Book Review: Kuldeep Mathur,Public Policy and Politics in India: How Institutions Matter

This book is a collection of essays that analyze India’s public policies and various aspects related to them. Through these essays the author tries to highlight the emerging phenomena in the policy-making process in India and emphasize that it is not only the state institutions but also many other actors and institutions (for instance, in the corporate sector and in civil society) who play important roles in the policy-making process. These institutions interact in both informal and formal, more structured, ways. They provide guidelines to the administrators or policy-makers and facilitate the process of policy-making. However, the institutions are not always facilitators; they also constrain the process through which debates and interactions take place. Various institutions contest for their interests and bargain with state institutions for the policies that facilitate their interests.

The book also highlights the shift from a more complex technocratic and rational approach of policymaking to a pluralistic approach that includes social perspectives in the policy-making process. This new approach is more inclusive in nature. The state has involved many actors such as research institutes and NGOs for guidance in the policy-making process and analyze policy implications.

The author discusses how policy research and analysis in India has evolved. Many research institutes were established for undertaking policy research. Along with these research institutes many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also mushroomed for policy advocacy. All these organizations are seen as alternative sources of policy advice. Public institutions like the civil services and the military have also established their own policy research institutions. Nonetheless, this shift has opened the door to a participatory democracy where citizens can take part in meaningful debates and contest policy issues that later affect them.

For more concrete instances of government and NGO interactions, the author has drawn upon some cases where this kind of negotiation took place. He examines the environment issue in Delhi. A battle for a clean environment in Delhi was fought by the Supreme Court of India, technocrats and NGOs. Many environmental groups launched campaigns for Clean Delhi, but no attention was paid by the government. Concerned groups appealed in the Supreme Court, and in response, the Supreme Court directed the Delhi administration to file an affidavit specifying the steps taken to implement laws concerned with the control and prevention of water and air pollution in the city. The contradiction had emerged when the apex court had introduced the compressed natural gas (CNG) as a single mode of fuel for public transport, but the Delhi government supported a multi-fuel policy. The research organizations were also divided on this issue. Two leading environmental research groups—Centre for the Study of the Environment (CSE) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)—had a different opinion. The former was in favour of the Supreme Court’s decision and the latter supported the stand taken by Delhi government. The CSE launched a campaign for CNG and presented a report. A committee was appointed to look into the matter and members from CSE were also included in this. The committee had rejected the multi-fuel policy and upholding the recommendation of it; finally the Supreme Court ordered the use of CNG as a single mode of fuel for public transport.

Mathur also describes the policy struggle in education among politicians, bureaucrats and educationalists. The educationalists desire full political support without any political interference while politicians interfere too frequently with education without committing themselves to provide any support. He concludes that educational decisions in India are political decisions and rarely reflect the technical expertise in education.

The author has also highlighted the emerging relationship among the states, through the theme of governance as network of business and NGOs, and more specifically the state, market and civil society. He emphasizes public–private partnerships, where the state has cooperated with the private sector for implementing programmes in areas like education and health services. The business associations like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) are recognized as legitimate forums for policy discussion and policy briefings. The state has absorbed business leaders into committees related to trade and commerce where they play an important role in policy formation.

Mathur has tried to examine the scope of development administration and governance for development of the state and believes that a strong bureaucracy is required to improve state capabilities. However, he specifies that this idea of strong bureaucracy is not enough as it alone cannot lead to development and a strong state. The state must have policies to which citizens have contributed consent and in a process that they perceive to be legitimate. This is possible only through the incorporation of multiple institutions that strengthen the democratic process through negotiation and debates. Since the Indian administrative system is very rigid, the author argues that it must be reformed.

The author has made a comprehensive effort by compiling the essays in one volume that have been written at various times spanning from 1993 to 2009. However, some of them need to be revised. For instance the essay describing education policy was written in 2001, and since then many changes have occurred in the education system and education policy: the introduction of the right to education was a joint venture of state and civil society for providing free and compulsory education as a fundamental right, for example. Similarly, the essay on administration reform in India was written in 2004 and needs to be updated with the new growth in administrative reforms that occurred after the establishment of the second Administrative Reform Commission in 2005. The book has highlighted the shift in the approaches to policy studies and also discusses how the notion of government has been replaced by the notion of governance where policies are more people centric. However, at various stages, the study has also mentioned the gap that exists in current policy research and analysis that need to be filled for better understanding of the subject.