"THE DELHI MODEL OFFERS THE SUREST ROAD MAP TO BUILDING A DEVELOPED INDIA"

JASMINE SHAH, then vice-chairman of the Delhi government think-tank, the Dialogue and Development Commission, conceived the idea of writing a book about the Delhi Model of governance while Aam Admi Party (AAP) convenor and Delhi's former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia were both at Tihar Jail for the alleged liquor scam in the state. By the time The Delhi Model – A Bold Road Map to Building a Developed India was released, campaigning for the Delhi legislative assembly elections were in full swing. The AAP leader though, stole some time out to discuss the book with BW Businessworld 's Madhumita Chakraborty. Excerpts:

- Madhumita Chakraborty

Mr Shah you have had a rather interesting academic and career trajectory. Equipped with an engineering degree from IIT Madras, you opted to do your masters in public administration at Columbia University and then joined MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. You were deputy director for J-PAL in South Asia when you opted to join the newly formed Aam Admi Party government. Were these sharp turns in your career graph driven by a latent aspiration for public service?

Not latent, but a strong commitment towards public service is what influenced these decisions. For the few years while I was pursuing a corporate career after IIT Madras, I would often complain about the state of our governance. The contrast between Indian companies competing with the best in the world, while our governments were delivering third-world outcomes started gnawing at my conscience. I decided to be part of the change. From the beginning, I knew public policy was the lever that could positively impact the lives of crores of Indians.

So I first worked in a few development sector organisations that were doing some of the most remarkable work in policy innovations and later joined the AAP government to try and bring the change from inside.