SECTION B
Essay
125 marks
Was it the policy paralysis or the paralysis of implementation which slowed the growth of our country?
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The question refers to India's slowdown around 2011-14, when investment stalled amid scams, retrospective taxation and blocked projects. It asks whether the cause was a failure to make decisions or a failure to carry them out. The examiner expects analysis of both, and of what later reforms reveal about state capacity.
ThesisIndia's slowdown owed more to paralysis of implementation than to lack of policy, because weak state capacity turned good decisions into stalled projects.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Policy uncertainty: retrospective taxation and shifting rules scared investors and made decisions look unreliable
- 2Clearances: land, forest and environment approvals stalled large projects, an implementation failure rather than a policy gap
- 3Fear in bureaucracy: after major scams, officials avoided decisions to escape investigation, freezing files
- 4State capacity: too few skilled personnel and weak coordination between ministries slowed execution
- 5Banking: stalled projects turned into bad loans, transmitting implementation failure to the financial system
- 6Later reforms: project monitoring platforms and integrated planning show that execution, not ideas, was the bottleneck
Counter-view
- Some argue that policy paralysis was real, since big reforms like GST and land laws were delayed for years. The essay should accept this and show that even passed policies failed without the machinery to execute them
Open and close
- Open: Open with a half-built power plant whose turbines sat rusting for years, not because anyone opposed it but because coal linkage, land and forest clearance files moved through different ministries
- Close: Conclude that growth depends less on announcing policies than on building the administrative muscle to deliver them
Where marks usually go
- Turning the essay into partisan blame for one government
- Choosing one side and ignoring the interplay of policy uncertainty and execution failure
- Stopping in 2014 without discussing what later reforms reveal
Examples that fit
- CaseThe 2012 retrospective tax amendment that hit Vodafone damaged investor confidence and was finally undone by the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021.Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021
- CasePRAGATI, launched in 2015, lets the Prime Minister review stalled projects with Union and state officials by video conference.PRAGATI portal, Prime Minister's Office
- ThinkerLant Pritchett described India as a 'flailing state', with a capable head but weak limbs that cannot carry out decisions.Lant Pritchett, 'Is India a Flailing State?', Harvard Kennedy School working paper, 2009
- CurrentPM Gati Shakti, launched in 2021, maps infrastructure layers on a common platform to reduce delays between departments.PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade