Social Development in Independent India

10

Institutions in Crisis

S. N. Jha

 

 

 

The model of development in India for about four decades after Independence required a State with ‘high capacity’ to plan for development and then effectively implement planned programmes. The policy of liberalization initiated in a full-fledged manner in 1991-1992 aimed to recast this interventionist paradigm so as to shrink the ‘domain’ of State activity and transfer much of it to ‘private’ hands. The reforms carried out since, over the course of a decade, have given rise to a debate on the role of the State, especially in the social sector, and on the capacity of the State's institutions, in particular, those of governance.

Regardless of the model of development, effective State institutions are ...