#108 We Need To Talk About State 🎧

<em>This newsletter is really a public policy thought-letter. While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought-letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways. It seeks to answer just one question: </em><strong><em>how do I think about a particular public policy problem/solution?</em></strong><br/><br/><em>PS: If you enjoy listening instead of reading, we have this edition available as an audio narration on all podcasting platforms courtesy the good folks at </em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.ad-auris.com/"><em>Ad-Auris</em></a><em>.</em><br/><br/><strong>Not(PolicyWTF): Acknowledging State Failures</strong><br/><br/><em>This section looks at egregious public policies. Policies that make you go: WTF, Did that really happen?</em><br/><br/>- RSJ<br/><br/>We rarely miss an opportunity when the political or the administrative class make an announcement or draft a policy that goes against our ideology of common sense. So, it is only fair we write about the rare occasion when someone gets things right. Even if it is only in a speech. <br/><br/>Something New <br/><br/>This was that week. Here’s our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7I6ZsIP_Sk">PM speaking in the Rajya Sabha </a>about the state spreading itself too thin and the unfortunate demonisation of the private sector in our polity. <a target="_blank" href="https://theprint.in/india/governance/babu-samjho-ishare-modis-critique-of-ias-evokes-shock-but-many-also-call-for-introspection/603341/">The Print</a> reports:<br/><br/>While doffing his hat to the private sector Wednesday for its contribution to the growth and development of the country, Modi questioned the “power centre we have created in the country by handing over everything to <em>babu</em>s”. <br/><br/><em>“Sab kuch babu hi karenge. </em>IAS<em> ban gaye matlab woh </em>fertiliser<em> ka kaarkhana bhi chalayega, </em>chemical<em> ka ka