Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Bigotry, centralised power of some chief ministers and a complacent and non-responsive bureaucracy are some of the negatives of the Indian state, a British professor said Monday.

“Prevalence of violence and bigotry, centralised power of some chief ministers, and a complacent and non-responsive bureaucracy are some of the negatives of the Indian state,” said James Manor, professor at Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, while delivering a lecture on ‘The Best and Worst of the Indian State’ at the Jamia Millia Islamia here.

Listing the positives of the country, Manor said there has been redistribution of power after 1989 from the Prime Minister’s Office to institutions like the courts, the Election Commission and the presidency.

“Redistribution of political power after 1989 helped India build political institutions. The prime ministers used to abuse power before that,” he said. “In comparison, there was more abuse of power by prime ministers in the United Kingdom post-1989.”

Manor said India is more capable than any of the countries in Africa, Asia or Latin America to build political institutions.

Observing that the post-1989 period was marked by “cautious liberalisation”, Manor said the Indian state today retains significant power, which makes political corruption such a big issue.

Mentioning that social-democratic policies, pursued by the central governments since economic liberalisation 1991, have started to gain ground in the country, Manor added that the trend may not prevail for long.

Pointing at an interesting trend during 1989-1994, he said around 70 percent of the state governments faced anti-incumbency, a high by global standards.

“After 2009, the state governments were mostly re-elected as public spending went up to gain popularity,” said Manor.