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31. Cooperative Federalism in India: Resetting the Fiscal Architecture: Lessons for India

Author:
Kandarp Patel and Anoop Singh
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant challenges to public finances, raising global debt to record-high levels and necessitating the suspension of fiscal rules across the globe. As we approach the aftermath of the pandemic, the challenge is to reset the pillars of the fiscal architecture and better manage public finances across all levels of government—as the lynchpin of any successful growth strategy in a post-pandemic world. This situation offers an opportunity to rethink fiscal rules and make fiscal policy more agile in responding to crises, without undermining fiscal sustainability. A risk-based medium-term fiscal framework that combines standards, rules, and strengthened institutions would strike a better balance between flexibility and credibility. Overall, for India to achieve its full potential for economic growth and development, it needs to improve the quality and efficiency of public spending and financial management across all levels of government. In doing this, India should consider moving toward a new principle-based fiscal strategy, complemented with public financial management reforms and setting up an independent fiscal institution. This process will need to be undertaken in close collaboration with the States.
Topic:
Finance, Economic Growth, COVID-19, and Public Debt
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

32. Cooperative Federalism in India: Towards an Inter-State Migration Council

Author:
Chinmay Tumbe
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Migration in India has tended to create friction—between the Union government and State governments, and between different State governments. This chapter reviews the nature of migration in India and its relationship with nativist sentiments and political conflicts. It argues for the establishment of an inter-State migration council, either nested within the existing framework of the Inter-State Council or led by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, that would uphold the constitutional provisions on mobility, lead on the collection and dissemination of statistics on inter-State migration, promote the portability of social security benefits, and work towards resolving migration-related disputes in the federal system
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, Employment, and Cooperative Federalism
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

33. Cooperative Federalism in India: Institutions of Political Migration: The Office of the Governor

Author:
Chakshu Roy and M. R. Madhavan
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Governors occupy a critical position in India’s constitutional framework as a critical mechanism through which tensions between the central and state governments can be negotiated and managed. In fact, their powers have grown over time as other institutions intended to foster centre-state cooperation and coordination have atrophied. This chapter documents the de jure powers and de facto workings of the office of the Governor since Independence in 1947. It reveals the continuing contestation over Governors’ independent decision-making, a matter which has been debated since the time of the Constituent Assembly. The unresolved matter of how Governors can independently exercise their discretion without acting, or being seeing to act, merely as instruments of the centre remains a vexed issue in the contemporary era.
Topic:
Migration, Institutions, Local Government, and Cooperative Federalism
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

34. Cooperative Federalism in India: The Adjudication of Federal Disputes

Author:
Raeesa Vakil
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The Indian Supreme Court has the jurisdiction to adjudicate federal disputes, i.e. disputes between states, or between the centre and states. This jurisdiction has been rarely invoked – until recently. A group of new cases will require judges to re-examine doctrines that they have evolved to limit their own ability to adjudicate federal conflict, and consequently, will require the court to re-evaluate its own function within Indian federalism.
Topic:
Supreme Court, Disputes, and Cooperative Federalism
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

35. Cooperative Federalism in India: Parallel Streams: Political Federalism and Economic Integration in India

Author:
Niranjan Rajadhyaksha and Prakhar Misra
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Economic integration is an important component of the design of political federations, a fact that was evident to the framers of the Indian constitution, but has been given inadequate attention in much of the subsequent literature on Indian federalism. In this paper, we examine the slow progress of economic integration in India, revisit the policy debates on the need for fewer barriers on interstate trade, and end with a set of unfulfilled recommendations to further strengthen cooperative federalism in India.
Topic:
Constitution, Economic Integration, and Cooperative Federalism
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

36. Cooperative Federalism in India: The Goods and Services Tax Council: Dialectics and Design

Author:
Haseeb A. Drabu
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This paper explores the origins of the GST Council, examines its impacts on federalism in India, and considers the road ahead for the institution. It also addresses key arguments that have been put forth about the design and functioning of the Council. The GST Council, despite its shortccomings, has the potential to evolve as the centrepiece of a new federal architecture in India. It has changed the institutional architecture of fiscal federalism in India and can potentially change the dynamics of Centre-state relations. However, India’s evolving political economy threatens to derail the federal compact that underlay its formation.
Topic:
Political Economy, Tax Systems, Domestic Policy, and Cooperative Federalism
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

37. Cooperative Federalism in Indi: Federal Aspects of India's Emerging Internal Migration Governance Frameworks

Author:
Mukta Naik
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The exodus of millions of migrants during the 2020 Covid lockdowns resulted in an uptick in migrant-inclusive policy initiatives. Leaning on concepts developed in migration studies and organizational theory, this paper analyses emergent policy responses with a focus on the role of government. Without a coherent and explicit approach to governing migration from the Centre, State governments have actively worked towards improving governance responses to migrants. The location of initiatives outside of the nodal State labour department, convergence between departments and bilateral arrangements between States demonstrate how horizontal and vertical boundaries within the governance system were bridged innovatively by temporary orders, enterprising bureaucrats, state-society collaborations and by leveraging hitherto under-utilized provisions in existing schemes. The paper highlights migration governance as an example where the rearrangement of federal relationships under crisis conditions has offered new policy imaginations. A nascent transition away from a centralist model of migration governance has emerged, which can be accelerated and sustained by institutionalizing successful initiatives, including boundary-spanning mechanisms.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, Governance, and Cooperative Federalism
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

38. Cooperative Federalism in Indi: The Rise and Resilience of Fiscal Transfers Amidst Party System Change

Author:
Suyash Rai and Milan Vaishnav
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Has political centralization induced fiscal centralization in India? This paper examines this question through an institutional analysis of India’s Finance Commission, a constitutional body tasked with determining fiscal transfers from the Union government to the States, and through an analysis of Union government incentives to make discretionary transfers under various schemes. It finds no simple correspondence between political centralization and fiscal devolution. In recent years, despite the presence of a dominant party and considerable centralization of power, fiscal transfers from the Centre to the States have not undergone the sharp reversal that many expected. We argue that a nuanced understanding of the Finance Commission’s unique position is central to understanding India’s institutional landscape more generally. We also argue that understanding the interplay between political contestations and the pursuit of efficiency in the fiscal relations between the Union government and the sub-national governments can help shed new light on how centre-state relations are evolving.
Topic:
Resilience, Cooperative Federalism, and Fiscal Transfers
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

39. India’s Regulatory Shift: An Examination of Five Agencies of the Post- Liberalisation Era

Author:
Arkaja Singh
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This paper explores the design of Indian regulatory agencies established post-liberalisation from an administrative perspective. Regulatory agencies were set up to replace state inefficiencies, and to discipline profligate state agencies, even as much as they were a response to state-market reorganisations and the challenge of privatization. Regulation provided an opportunity for upper levels of the Indian bureaucratic state to recast their power, with the idea that it would provide a framework for economic rationality, independence and technical specialization to take centre-stage. In actual practice however, the design of each of the regulatory agencies is shaped largely by pre-existing legal frameworks and institutions, and the agencies have remained quite tied in with their counterpart departments and on retired bureaucrats. However, in spite of these limitations, these agencies have some common features imbued by legislative mandate and organisational design which are unique in the context of the Indian state. They have focus and stability, a degree of functional independence, and most importantly, a concentration of power, which enables them to think through and implement complex policy transitions from multi-year and context-specific perspectives. The paper builds on learnings from a series of conversations with regulatory agency chairpersons in order to identify what regulatory governance is, in terms of the powers and mandate of the regulatory agencies and what makes them distinctive from the rest of public administration.
Topic:
Markets, Governance, Regulation, Bureaucracy, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

40. Organisation Through Neglect: Understanding Field Administration in India

Author:
Rashmi Sharma
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This paper analyses the structure and processes of field administration in India and matches these with the outcomes on the ground. It highlights features of the administrative structure, human resources, and organisational culture that result in the sub-optimal delivery of social services and policy implementation. Recognizing the importance of historical antecedents, the paper provides a brief account of how field administration has developed over time. Subsequently, it presents the findings of a case study of a district situated in Madhya Pradesh. This is followed by a delineation of the key areas for reform and some possible strategies, though these need to be formulated after rigorous debate. The paper traces the roots of the present-day field administration to the colonial era, when the existing decentralised and diffused field administration system was changed to achieve the government’s goals to maximise revenue from land and forests and maintain order. The district became the key administrative unit in the field, and the district collector (DC) the overall administrative head. After Independence, government goals shifted dramatically, and socio-economic development became a central concern. However, the basic administrative structure was retained, while several departmentalorganisations were added.
Topic:
Governance, Colonialism, Human Resources, and Administration
Political Geography:
South Asia and India