A scathing article by Shekhar Gupta on how the Civil Aviation Ministry functions.

Such is the power of the largesse that this pipsqueak ministry wields that even the doughtiest of reformers in our establishment have failed to get it to mend its ways. The only reform it has allowed is the opening up of domestic aviation to private airlines but again with so many restrictions and caveats that it gives even the licence-quota raj a bad name. The ministry puts a limit on the size of aircraft a private airline can buy, each new aircraft acquisition has to be cleared by it. There are loads of other protectionist regulations – including a fiat to government servants and ministers to only travel by the public sector carriers. And to see how they flaunt it, check out the executive class in Jet Airways flights but then don’t ask me how they do it! (Kill it. Shut it. Forget it)

See my point? Why do we need a Civil Aviation Ministry? Just shut it down.