#82 What Does it Mean to be Free?

This newsletter is really a weekly public policy thought-letter. While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought-letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways. It seeks to answer just one question: how do I think about a particular public policy problem/solution?<br/><br/>PS: If you enjoy listening instead of reading, we have this edition available as an audio narration courtesy the good folks at <a href="https://www.ad-auris.com/">Ad-Auris</a>. If you have any feedback, please send it to us.<br/><br/>India Policy Watch: Disinvestment &#8212; Aakhir Kyun?<br/><br/>Insights on burning policy issues in India&#8212; Pranay Kotasthane<br/><br/>On October 30th came the news that the government has <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/how-government-sweetened-the-air-india-divestment-deal-to-attract-more-bidders/story-mDvOSjG8fkow5tWmstwJMO.html">modified</a> bidding parameters to make the Air India disinvestment lucrative for buyers. Essentially, the government first made the sale difficult by inserting way too many conditions. Unsurprisingly, it found no buyers. Then hit COVID-19 and now the government is so desperate to raise resources that it is willing to finally remove the self-placed hurdles. <br/><br/>This got me thinking: what are the different narratives regarding the purpose of disinvestment? What stories do they tell and what policy actions do they imply? <br/><br/>I could think of three such narratives.<br/><br/>Narrative #1: Governments Should Sell Businesses it Can&#8217;t Run Well<br/><br/>The underlying story is simple: some PSUs incur consistent losses. Losses indicate that the government cannot run them well. Hence, these PSUs must be sold. The focus in this narrative is on numbers such as <a href="https://theprint.in/opinion/how-psus-market-cap-fell-by-36-in-6-years-under-modi-govt-while-stock-market-doubled-theirs/533743/">falling market