DOGE FOR INDIA: BEEN THERE, DODGED THAT

A few weeks back, a young entrepreneur—a recent returnee from the US mulling about his ghar wapsi—observed that every hope one harbours seems to depend on politics and political connections.

- SHANKKAR AIYAR

A large number of educated Indians subscribe to the Reaganesque thesis that government is not the solution to our problem, but is the problem itself. Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump’s decision to install a department of government efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk—which initially aimed to slash the cost of the US government by $2 trillion—has catalysed popular imagination.

It is early days as yet, and we must wait to see how the Musk plan pans out beyond the speculation on why the idea’s co-author Vivek Ramaswamy left or was edged out. While one may doubt whether the trillion-dollar targets will be met, there is no dispute that it will bring focus on how the government works or not. Be that as it may, Mr Ghar Wapsi believes India needs a DOGE.

Without going into an archaeological dig, one can review the many DOGEs that Indian governments constituted in recent history and what came of the recommendations.

This February marks 25 years of the setting up of the Expenditure Reforms Commission by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Led by K P Geethakrishnan, the commission addressed “growth of non-developmental expenditure” and “downsizing the government”. The commission examined 36 ministries and submitted 10 reports that ran over 1,300 pages. Pramod Mahajan had quipped, “Everyone is for reforms till it’s about their ministry,”