Indian bureaucracy: transition before transcendence
- 1998
- p.28-31
- Apr
In the last decade of this century we are witnessing a major discursive shift in interpretation of relationships between politics, bureaucracy, markets and social concerns. The credit for the ring of new changes goes to major developments in the global political economy. These are reflected mainly in repeated assertions of commitment to liberalization. Consequently, over four decades old Indian model of development and nation-building based on `democratic planning' within the framework of a `liberal democracy' and `mixed economy' stand virtually rejected. The dominant public sector in control of "the commanding heights" of the economy and a private sector enjoying a "modest level playing field" have taken a `paradigmatic change' in favour of `economic liberalization'. This transition demands government to be reinvented, the State to be rolled back and many of its tasks to be handed over to the market.