Policy Making in Democracy – UPSC GS2

Pushing reforms in a democracy can be complicated, unlike in a country like China, dismissals of citizens (farmers and workers) concerns reduces the quality of policies and makes them harder to implement.
Reasons for structural reforms slow in a democracy like India
  • Nature of democracy: John Stuart Mill defined democracy as “government by discussion”, followed in India through checks and balances, a bicameral structure, and a voice for every citizen.
  • Requirement of buy-in of every stakeholder: Thus, reforms will be slower than in the China model.
  • Need for multifaceted layers of negotiation and consensus-building:
    • For bringing forth innovation in policies such as the Production-linked Incentive Scheme.
    • To simultaneous prioritise “lives and livelihoods”, ensure that the allocation of resources is efficient and adequately determined to enable maximum value creation for the society.
Some recent successful reforms in India
  • By NITI Aayog: Like the “God’s Own Country” initiative, the Incredible India campaign and Ease of doing business
  • Achieving inclusiveness in Production Linked Incentive Scheme: Inclusive processes and institutions enabled us to successfully create consensus towards deciding the scale of incentive.

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