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12 Dec, 2015

Reclaiming India for democracy – Jairus Banaji, The Hindu

There is a growing sense that the centralisation of power in the hands of ‘one man’ and a sheer lack of competence at the level of the PMO have triggered a breakdown in the normal routines of government and caused disaffection in the ranks of the bureaucracy. Political interference in the Reserve Bank’s jealously guarded autonomy even led the Bank’s employees to go on mass leave. PM Modi is beginning to face a crisis of credibility in terms of his much vaunted ability to deliver on either investments or jobs. Manufacturing remains sluggish, there have been no major inflows of foreign capital despite innumerable jaunts to attract investment. The government’s defeat on (its own more aggressively pro-business version of) the Land Acquisition bill has been a major blow to his image in business circles and to his earlier assurances to big industrial groups. Frayed by the looming sense of non-performance, the government’s despair has started to show as even international credit-rating agencies can be lambasted for being ‘anti-national’ because they warn government to stem the growing culture of violence.

Read the rest: Reclaiming India for democracy – The Hindu