Plastic bags in Delhi

Plastics play an integral role in our daily life. Br it is carrying groceries from the local kirana
store or the storing of household articles in a poly bag, we never actually run out of plastic bags.
The omnipresence of this utility object bought to fore an impending problem that needed to be
resolved. The problem associated with using plastic bags is that they are not biodegradable and
in fact take close to 60 years to decompose. Apart from that they are also the cause of various
other problems such as clogging of drain pipes and death of cattle’s that accidentally chew on
plastic bags.

This prompted the Delhi government to finally take notice and introduce a blanket ban on plastic
bags in 2009. The storage and sale of plastic bag in all places, including shops, is banned. The
penalty for violating the ban, could be a fine of RS.100000 or five years imprisonment or both.

The official empowered to enforce the ban are the staff of the health and environment
department. Food and supply officers and sub divisional magistrates are also empowered to
enforce the ban.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has been assigned the task of implementation. It
has formed a special inspection team for the purpose. The team would visit manufacturing units
and retail shops and would initiate punishment for the violations. The scope of this ban has been
widened by including four-star hotels under its purview.

The imposition of this widespread ban has prompted researchers to analyses the impact and
effectiveness of the ban from the prospective of both the consumer and the vender. They first
checked whether the consumers and venders are aware of the ban or not. Along with that they
analyzed the preferences, choices and willingness of the consumers and venders from diverse
backgrounds to switch to eco friendly alternatives so as to ascertain the effectiveness of the ban
on plastic bags.

A survey was conducted in Delhi to understand the perception of consumers about the plastic
bag ban.

1. What is the management decision problem?

2. Convert the management decision problem into a research problem.
3. What is the kind of research design that you can undertake for this study?
4. Define the objectives of the study.
5. Develop the working hypothesis for your study.
6. Identify variables and the population under study.
7. What could be the probable sources of information?
8. Can you construct a template for conducting the study?