India's Interventionist State: Bolster govt capability, reform management

In my first piece, I argued that reducing the scope of government is the first step to improving its effectiveness. In this companion article I elaborate on the second phase — improving state capability.

Building state capability is not an easy process, especially in a democratic setup. China carried out a major administrative reform in 1995 — some 15 years after the start of its economic reforms. In many East Asian countries, administrative reforms have been given as much attention as economic reforms. India did set up an administrative reforms commission in 2005 but did not follow through — and missed