India should fix its warped state-citizen relationship
Live MintThe Indian state is the antithesis of what any state should do. Instead of investing in strengthening public goods and services, the state games electoral politics by giving away private entitlements. This shift from public goods to unequal private entitlements has been the modus operandi of the bloated and costly Indian state, post-liberalization. This is a government that prevents private predation by maintaining law and order, enforcing contracts, and administering criminal justice, and limits itself to provisioning basic public goods. No matter where Indians find inspiration, successful states have demonstrated a strong capacity to deliver on public goods, including law and order, a functional criminal justice system, enforcement of contracts in market economies, strong public health and sanitation systems, and even quasi-public goods like universal primary education.
History of this topic
The Indian economy is yet to fully escape the state’s shackles
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