanka, there's no labour exploitation. It's capital exploitation what's happenin"
Labour's added value to the economy, worth less than the salary they earn from the employers. That's capital exploitation. That's what happening in CEB and most government institutions. They don't wanna change that. That's why they oppose "reforms" Resistance to change.
Coming back to topic, what I wanted to make clear is, "Governments should not try to revert back society & culture (That's what JVP tried to do in 89). If the government can't meet the demand for something, in the society they are governing, it's there duty to expand the supply. Not regulating the demand."
// For example, if some one want to run a XXX rated video on Public TV, should the government allow it? //
Government can decide that – because that is public property and government have control over that. But if I want or make xxx rated videos in my private property government should not have any control of it. Government is not a religious leader or a king. Government is just a manager who works under us for manage common projects. Governments should not have control over adult personal human lives.
But in Sri Lanka – we said – ‘oh! It is ok. That is xxx movies. Let government control. No one said anything. Now it is too late. Now government decides not only what we watch – what time we should go to sleep too’.
If some one is publishing a news paper which threats the security of general public, should the government allow it?
Government should not have any control over this – News paper is a paper written by adult humans and purchased by another adult human totally voluntarily. We should have our freedom to communicate and inform and be informed.
But in Sri Lanka – we said – ‘oh! it is ok. That is security issue. Let government control. No one said anything. Now it is too late. Now government decides not only what we read – what time we should go to sleep too’.
If the school children wanted to smoke freely in school cafeteria, should the government allow it?
No. Government has total control of it. Schools are government property. Just like government should respect my person decisions – we should respect governments’ decisions too.
In Sri Lanka we have 60% malnutrition children – and more than 80% pregnant malnutrition. Now for solve that issue what government going to ban next time? Diner?
Quote from original post :
// For example, if some one want to run a XXX rated video on Public TV, should the government allow it? //
Quote from Sam's comment:
Government can decide that – because that is public property and government have control over that. But if I want or make xxx rated videos in my private property government should not have any control of it.
My Reply:
Sam, you have not understood the point I made. I clearly said "Public TV" clearly, which includes all the TV sations licened by the government. I never said, government have control over making or watching XXX rated movies by you or any individual.
Qute from Sam:
Government is not a religious leader or a king. Government is just a manager who works under us for manage common projects. Governments should not have control over adult personal human lives.
My Reply:
Every human being, before grown into an adult, have to undergo a "child Hood". What they see and hear during the child hood, affects how he's behave in the society once he grown up to an adult. As the manager of our society, government have a duty to make sure, the youth of the sountry is exposed to the"right" things during their child hood, and they gather a clear understanding of what is "wrong". If this happen as it meant to be, we won't see so called "adult personal human lives" such as "Ice Manju" "Soththi Upali" or the "Rapists of Hokandara or Kakaduwa". So as you've mentioned above, if the government allow to "freely circulate" XXX rated mivies among the youth of the country, withing "Private Property" channels (Like video centers, or tution classes), what you will see as "adult personal human lives" in the future would be 70% "Ice Manju's" and "Soththi Uplali's"
Quote from Original Post:
If some one is publishing a news paper which threats the security of general public, should the government allow it?
Quote from Sam:
Government should not have any control over this – News paper is a paper written by adult humans and purchased by another adult human totally voluntarily. We should have our freedom to communicate and inform and be informed.
My Reply:
I know, Sam though you are a Sri Lankan, you talk with some western liberalistic "tone" or attitude. So, now you go and do some googling about what Yankees did for their so called "free media" after 9-11 and what British Authorites did after London Tube bombing.
The important thing is, most media institutions of these countries have a good "self dicipline" which most of our "politically motivated" media institutions doesn't have. So, where ever there's no dicipline, some one have to interfere. Otherwise, our society will move backword to the era of Neanderthal.
Sam: I think you have completely missed the point that LLNO was trying to make. It made no reference to the issue of censorship or regulation of public tv programming. Please re-read the post to understand the context and argument being made.
LLNO: pls visit PE for the response to your comments on my post.
http://populareconomix.wordpress.com/2006/06/23/yes-we-have-tried-powering-up
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