India Grows At Night: A Liberal Case for a Strong State

Indians wryly admit that India grows at night . But that is only half the saying; the full expression is: India grows at night... when the government sleeps , suggesting that the nation may be rising despite the state. India s is a tale of private success and public failure. Prosperity is, indeed, spreading across the country even as governance failure pervades public life.

But how could a nation become one of the world s fastest-growing economies when it s governed by a weak, ineffective state? And wouldn t it be wonderful if India also grew during the day in other words, if public policy supported private enterprise?

What India needs, Gurcharan Das says, is a strong liberal state. Such a state would have the authority to take quick, decisive action; it would have the rule of law to ensure those actions are legitimate; and finally, it would be accountable to the people. But achieving this will not be easy, says Das, because India has historically had a weak state and a strong society.