February 23, 2014
Abstract: Better governance essentially means improved alignment of multiple groups with potentially conflicting interests, such that there are higher positive net gains in the long term for each group. By early 2014, many believed India faced a ‘governance crisis’, which was essentially a reflection of a breakdown in the government’s ability to achieve this alignment.
To get the alignment to work again, it is necessary for the government to focus on and bring into sync the demands of interest groups in the context of each of the following four identified interfaces: (a) between departments of same government; (b) between centre and states; (c) between public and private sectors; and (d) between citizens and the state. The nature of misalignments involved in each interface and the kind of problems they can cause, have been illustrated with examples.
Keywords: governance; interest groups; alignment; government; PPP
