Why government fails

This is an unusual book. Retired senior bureaucrats tend to ruminate gently on what might have been but wasn't. It is rare to find one determinedly highlighting where the government stumbled or, worse, was willingly complacent in ignoring public interest or actively harming public interest for political gain.

- SANJEEV S AHLUWALIA

This is an unusual book. Retired senior bureaucrats tend to ruminate gently on what might have been but wasn't. It is rare to find one determinedly highlighting where the government stumbled or, worse, was willingly complacent in ignoring public interest or actively harming public interest for political gain. The author's intention is to provoke readers' outrage and goad them to question government decisions — a form of informed political action.

Should this book be taken seriously? The author bears no ill will towards the government. He did well in government, so this is not a case of sour grapes (disclosure: He was a batchmate in the IAS). His angst is against the slow downslide in government's intent and capacity to nurture public interest. Nevertheless, it remains short of a balanced appraisal of government performance.

The focus is on government failures, not recognising that some are akin to global governance failures, as in failing to address increasing income inequality. Comparisons with China doing better on inequality are odious from a liberal viewpoint, given the blatant lack of concern for individual rights (think the one-child norm, the licensing of domestic migration and no judicial review of executive action). Also, the World Bank's Gini index for India remained well below that for China (a higher score means more inequality) from 1993 onwards, peaking in 2017 at 36 versus China peaking at 44 in 2010. According to Surjit Bhalla, Karan Bhasin and Arvind Virmani (2022), the Indian free food programme reduced dire consumption poverty (on the basis of purchasing power parity at $1.9) to 1 per cent in 2020 from 12 per cent in 2012.