Two Indian economists have come up with a very interesting book on Indian economics which is a "intersection of economics, political philosophy and public administration". And the book is titled "In Service Of The Republic: The Art And Science of Economic Policy".
Vijay Kelkar gave a lecture at NCAER, which is part of this book. The lecture is here and worth to read fully. It has lots of public policy thinking culminated from Kelkar's practical experience in working with Government of India in different capacities.
The essence of this book is very timely and has envisioning of future India looking ahead of fifty to seventy years period. According to this news report:
Excerpted with permission from the book is here. Also a piece by authors in Mint is here.
In the livemint article, authors make very opt and pertinent points to grab the current situation of institutional systems of Indian democracy, which are worth to ponder and reflect upon it, because these are very subtle observations from sharp minds with no bias of any beast of ideology:
"Our key submission is that a lot of government intervention, and the licence-permit-inspector raj remains in place. The early dawn of economic freedom that was promised in 1991 has not evolved into a mature market economy. Private persons are beset with government intervention. The instincts of central planning are alive and well among policymakers. There is a great deal of arbitrary power in the hands of the government. Extensive interference in the economy by the government, the policy risk associated with future interventions, and the fear of how arbitrary power in the hands of the government will be used have led to a loss of confidence in the private sector."
"The founding energy of liberal democracy is the pursuit of freedom, of people being masters of their own fate. We need to shift away from notions of a developmental state, where big initiatives originate from the government, towards a philosophy of respect for the self-organizing system that is a free society. We need to rely far more on private negotiations, private contracts and civil society solutions, rather than turning to the government to solve problems. The state should be the last resort in resolving difficulties, not the first."
Vijay Kelkar gave a lecture at NCAER, which is part of this book. The lecture is here and worth to read fully. It has lots of public policy thinking culminated from Kelkar's practical experience in working with Government of India in different capacities.
The essence of this book is very timely and has envisioning of future India looking ahead of fifty to seventy years period. According to this news report:
"Intensification of the 1977-2011 strategies will not suffice: what is required is rethinking the foundations," the authors suggest.
They say economic policy operates at the intersection of economics and politics and the ideal policy pathways must be worked out on blackboards, but then the conflicts of democratic politics are played out and determine the policy choices in the real world.
"Hence, our analysis draws as much on the timeless themes of building the republic as it does on public economics. In India, the modernisation of the political system and the economy is taking place at the same time - and feeding into each other. In this process, economic policy strategy must serve the larger objective of building the republic.
"The foundations of liberal democracy - the principles of debate, dispersion of power, the rule of law and curtailing executive discretion - are integral to solving the difficulties of economic policy that afflict India today," the book, published by Penguin Random House India, says.
Excerpted with permission from the book is here. Also a piece by authors in Mint is here.
In the livemint article, authors make very opt and pertinent points to grab the current situation of institutional systems of Indian democracy, which are worth to ponder and reflect upon it, because these are very subtle observations from sharp minds with no bias of any beast of ideology:
"Our key submission is that a lot of government intervention, and the licence-permit-inspector raj remains in place. The early dawn of economic freedom that was promised in 1991 has not evolved into a mature market economy. Private persons are beset with government intervention. The instincts of central planning are alive and well among policymakers. There is a great deal of arbitrary power in the hands of the government. Extensive interference in the economy by the government, the policy risk associated with future interventions, and the fear of how arbitrary power in the hands of the government will be used have led to a loss of confidence in the private sector."
"The founding energy of liberal democracy is the pursuit of freedom, of people being masters of their own fate. We need to shift away from notions of a developmental state, where big initiatives originate from the government, towards a philosophy of respect for the self-organizing system that is a free society. We need to rely far more on private negotiations, private contracts and civil society solutions, rather than turning to the government to solve problems. The state should be the last resort in resolving difficulties, not the first."
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