Privatisation, India style

Over the years India's governments have turned several public goods into private ones

A friend of mine is appalled that the Modi government has asked private restaurants to allow people to use their loos for a nominal charge of Rs 5. I can quite understand her annoyance.  

Once, when she was pregnant, a shop in London had refused to let her use its bathrooms. This is a private property, she had been told by a female employee, whereupon my friend had growled “do your worst”, and gone on to use the facilities.

Last July I was placed in exactly the same predicament. I had arrived in Bangalore on the day of the