The 'flailing state' revisited

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The 'flailing state' revisited

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• Quality of governance: People are suddenly asking questions about quality of governance in India, due to Covid shocks. The term "flailing state" was coined by Lant Pritchett, for India, meaning that the head (elite institutions at the top) are good and functional but not connected to the limbs.
• What he meant: Lant Pritchett wanted to say that at the field level, the actions of state agents (police, engineers, teachers, health workers) were beyond the control of the administration at national or state level. 

1. His key focus was "health system" of India, and he said that what officially is said about it is a fiction
2. He used lower immunisation rates and slower reductions in infant mortality (as compared to South Asian peers)
3. There is modernism at the top, that doesn't get converted to results at the bottom, due to corruption, poor human capital, no accountability, etc.

• Covid-19 and flailing: Strangely, in the Covid pandemic, India's story is reversed, with the City and State goverments working often heroically to battle the virus. Whatever little they could do, in terms of tracing, lockdowns, testing, they did.
• National govt. flailing: First, it imposed a national lockdown with zero preparation, in March 2020. Then all precautions were thrown to the wind (in 2021), and large gatherings happened frequently. 

1. Where localised decisions were important, centralised ones were taken without discussions
2. Where centralised ones were important - vacine procurement and medical supplies - enough attention wasn't paid, and then it was decentralised suddenly

• Scientific advice: Even in a superpower like the US, scientific advice was subordinated to political calculations. Even now, states and cities run by the Republican Party resist masking and vaccination.

1. India fortunately isn't facing this challenge, but fell prey to wishful thinking that the pandemic would simply end due to some unique immunity in Indians (due to more exposure to pathogens, generally)
2. What the top guys in India missed was the second waves in other countries which in India would immediately overwhelm the complete system, with disproportionate costs
3. The ideal way was to ramp up production of oxygen, vaccines, vaccinations, and continuing the right messaging to the public (about masking, washing, distancing etc.)

• Clear lesson: Lower level governments should be given more funds and more responsbility, so they can learn more on the job, and take charge. A distant national government is no solution here.
• Distance the nemesis: The elite at the top are so distant from the common citizens that they become insular in thinking. More effective decentralisation is where things will begin working out.

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