Summaries by Aditya Sinha

The Delhi building collapse highlights a lack of rule enforcement, not insufficient regulations. The author criticizes governments for adopting "creeping government" – new, often ineffective laws – instead of investing in state capacity and robust enforcement. Examples like price controls and stock limits demonstrate how such interventions frequently worsen problems. The piece advocates for a more capable state: strengthening inspectorates, providing direct financial aid, tackling issues at their source, and imposing sunset clauses on emergency powers, promoting efficacy over mere control.

India's Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) have evolved into an inefficient, unwieldy maze over 71 years, absorbing 1.5% of GDP. Despite repeated reviews, few are justified by impact, and none are ever closed, leading to a proliferation of schemes and sub-schemes. The author argues that Article 282 was misused, bypassing constitutional intent. He proposes six radical reforms: returning Article 282 to its residual status, eliminating CSS for state list items, establishing a minimum outlay threshold, and implementing zero-based budgeting for all schemes to free up funds for more impactful capital expenditure. The author deems the schemes disorderly and burdensome.