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Assembly world from their base in the U.S. “Today’s big tech
companies have too much power — too much power over
our economy, our society, and our democracy,” she
wrote in a post on online publishing platform Medium.
American company.”
Interestingly, the EU’s Competition Commissioner,
Margrethe Vestager, who has successfully taken on the
tech giants, imposing record fi nes on them for abuse of
What is the case for the While the idea of forced breakups in corporate America dominant market position in the process, has said that
might sound radical, given that there have been only a the idea of breaking up tech giants should be used as a
disqualifi cation move against MLAs few such instances in its history, she has given political last resort, according to a Tech Crunch report. She has
in Tamil Nadu? Why does it matter? weight to a proposal which until then has resonated
largely in the academic world. By doing so, Ms. Warren
been quoted as saying that the idea is to “change the
marketplace to make it a fair place where there’s no
T. Ramakrishnan has also brought the issue of antitrust action, or action misuse of dominant position but where smaller
that promotes competition, into the mainstream at a time competitors can have a fair go”.
The story so far: On May 6, the Supreme Court stayed when the 2020 presidential race is set to pick up pace. Antitrust experts have opined that it won’t be easy to
the proceedings initiated by Tamil Nadu Assembly Within days, Verge reported that “a majority of the other implement Ms. Warren’s proposal not just because it
Speaker P. Dhanapal for the disqualifi cation of three presidential candidates have agreed with at least the would involve years of litigation. There is also the
MLAs of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra premise of her proposal.” The plan has put the Big Tech, background of how antitrust violations have been viewed
Kazhagam (AIADMK) — E. Rathinasabapathy as the big technology companies are referred to, on the more from the prism of how monopolies can aff ect
(representing Aranthangi constituency), V.T. Kalaiselvan backfoot. In a television interview a few days ago, Apple pricing. In the tech world, many successful giants have
(Virudhachalam) and A. Prabhu (Kallakurichi) under the CEO Tim Cook said he disagreed with Ms. Warren’s plan platform YouTube, the Android platform, Play Store, come about on a zeropricing model.
antidefection law. Two of the MLAs had approached the and mentioned that he is “frustrated that tech is painted Maps, the Chrome browser, the search site, as also Gmail
Court. On May 10, Mr Prabhu, who had separately as monolithic” What is at stake? What lies ahead? — each have a billion plus users. Facebook has over 2 Haven’t the tech companies been under pressure
approached the Supreme Court, too got a stay order billion users and its arms Messenger and WhatsApp have from policymakers in recent years?
from the Court. What is the criticism against Big Tech? more than a billion users each. In a way, yes. In the last few years, discontentment with
Ms. Warren, while specifi cally referring to Google, tech companies has increased following incidents such as
How did it come about? Amazon, and Facebook in her post, wrote that American What is the reason for this dominance? What is the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This has led to many
The judicial intervention followed a series of events. On tech companies have built dominance because of two Ms. Warren’s plan? voices calling for regulation of tech companies.
April 26, Chief Government Whip S. Rajendran strategies. One involves purchase of potential Ms. Warren puts weak antitrust enforcement as the The U.S. historically has taken a much lenient
complained that the MLAs had associated themselves competitors. As examples, she pointed at Facebook’s reason for the “dramatic reduction in competition and approach, compared to say the European Union, to
with T.T.V. Dhinakaran, general secretary of the Amma acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp, and Google’s innovation in the tech sector”. penalising abuse of a dominant market position. The last
Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK). Three days later, purchase of mapping service Waze and ad company She wants to take two big charge on monopolisation was on Microsoft about
the Speaker issued showcause notices to them. The DoubleClick. major steps: one two decades ago. Microsoft was fi rst ordered to break up
principal opposition party in the Assembly, the Dravida The second strategy is the use of “proprietary Elizabeth Warren says involves legislating to into two entities — one that ran an operating system
Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) proposed a noconfi dence marketplaces to limit competition”. In the post, she the big companies have ensure companies don’t business and the other the rest. It appealed, and was
motion against Mr. Dhanapal. wrote, “Amazon crushes small companies by copying the bulldozed competition, end up being both a eventually saved from the breakup. The settlement came
The rebel MLAs made two arguments in the Supreme goods they sell on the Amazon Marketplace and then used private platform and a player. about fi nally, after it agreed to make it easier for rivals to
Court. One, they accused the Speaker of having “acted in selling its own branded version.” information for profi t, This pertains to integrate their software with its operating system. Some
a partisan and biased manner” Two, they contended that Her point is that Big Tech has “bulldozed competition, companies with annual believe the scrutiny itself worked to check excessive
Mr. Dhanapal should not act on the disqualifi cation used our private information for profi t, tilted the playing and stifl ed innovation global revenues of at market power.
matter while a motion of noconfi dence against him was fi eld against everyone else. And in the process, they have least $25 billion. The EU in recent years has imposed antitrust fi nes to
pending. hurt small businesses and stifl ed innovation”. The second step the tune of over $9 billion on Google. The latest one was
As on date, the three MLAs do not deny that their Ms. Warren later clarifi ed that Apple, which doesn’t involves “reversing illegal and anticompetitive mergers”. a result of, as the EU antitrust agency put it, Google’s
sympathies lie with Mr. Dhinakaran or, to be precise, fi nd a mention in her written proposal, also needs to be According to her, acquisitions of Whole Foods and abuse of its dominance “to stop website using brokers
with V.K. Sasikala, confi dante of former Tamil Nadu broken up. This triggered Mr. Cook’s response, Zappos by Amazon, of WhatsApp and Instagram by other than the AdSense platform”. The fi nes amounted,
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and now serving a prison term mentioned above. Facebook, and of Waze, Nest and DoubleClick by Google as one report put it, to a small slice of its cash reserves.
in Bengaluru after being convicted in a disproportionate come under that category and need to be unwound. Spotify has now complained to the EU’s investigators
assets case. Mr. How big is Big Tech, really? alleging misuse of Apple’s App Store in favour of the
An MLA can be Rathinasabapathy and Mr. If you go by market capitalisation (or the value of a Who is in agreement with this, who is against? latter’s own streaming service.
disqualifi ed if he or Kalaiselvan announced company’s outstanding shares), as per data in May, Fellow presidential contenders Pete Buttigieg, Julián Regulations on data privacy and copyright standards
she gives up their support to Mr. Amazon and Apple were worth well over $900 billion Castro, John Hickenlooper, and Tulsi Gabbard have have also been tightened in the EU. The world seems to
membership or if the Dhinakaran in August 2017 each (see graphic). Google’s owner Alphabet was worth spoken about stronger antitrust enforcement, much in be waking up to the possibility of more regulation.
while Mr. Prabhu joined over $800 billion while Facebook had a value of well over line with Ms. Warren’s reasoning. Republican Senator Bloomberg has reported that the Japan Fair Trade
member votes or them six months later. But $500 billion. Ted Cruz, retweeting Ms. Warren — for the fi rst time ever Commission is looking to examine Google, Apple,
abstains in the House the three maintain they The tech company that’s more valuable than all the Facebook and Amazon for possible abuse of market
contrary to direction are not members of the above four is Microsoft, which has seen a resurgence in dominance.
given by the party AMMK. The AMMK, just a recent years. (Microsoft, interestingly, was sued about
few days prior to the two decades ago for antitrust violations and barely What will be the eff ect of Ms. Warren’s proposal?
Government Whip’s escaped being broken into two.) These tech giants are It’s tough to say what lies ahead. But what it has surely
complaint to the Speaker, applied to the Election among the world’s top companies by market done is triggered a debate on the regulation of
Commission of India for registration as a political party. capitalisation. technology companies which seemed to be having an
Apparently, the AIADMK’s plan was to establish that Market research company eMarketer estimates Google easy ride to burgeoning growth all along. Privacy
by supporting Mr. Dhinakaran, the three MLAs had and Facebook control about 60% of the digital ad concerns were there but tech companies convinced
“voluntarily given up” membership of the party. It was spending in the U.S. Ms. Warren wrote that “nearly half of lawmakers that they could fi x it on their own. Ms. Warren
the same ground on which 18 proDhinakaran MLAs all ecommerce goes through Amazon. More than 70% of has been seen as a “pacesetter” by many in this regard,
were disqualifi ed in September 2017. all Internet traffi c goes through sites owned or operated given that the U.S. will shortly go into campaign mode in
by Google or Facebook”. the coming months. Her plan, radical as it is, is on the
Why does it matter? Many of Google’s properties — including the video Elizabeth Warren *
AP table, and others may not be able to ignore it.
The showcause notice was issued about 10 days after
polling took place for 38 Lok Sabha constituencies and 18
Assembly seats, for which byelections were held. Four
more Assembly constituencies will also see bypolls on
May 19. This means the Assembly will be at its full
strength of 234 once the results are out. If all the 22
How is India driving to electric mobility?
vacancies are fi lled, the ruling party has to show 118 Why the country is targeting smaller vehicles in the quest to have 30% electric transport by 2030
members on its side.
At present, it has 114 MLAs including the Speaker. Had R. Prasad infrastructure under ‘Make in India’. supplies and the battery can be charged in 2030
the court not stayed the disqualifi cation proceedings, the minutes. But fastcharging causes overheating and
three MLAs could have been disqualifi ed, and the The story so far: On Monday, Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. What is the driving range of electric vehicles? degradation, and if done frequently reduces battery life.
House’s strength brought down to 231. In that case, the Ltd. said in a statement that Ratan Tata, Chairman In electric cars using lithium ion battery (the most widely
AIADMK would need only 116 members, just two more Emeritus of Tata Sons, had invested an unspecifi ed used battery worldwide), it is between 200 and 300 km Will electric vehicles reduce carbon emission?
than its present strength. amount to support its ambitions to scale up electric per charge. The driving range in a city is typically 2530 At nearly 55%, electricity generation in India is primarily
But, the ruling dispensation dismisses the argument. vehicle deployment in India. Ola Electric is undertaking km per day. Battery using coal. Hydroelectric generation is 13% and renewable
The Government Whip told reporters, after handing over several pilot programmes including charging solutions, technology to increase energy sources including small hydro projects, wind and
his complaint to the Speaker, that time was required to battery swapping stations, and deploying twoand three The second phase of driving range and energy solar, account for about 21%. So like in the case of the U.S.
collect material against the rebel legislators to wheeler electric vehicles. Will Ola Electric’s initiative the Faster Adoption density has been, and will and China, net reduction in carbon emission will not be
substantiate his charge. Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam provide the spark to meet India’s ambitious goal of having and Manufacturing of continue to be, the focus much even if there is largescale adoption of electric
has said his party is confi dent of facing and winning a 30% electric vehicles by 2030? area in the coming years. vehicles in India.
fl oor test “on any day”.
(Hybrid and) Electric The most important This is unlike France and the U.K., where nonfossil
What is India’s policy for electric vehicles? Vehicles scheme has determinant will be the fuel is a major source of electricity generation. However,
What are the rules on disqualifi cation? While carmakers in the rest of the world have been an outlay of ₹ 10,000 lifespan of the battery. As cities and town using electric vehicles in large numbers
As per Paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule to the focussing on electric cars in the premium segment crore for three years per current battery will see a reduction in exhaustpipe emissions,
Constitution, a Member of Parliament or Legislative (costing over ₹ 10 lakh), India is targeting smaller vehicles. technology, its lifetime will particularly particulate matter. This will be important in
Assembly or Legislative Council can be disqualifi ed on The reason for this is, according to NITI Aayog, 79% of be shorter than the rest of the case of India which is home to 14 of the 20 most
two grounds: if the member voluntarily gives up vehicles on Indian roads are twowheelers, while three the vehicle. According to polluted cities in the world.
membership of the party on whose ticket he or she got wheelers and cars costing less than ₹ 10 lakh account for the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council,
elected; or, if the member votes or abstains from voting 4% and 12% of the vehicle population, respectively. some car manufacturers in developed countries are Can used batteries be recycled?
in the House contrary to any direction of such party. Concentrating on small electric vehicles will help meet off ering an eightyear or 1,60,000 km warranty on Lithium ion batteries used in electric vehicles can be
However, disqualifi cation may be avoided if the party domestic demand and place India in a “position of global batteries. recycled. According to the Financial Times, China and
leadership condones the vote or abstention within 15 leadership”. the European Union have rules that make carmakers
days. The procedure for disqualifi cation is laid down in While China, the U.S. and a few European countries How long will it take to charge the battery? responsible for recycling their batteries. In July 2016, Elon
the Members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly off er various subsidies up to 40% to encourage uptake of Currently, batteries used in electric cars have capacities Musk had tweeted that Tesla’s Gigafactory battery factory
(Disqualifi cation on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1986. electric cars, India wants to off er nonfi scal incentives. of 50 kWh (kilowatt hour) and can be charged overnight in Nevada, U.S., will recycle lithium ion battery. Liion
Each State has similar rules. Credits will be off ered based on carbon dioxide emissions using the existing power supply available at home. Like in batteries use a “variety of chemical processes, making it
per km as well as vehicle effi ciency. While manufacturers the case of mobile phones, batteries used in electric diffi cult to develop standardised recycling”. Battery
What lies ahead? exceeding the emission targets will be required to vehicles can be fastcharged using 7 and 22 kW supply. recycling will become an industry by itself by 2025 when
After the Supreme Court’s notice is served on the purchase credits, those meeting them will be rewarded. Charging stations at service stations have 50 or 120 kW used batteries will become plentiful. Eaton, a U.K.based
Assembly Speaker and his offi ce, the normal practice is The price of the credit will be decided by the market. This company, is already selling used electric batteries for
that the Assembly Secretary will fi le a response. approach will make electric vehicles and those with reuse as household batteries.
The results of the byelections to 22 Assembly lowemissions cheaper and the polluting vehicles
constituencies will also have a bearing on what happens expensive. In the next fi ve years, India aims to have at Is there enough cobalt to meet the demand?
from now on. If the ruling AIADMK wins a comfortable least 15% of electric vehicles on the road. On February 28, In lithium ion batteries, cobalt is a key component of the
number of seats, it won’t mind if the motion against the India announced the second phase of the Faster Adoption cathode (positive electrode). Cobalt plays a pivotal role in
Speaker is taken up fi rst. This will have the eff ect of and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles preventing overheating and provides stability to the
rendering redundant one of the arguments of the rebel (FAME2) scheme with an outlay of ₹ 10,000 crore for a battery thus allowing charging and discharging over many
legislators: the Speaker facing a motion for his own period of three years. years. Cobalt is a byproduct of mining nickel and copper.
removal should not adjudicate disqualifi cation issues. To encourage faster adoption, incentives will be About 60% of the world’s supply of cobalt comes from the
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