governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
In a desperately poor land, which just got poorer, it is ironic that we succeeded in the big challenges, like keeping democracy alive, but failed in the most basic of municipal functions – quality education to develop skill sets for productive employment; health services, sanitation, sewage management and drinking water facilities to insulate people from […]
Read More Scraping the fiscal barrel-the bottom up viewSometimes, as in the case of electricity, hacking through a tangle of pancaked, well-meaning policies seems like the only way. There are many challenges, including a split legislative mandate, between the Union and the states, for what should be an integrated, network industry. This leaves cities – even the largest growth drivers- completely divorced from […]
Read More Exorcise familiar ghosts in electricity supplyThe tragic snafu over making sufficient oxygen available to meet the spike in demand from COVID-related morbidity is a red flag for an underlying malaise—of overlapping mandates, state governments enfeebled by decades of Union government spoon feeding, and under capacitated local government. Sadly, state governments have voluntarily accepted this hollowing out of their core functions. […]
Read More Repurposing governance- trim the fat in state governmentsIndia spends around just under 2% of its GDP on managing external threats as a core sovereign function of the Union government. By all accounts, this arrangement works well. Two generations of Indians since 1965, have never known war personally, except those brave hearts, who chose to take upon themselves, the weighty task of protecting […]
Read More Who’s in charge here?A bill approved by both houses of Parliament last week March 2021, will sharply reduce the Delhi’s Government’s ability to act independently of the Lieutenant Governor (LG), an appointee of the President of India (ergo the Union government). Every executive decision has now to be referred to the LG. Similarly, whilst the Delhi Assembly can legislate, […]
Read More Is Delhi democratically enfeebled?In Hong Kong, British style democracy is being nudged out by Sinicized democratic norms, where the Communist Party of China, and not citizens, determine the limits of democratic conventions. But it is not just China which feels compelled to sculpt the principles of classic, citizen-centric democracy to the objective conditions on the ground. Post-colonial Africa […]
Read More Improbable democracies or impossible benchmarksOver the last three decades, it has become customary to disregard the fears of the “little woman” at the bottom of the income pyramid, as mere misinformed or worse—unenlightened, unreasonable insecurity. Unrequited love for markets After all, markets, if regulated appropriately, have delivered wonderfully and poorer economies have benefited more than developed ones. South Asian […]
Read More Decentralize to empower the bottom of the income pyramidFinance Ministers have an uncanny way of figuring out what makes the fish bite and neutralizes the sceptics. Nicely rounded words in the budget speech – like phonetic “quick wins” – come in handy to send the roosters crowing a new Dawn. A three pronged paradigm shift in the budget? FM Sitharaman’s salad dressing for […]
Read More Budgetary provisions matter more than the speechThere is a fun-side to budgets beyond the dreary boredom of the data and pedantic truisms bandied about. The lightest side of the budget this year, were capital receipts from disinvestment (code for under-the-radar privatization) which at 85% below budget outclassed, for the “back bencher award”, revenue receipts, which only shrank – like cooked methi (Fenugreek)- to […]
Read More Budgetary #funstuff- “never befores” for 2022A decadal “look ahead,” even as geopolitical, technological and environmental disruptions push uncertainty to worrying levels, closely resembles a fool’s wager. The upside, however, is an even chance of getting it right, just like everyone else. DOMESTIC POLITICS — The silence of stability Our biggest challenges will emerge from domestic politics. The political threats are […]
Read More India till 2030- Testing the marginal utility of political stability
Opinion India 