Public money and public policy

A policy recalibration is needed to reduce the need for continuous expansion of infrastructure in existing cities

Discussions in Parliament and elsewhere often revolve around allocation of limited public money. While this is important, this approach often misses the elephant in the room, which is the more general public policy. This column considers one instance of the role of public money vis-a-vis public policy.

Many Indian cities are becoming denser by the day. There is a pressing need for a somewhat ongoing heavy spending on improving the city infrastructure. This includes, inter alia, many new wider roads, flyovers, bypass roads, underpasses, overbridges, elevated roads, sea-link bridges, and metro lines. All these have massive costs. So, the focus