TRUMP TARIFF VS GST RATE CUT: THE BATTLE OVER INDIAN POCKETS

During the British colonial rule in India, the capital city of Delhi was infested by reptiles of which king cobra was the deadliest. To tackle the risk, the British devised a bounty program.

- SHWETA SHALINI

They offered money for every cobra caught and ended up creating a perverse incentive. The strategy worked exceedingly well and local population teamed up to earn a quick buck by capturing snakes. The number of cobras in the city rapidly dwindled. However, the initial success backfired later. The British incentive program had unwittingly attracted enterprising people who began breeding the cobras. Sensing that cobra bills are rising again because of monetary incentive to breed them, British government quickly called off the program. It made the bad situation worse.

The breeders simply let off the cobras as the previously valuable cobras were now worth nothing. The abandoned cobras became a nightmare. The “cobra effect” in English lexicon is a situation where an attempted solution to a problem actually makes the problem worse.