Despite our claims to liberalize the economy, when it comes to the common man, the government continues to take pleasure in not allowing him to make choices, that is the hallmark of a developed economy.
Take for example the domestic LPG scenario in India. The refill cylinders sold by Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL are standardized. But instead of allowing the customers to pick up his cylinder from a dealer of his choice, irrespective of which company's customer he is, the Government has tied him to a particular distributor (in fact, the customer cannot even approach another distributor of the same company). This has led to the creation of small monopolies where the the customer is taken for a ride for getting a refill, which is so essential for him, and is dependant on the whims, fancies and the arrogance of the LPG dealer. The obvious solution is to allow the customer to approach any LPG dealer of his choice when he runs out of LPG. This will ensure LPG dealers changing their mindset and improving their services drastically, as otherwise they will lose their revenue. This shall also incentivise those dealers who do offer excellent service.
