THINKFEED
THINKFEED
Federalism is usually imagined as a question of who makes the law. But some of the most consequential federal disputes begin after the law has already been made. An investigation enters a State. A Union agency seeks information from a…
Federalism is usually discussed through the relationship between the Union and the States. Who has the power to tax?Who controls a particular subject?How should resources be distributed?What happens when the Centre and a State disagree? But an increasingly important set…
A company deciding where to build a factory, data centre or technology facility is making a commercial decision. But in India, that decision increasingly has a federal dimension. The question is no longer only whether an investment will come to…
India has spent decades trying to move government closer to the people. Yet moving responsibility downward does not necessarily move governing power downward. A village may receive a new responsibility without receiving the money to perform it. A municipality may…
A map can solve a political problem without solving an economic one. When a large State is divided, the expectation is usually straightforward: a smaller administrative unit should be easier to govern, regional aspirations should gain political expression, and development…
A government may become easier to reach without becoming easier for citizens to influence. That distinction is important in territories where the Union expands administrative structures, creates new districts or strengthens local institutions, but does not give the territory a…
India’s constitutional map places several territories under the broad heading of Union Territory. That common label can be misleading. A territory may have no legislature at all. Another may have an elected Assembly and Council of Ministers. A third may…
A development strategy can be successful in one State and still become the wrong template for another. States do not begin from the same place. They differ in human capital, geography, industrial structure, migration patterns, demography and institutional capacity. More…
A State can remain constitutionally intact as a government even after its economic foundations have been fundamentally altered. That is one of the less visible consequences of dividing a State. A political boundary determines which government controls a territory. Fiscal…
A State can become substantially richer while large parts of it remain only weakly connected to that prosperity. Telangana illustrates the problem particularly clearly. In 2022-23, Hyderabad and neighbouring Ranga Reddy together generated 47.5% of the State’s economic output, even…