Articles by Ram Singh

The union government introduced the National Medical Devices Policy, 2023 to augment the capacity, capabilities and competence of the domestic medical devices manufacturing industry. However, the policy has many lacunae and missing links, which could undermine the aims to foster a strong domestic medical devices manufacturing. There is a need for reform, in line with the existing policy initiatives and to constitute a separate law and regulatory body for the industry. The policy needs to enhance the accessibility by changing the existing procurement system for the public health sector. It further needs to scale up domestic manufacturing capabilities, through production-linked incentives, to ensure affordable medical devices for all citizens.

The affluent Indians often complain about the “excessive” income taxation. Yet, very few of them figure among the top income taxpayers. This paradoxical situation results from the relatively low incomes reported by wealthy groups. On average, the wealthier a family is, the smaller the income it reports relative to its wealth.

The Government of India brought the National Logistics Policy, 2022 envisioning improvement in India’s logistics infrastructure and services. However, the policy has several incongruities, which, if addressed, can make a signifi cant improvement in India’s logistics functioning, including enhanced ease of doing business.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent worldwide lockdown(s) have adversely affected the functioning of global supply chains. The restrictions on navigation of vessels across the global supply chains resulted in acute shortages of the containers, subsequently escalating ocean freight rates. High freight rates have severely affected India’s exports competitiveness in the global markets. The crisis has exposed the lacklustre approach of the government in dealing with container shortages, leading to skyrocketing freight rates.

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a catena of contractual disputes. The paper synthesises the Indian Contract Act and relevant case laws to present a legal position on force majeure, frustration of contract and contractual gaps, in the context of COVID-19. Using the economic analysis of law, it examines contractual disputes from various sectors, including power, construction and real estate, rental, event management and hospitality, and analyses these disputes from legal- and economic-efficiency points of view. Where contracts are not a good instrument for achieving equitable distribution of economic gains and losses, public policy is better suited to address equity and other related issues arising from long-term contracts.