Public Policy

Revised Tamil Nadu Budget for 2021-2022: Self-Inflicted Contradictions without Vision for Clean Governance Revised Tamil Nadu Budget for 2021-2022: Self-Inflicted Contradictions without Vision for Clean Governance Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan September 1, 2021 Public Policy   The regional economic performances would be taken a serious note on account of the COVID pandemic in India for a meaningful recovery. This is so subtly true not just the handling of general public health crisis erupted due to COVID pandemic at regional levels but overall scheme of pandemic management concerning political economy, society and the lockdowns imposed by the governments. The annals of the pandemic would be better understood after several years of efforts with the right sets of data. The states like Tamil Nadu stand out as unique in their respect.The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) which came to power after a gap of a decade was quick to recognize the fact that Tamil Nadu is not all that bad in every aspect in the spheres of economic, environmental, and social development. But the same DMK had whined on every single issue during the last decade, just because it has been out of power. Therefore, it is interesting to note the steps being taken by the DMK government; it would be closely watched by every quarter whether steps taken by the government would be different from the previous government because this government like others comes with huge baggage. Two recent documents of the DMK government expose: what it promised as pre-poll agenda, what it intends to do on the ground irrespective of the strengths and weakness of the State of the economy, and where the Tamil Nadu economy stands out in the national economic perspective as the second-largest economy in the country. The first one is the “White Paper on the State of Finance” and the second is the Revised Budget for the current Financial Year 2021-2022.  Each one warrants complete scrutiny not just because it’s the DMK government’s documents but because it would be very imperative to take forward the issues in the right perspective for a better future. Though the DMK government has to be congratulated for boldly bringing out the White Paper on Tamil Nadu Government’s Finances with facts and figures, the public debates at large forget about what it has omitted. It has done this despite very well knowing its conflicting facts and figures mentioned in the past as well as the in the last three months after assuming office. It would be good to have a white paper on all major sectors so that the present status would be better informed for public discourse if not for taking corrective mechanisms to overcome.This article briefly looks at the revised budget for 2021-22 which was presented on 13.08.2021 more than two months after the DMK took over office. The budget was presented by the Finance Minister Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, maybe for the first time by someone, who is a not seasoned politician. His wide outspoken tone on various subject matters did not match with the budget announcements. Looking at the sectoral issues and challenges faced by the Tamil Nadu economy, the budget hardly recognizes the urgency and disparity faced by several of them before taking steps to revive.The budget’s announcement in key sectors like health, education, road, transports, power, water resources, police, judicial, public distribution, etc. needs substantial rethinking with new ideas for better governance to fix the prevailing challenges which are no less than lingering for years now. It is the typical budget of DMK with a few tweaks here and there. However, it is so sobering to note that in the tenth paragraph of the budget speech, the finance minister mentions that “The White Paper, released on 9th August 2021… has laid bare the dismal record of fiscal mismanagement of the past decade, including the elevated deficits and consequent debt overhang from the previous Government.” The white paper has to be analysed separately in the right perspective keeping in mind the track records of the political economy of the state because the white paper misses many important aspects.  While the DMK government after assuming office in May, 2021 had issued “securities in the form of Stock” for availing loans of more than Rs.15,000/- crores for providing freebees which were promised in their election manifesto. Moreover, the present DMK government has announced free city bus rides for women which amount loss of more than Rs.1200/- crores annually. This has been done by knowing the fact that the Tamil Nadu state transport corporations are already overburdened with losses of over Rs.33,000 crores.  Further, the government has announced “waiver of co-operative jewel loans and loans to Self Help Groups” which together amounts to Rs.7,559.95 crores. If the DMK is seriously concerned about the “debt overhang” of the state they should not have sanctioned the above loans which will be paid back after twenty years or thirty years period by which time God knows who will be in power. This is a classic case of self-contradiction of the present DMK government which pretends to set right the systemic imbalances of state finances over the next few years. The finance minister has announced that the government would work towards the “Data-Centric Governance” which is near impossible to think about, keeping in mind the performance of past DMK governments because the ground realities have not changed anything by virtues of its foregone conclusions; because if any cleaning has to take place in the overall governance it has to start from its party governance and its cadre.  Nevertheless, it is worth noting the following announcements made in the budget: An advisory council to develop a Federal Fiscal Model with renowned experts on legislation involving revenue and taxation  A cross-departmental initiative to link all available Government data sources  Landbank of all state government lands for better utility and monetization  E-procurement will be mandatorily adopted across all procuring entities  Smart metering for all public utilities  This slew of data-centric governance reforms announcement made in the budget for the governance of government affairs makes

Biodigester: An Antidote to Cities’ Septage Management Challenges Biodigester: An Antidote to Cities’ Septage Management Challenges Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan February 9, 2021 Public Policy   Studies have projected that India’s vantage point in the coming decades would be cities full of people, which means immense human potential, opportunities and capital resources. There is a huge scope to improve the current conditions of cities in India, making a safe and secure urban life ought to be built on conscious decisions taken by all stakeholders.  At present, the cities — small or semi-urban centres, with or without industrial hotspots,— in countries like India or elsewhere really cannot afford to miss the opportunities to improve the minimum level of urban amenities and ambiance for providing a safe and secure living for all. The aim of future cities ought to be embedded in the aspirations of people with their participation and inclusive nature of dialogues between the government at the local level and the people. During the monsoon seasons, many cities in India witness water logging mainly due to the failure of storm-water drainage systems which are either dysfunctional or clogged with all kinds of solid waste generated by residents, industrial and medical establishments, etc. The issues of septage management systems were completely ignored for decades, despite the development of promising indigenous technologies that are not just affordable but highly decentralised in approach making them more sustainable. However, crises of the past and now with COVID-19, policymakers seem to have missed the imperative to focus on sound public policies to address the core issues of cities.According to the Union Ministry of Urban Development’s National Policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management, 2017 (NPFSSM), about 47 per cent of urban households depend on on-site systems of toilet waste management in India. Around 62.5 per cent of toilet waste in urban India is untreated or partially treated, and a major part of this waste is from on-site systems. The number is even higher in Tamil Nadu with 55 per cent of the population (as per Census 2011) continue to dispose of toilet waste into septic tanks — many of which are not designed properly — and hence sewage does not get treated effectively, resulting in faecal contamination and diseases. Tamil Nadu is the most urbanised State in India with about 50 percent of people living in urban areas. According to the Government of Tamil Nadu’s “Operative Guidelines for Septage Management for Local Bodies in Tamil Nadu (2017),” many institutions, commercial establishments, high-rise buildings and households let sewage water into storm-water drains illegally and regulators are unable to make these offenders comply. In areas un-served by sewer systems, sewage collected in underground tanks is dumped into water bodies in and around cities, thereby contaminating groundwater and resulting in environmental degradation.Further, the practice of dumping of sewage at the closest point from where it is collected has been rampant across the country. Moreover, so far, only about 35 percent of Tamil Nadu’s urban population is covered by Underground Sewage Systems (UGSs). Indeed, many local bodies cannot create and manage assets for the treatment of liquid waste as these involve large investments and long gestation periods. Besides, maintenance of the established treatment systems is another big challenge. Moreover, there were also incidents of underutilisation and dysfunction of existing sewage treatment plants (STPs) and disposal of untreated waste into freshwater bodies. Even though there exist stringent regulations, untreated waste from on-site systems are let into undesignated areas like open drains, water bodies, empty land, river, streams, etc. leading to health hazards, groundwater pollution and faecal contamination of the water supply.Therefore, innovative approaches are needed to solve key urban issues such as hygiene and sanitation by adopting sustainable and cost-effective technology. Though recent years have witnessed massive awareness about hygiene and sanitation through Swachh Bharat Mission, innovative and sustainable approaches to adopt the indigenous technology on a larger scale were not given adequate focus and attention.A clean and green environment is not something the government alone is responsible to make; every individual citizen of the country should be a part of it. We need to encourage a decentralised, technology-driven and eco-friendly model with individual ownership-based solutions for on-site sanitation systems built independently by residents, institutions, industries, etc. These innovative designs have to be based on an individual owner’s budget and space available, rather than adhering to single bureaucratic standards and safety norms which make the entire system cumbersome and outdated, serving no purpose at all. Biodigester is Antidote The Government of India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had developed the eco-friendly Biodigester technology in 2014 and transferred the technology to several companies all over the country. A total of 56 companies were given this technology license, but not all license holders were effectively working to improve the filthy urban space to provide a safe and secure environment in a cost-effective manner.Biodigester has high potential and has been diligently developed with indigenous technology and tested. Few companies, including some from the State of Tamil Nadu, are now the leading makers of Biodigester in India with large-scale production capacities. However, despite its high potential, it is yet to be revolutionised across all sectors of the economy. The urban planners have either heard about it or ignore it or play with vested interests to prevent venturing into resolving the cities’ core issues. The Biodigester is now being used on a large scale by the Indian Railways and the armed forces, besides others. Several thousands of Biodigester tanks and bio-toilets are installed across the country. Of course, some criticisms challenge the efficacy of Biodigester technology based on the micro-level field studies (Philip et al. 2020). However, institutions like the Centre for Science and Environment (2016 and 2019) have supported the technology based on several national-level best practices and comparative studies which paved breaking away from the conventional systems.The Niti Aayog in its Report on India@ 75 Strategy for New India (2018) adopted a national strategy “to reduce the cost and time incurred on laying sewage pipelines and constructing sewage treatment plants,

Innovative Technology Enabling Effective Solid Waste Management in Tamil Nadu Innovative Technology Enabling Effective Solid Waste Management in Tamil Nadu Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan December 18, 2020 Public Policy The article discusses how an innovative incineration technology has been used in processing tonnes of solid waste in the State of Tamil Nadu to zero waste without pollution and creating byproducts with tangible economic values. It also points out at the technology’s huge potential for transforming the national landscape into global markets and the need for a public policymaking system to change its mindset to live up to the ground realities. The vivid impacts of COVID-19 on the social and economic milieus are unwittingly visible at all levels of society and the economy across the world. India is no exception to it. However, impacts of COVID-19 on the environment and environmental protection measures are perhaps by far the most enduring, which are yet to be measured systematically and comprehensively to take up a multipronged approach for course corrections across the world. However, few studies stress on the impacts ofCOVID-19 to bring out perspectives on the subject of climate change.In a vastly populated country like India, which is an emerging market with a low level of per capita income, environmental protection measures are hitherto largely left to the governments, industries and other stakeholders. The local governments across the country are mainly focused on saving people from getting affected by COVID-19 and other prevention measures. Adequate attention is not given to environmental protection measures to minimise the degradation of the environment. Though, during COVID-19, few cities did far better in handling not only the municipal solid waste (MSW) but also medical waste and hazardous waste through innovative technologies, in most of the others it was completely left to the fate of nature.The past few years have seen several inventions and innovative technological experiments in the area of solid waste management in India. Some of them have been piloted and tested for efficacy with effective recycling of MSW and creation of comprehensive zero-pollution byproducts, showing encouraging trends in handling the most dangerous non-biodegradable waste generated by the residents of cities and urban growth centres.Moreover, few proactive States like Tamil Nadu have shown commitments by piloting innovative technologies and taking up the next phase of experimentation to scale it up to achieve clean and green urban centres. However, from the policy evolution perspective, it has been noticed that the use of innovative technology in most sensitive issues like MSW management often tends to face multiple hurdles while getting recognised by the government apparatus, which needs to be changed forever to transform the cities into really smart in finding solutions. A few years ago, 100 cities were brought in as Smart Cities with some or other combinations of technology to find solutions to the challenges faced by cities, but the sustainability of those technological solutions seem to be eroding faster. However, a few exceptional innovations and inventions are waiting at the doors of mainstream policymakers who still seem to be reluctant to take them up at a larger level.An interesting breakthrough technology named ‘MAK Green Incinerator’(homegrown and patented), which has a huge potential for transforming the national landscape into global markets with the most ultra-modern sophistication capacity, was recently awarded CavinKare MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards-2020 for zero-pollution and creating byproducts with tangible economic values out of biodegradable and non-biodegradable solid waste using Green incineration, i.e., without using any external fuel and a state-of-the-art pollution control system. The output is pure organic manure from biodegradable waste, paver bricks from ash produced from non-biodegradable waste, carbon from smoke, etc. Water used in the process is being recycled. The paver bricks produced are excellent quality which can be used for ground water recharge in the long run. The total volume reduction from non-biodegradable waste is up to 4 to 6 percent. For the first time in the State, the unit also got consent from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to operate, based on its merits.All byproducts generated by this innovative technology have been tested in NABH approved laboratories and quality audit was done for gauging the sustainability of quality and standards. It was found that the byproducts have achieved not only the expectations of the experiments for zero pollution, but also more effective alternative use. As the total mixed MSW can be easily converted, there will be zero dump at dump yards, and this points to a possibility of converting existing dump yards into parks, thus saving100 hectares of land used as dump sites. The MAK Green Incinerator was awarded after multiple rounds of discussions among eminent panellists, consisting of academic (IITs) and industry (Saint Gobain, ITC, Kirlosker) experts, about the innovation’s uniqueness, its potential benefit to people and the capacity to scale up to save Mother Earth. The new technology can be adopted in cities and urban centres, where it can help to convert waste to zero waste in an eco-friendly way, without any pollution.The MAK Green Incinerator has been piloted in different locations in Tamil Nadu during the last two years and has achieved converting several thousands of tonnes of MSW and the medical waste of COVID-19into byproducts. The new technology was invented by a team under the leadership of reputed engineer Manickam Athappa Gounder and Scientist Prof Dr Raman Sivakumar, who is associated with M/s MAK India Limited, based out of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Their rich overseas experience and hard work paved the way for the success.The commercial experiment of the MAK Green Incinerator technology was carried out at the Erode City Corporation, by operating the first pilot plant with 25 tonnes per day capacity. The efficacy of the new technology was effectively achieved in full capacity within a matter of six months. Indeed, the pilot plant was effective in preventing the mounting MSW dumped at the banks of Cauvery River for more than a year, thus saving the river and eliminating groundwater contamination, besides others. The pilot plant also helped prevent the spread of diseases

Lack of Socio-Economic Data Disrupts Public Policy Making in Tamil Nadu Lack of Socio-Economic Data Disrupts Public Policy Making in Tamil Nadu Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan November 5, 2020 Public Policy The article analyses the existing structural lacunae in the Tamil Nadu economy for decades. It also attempts to show how independent academic debates and discussions become impossible without comprehensive socio-economic data, not putting it in the public domain and its suppression, thus impeding the public policy making process in the State. The subsidies aspects were always exaggerated using the media for getting more votes rather than rational and independent analysis of facts and figures. Of course, there were positive and negative impacts of subsidies provided to promote social development and industrial development which were often overlooked in the past by the lack of technology-driven approach for good governance, transparency and accountability of the government machinery.In Tamil Nadu, the percentage of persons below the poverty line in 2011-12 was estimated at 15.83 per cent in rural areas, 6.54 per cent in urban areas and 11.28 per cent for the entire State. As per the 2011 census, the State population was 7.21 crore, of which roughly 11.28 per cent is about 8 million people, but the public distribution system (PDS) provides food subsidies to nearly about 2 crore families. The average family size in Tamil Nadu is 3.9 which means the PDS provides food subsidies to 8 crore people! Nevertheless, the debates about the scale of development on social, economic, environment, culture, etc. vis-à-vis the equity and quality benchmark were always extremely skewed. For example, the comparisons of social and economic development indicators of Tamil Nadu should be with developed countries instead of developing States like Bihar or West Bengal to improve further, as more than 50 per cent of the population lives in urban areas.Thus, the mainstream debates deliberately miss out on some of the structural lacunae existing in the Tamil Nadu economy for several decades. One such aspect is the State’s socio-economic data which is not published timely in a comprehensive manner in the public domain for debates and discussions. It is also surprising that many of the top economists and social scientists in the State were silent about it for quite long. In Tamil Nadu, fiddling with socio-economic data has been a convenient political game by the two Dravidian parties for several decades to escape from stringent scrutiny and the absence of independent academic debates aggravated the situation further. The so-called rationalists and active developmental experts in the State were behind the doors of some or other political parties to suppress the data which was always inconvenient truths and needed masks. The media, which needs to be an independent agent of democracy, is one such dangerous mask which does not favour the public.Undoubtedly, one of the major structural challenges faced by the Tamil Nadu government is lack of transparency and accountability of making administrative data, policy documents and reports, analytical research reports, committee reports, etc. Indeed, it is not only strange but ironic that Tamil Nadu, the second-largest economy after Maharashtra in the country, still does not publish the Economic Survey Report.    Even States like Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, etc. publish Economic Survey Reports annually with comprehensive statistical data on all major parameters of social, economic, environmental and developmental status along with comparative analysis. Even States like Jammu and Kashmir had Economic Survey Reports for several years. Bihar has been publishing its Economic Survey Reports for the last 15 years.Being one of the State’s survey authors, Govind Bhattacharjee recently observed that “the Economic Survey of Bihar continues to be a goldmine of information. Prepared for the Government of Bihar by the Patna-based think-tank Asian Development Research Institute and now in its 14th edition (2019-20) since inception, the document has retained its objectivity despite the political pulls and pressures.” Further, he also notes that “it must be said to the credit of successive dispensations in Bihar that they have not much interfered with the contents of this document – in fact, the only document available for understanding the economy of Bihar or to undertake any research – for their narrow political interests…Perhaps they too realise that fiddling with data is fraught with consequences that might prove disastrous even for themselves.” Tamil Nadu has to learn from Bihar.To align with Niti Aayog at the national level, Tamil Nadu’s State Planning Commission has been reformed as State Development Policy Council (SDPC). The person who is heading the SDPC as vice-chairman is a political appointment and has no experience or expertise in public policy making except being an elected representative of the people. The reformation of the State Planning Commission was announced in 2017, but the SDPC became functional only recently. Unlike other states in India where the finance department releases the Economic Survey Reports along with Annual Budget documents, in Tamil Nadu it has a separate agency called the Department of Evaluation and Applied Research (DEAR) for undertaking the analytical and statistical updating of the state of the economy. The DEAR website shows the report for 2013-14 as the latest and no reports for the last five years are available. DEAR also mentions on its website that it has completed 767 evaluation studies as of February 1, 2020 but not a single report is available in the public domain. This shows that public policy making through evidence-based, sound research and evaluation reports is not the priority of the government.Further, there seem to be huge gaps between different arms of the State government in terms of policy coordination and making periodic reports and statistical data available in the public domain. Though the SDPC, DEAR and the Department of Economics and Statistics are all under the Ministry of Finance, they lack coherence in action on policies. DEAR is one of the oldest agencies in the State created in 1964. It has collaborated with Abdul Latif Jameel – Poverty Action Lab – South Asia (J-PAL-SA) since 2014 for evaluations of policies and programmes in the

Skill India Mission: Challenges and Opportunities Skill India Mission: Challenges and Opportunities Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan July 31, 2020 Public Policy Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and slowdown of the economy, the prospects for millions of graduating youth, labourers and migrant workers who returned to their home states seem to be gloom for the near future, although any economy is cyclical. The increased demand, efficiency and productivity of factor markets are considered a boon for the recovery of an economy. According to the India Skills Report 2019–20, millennials contribute nearly half (47 per cent) of the country’s working population and are expected to continue to remain the largest chunk of the Indian workforce till 2030. However, as per NSSO 2011–12 report, only 2.2 per cent aged between 15–59 years have received formal vocational training and 8.6 per cent have received non-formal vocational training. Thus, only 10.8 per cent of the labour force was trained in some or other forms of vocational training in India. Click on to read the article Views expressed are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research. References Annual Report 2018-2019. Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India. “Gujarat’s KVKs Win PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration.” April 21, 2013. https://www.narendramodi.in/gujarats-kvks-win-pms-award-for-excellence-in-public-administration-5241. Ramakrishnan,Venkatesh. 2019. “Those Were the Days: How Rajaji’s ‘Kula KalviThittam’ Became a Controversial Education Reform.” December 15, 2019. https://www.dtnext.in/News/City/2019/12/15013004/1203824/Those-Were-The-Days-How-Rajajis-kula-kalvi-thittam-.vpf. The India Skills Report2020. https://wheebox.com/assets/pdf/ISR_Report_2020.pdf. “What Lies Ahead in the Vocational Sector.” 2020.Times of India, July 13, 2020. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/what-lies-ahead-in-the-vocational-sector/articleshowprint/76934509.cms. https://www.cppr.in/centre-for-comparative-studies/skill-india-mission-challenges-and-opportunities Facebook Instagram X-twitter

Embracing Decentralisation to Speed-up Smart Cities Projects Embracing Decentralisation to Speed-up Smart Cities Projects Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan July 21, 2020 Public Policy   The advances in science, revolutionary communication technology and the state-of-art engineering are not incompatible with the art of public policy making for building inclusive urban ecosystems to create livable cities for all. We need to create a robust urban ecosystem to have a seamless nexus among the frontiers in science, technology, engineering and public policy with a level playing field for each entity to produce quality outcomes to provide an antidote to challenges without losing the ultimate goal of creating livable cities for all. However, in the world of highly advanced interconnected communications and technological developments, the rational persuasion of people to be smart in the public sphere and be civic conscientious is still a huge challenge. Also, people becoming more technology-addicted with physical infrastructure facilities like well-furnished houses, well-built streets, roads, highways, metros, malls, etc, do not make a civilised nation without the well-meaning behaviour and inclination to keep high order of hygiene and sanitation. Cities are not minus human beings, they are one and the same. For lack of facilities and services in cities, most people would blame the authorities, maybe rightly so to some extent, which in turn puts the blame on politicians and bureaucracy and makes prolonged vicious circles. Eventually, the fact is simply dividing the house of public policy making does not serve any purpose if we apply systemic thinking. What is missing? It seems to be that the belief among educated people that communication technology by itself is an end and not just a means for doing a whole lot of things to make better cities and thereby a better country. In any sensibly literate community, public demand for basic rights to make choices to eat, drink, gather, work and live as they wish with complete freedom, but at the same time most of them tend to forget that they are equally responsible and dutiful as citizens to upkeep the facilities and services offered by the public or private agencies. We need a sense of pride and belonging to build a city for our future generations, but the actual action should begin from us aggressively with TESS—technology, efficiency, speed and scale. Also, being responsible by not spitting, throwing away waste in public spheres, etc, will also add value for everybody else to replicate. As patriotic citizens, we express our heartfelt salute to the brave soldiers guarding us at the border for peace and prosperity, but most of us tend to fail to refrain from polluting the empty land, streets, roads, rivers, water bodies, public utilities, etc. Is it not that we are contradicting our beliefs and thereby compromising our health, city, economy and the country? These are some of the key issues posing huge challenges for the urban planners, policy makers, service providers like architects, engineers, academia, think tanks and industries, which were all in some or the other way part of India’s Smart City Mission—one of the most ambitious initiatives launched five years ago. The Union Government had launched the Mission in June 2015 to improve the urban ecosystems and make the livable for all by fixing the challenges identified in four folds: i) Retrofitting development, ii) Redevelopment, iii) Green Field development, and iv) Pan-city development. Out of 99 cities, 60 were selected in 2016, 30 in 2017 and 9 in 2018. During the last five years, a total of 5151 projects worth `2,05,018 crore were identified in 99 cities across the country. The funds sanctioned for these projects largely come from the Union Government, State governments and in some cities the Private sector, but a very negligible portion is from the urban local bodies.  A big challenge for the cities is that they are unable to raise money using their resources. Several studies indicate that the overall performance of the smart city initiatives has been largely still or in a very nascent stage. Moreover, in terms of qualitative assessment, the outcomes were not so outstanding for most cities, but the initiatives had created positive energy and huge awareness among different stakeholders even though it lagged behind the Clean India Mission achievements at the national level. According to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, total smart city projects tendered were worth over `1,66,000 crore (80.96 per cent), out of which total projects work order issues were `1,25,000 crore (75.30 per cent) as on June 25, 2020. Whereas, total projects completed were `27,000 crore only, which is just 13.16 per cent. Moreover, the total projects completed worth `12,100 crore (44.81 per cent) were in the last one year. The dismal performances of Smart City Mission projects are attributed to many elements such as lack of good governance and decentralisation at urban local bodies’ level even after the Constitutional Amendments made close to three decades ago. Moreover, Smart City Mission projects mainly were faced with lack of political leadership to drive effective transformations at national, state and city levels; the lethargic bureaucratic planning, project designs minus citizens’ participation; complete dilution of mission guidelines and norms of special purpose vehicles (SPVs); not including subject experts from industry and public policy practitioners in the planning stage itself; lack of transparency in detailed projects preparations by private consultancy firms; and more importantly, corruption in tendering process with political interferences, especially in Tamil Nadu. Also, there were no links between the actual projects initiated and initial reports prepared by private consulting firms involving citizens for feedback. Further, by and large, the approaches adopted to develop smart city projects were not India-centric with the change in mindsets along with informed sound data-based decision making. Most of the cities still lack comprehensive data, both qualitative and quantitative. Thus, it is an all top-down approach of the age-old centralised planning methods in a new package. Further, the Union Government had failed to recognise the fact that the municipalities and city corporations are in systemic dysfunction for many decades.

Imperatives for Power Sector Reforms in Tamil Nadu Imperatives for Power Sector Reforms in Tamil Nadu Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan June 25, 2020 Public Policy In an economy, sustained economic growth is achieved through the robustness of factor market efficiency, sound public policies, financial institutions, and its ability to lend worthy projects and core infrastructure facilities serving around the clock. More importantly, the power sector plays as a lubricant paving increased productivity in the economy, be it agriculture, manufacturing or services. A study by TERI institute (2017–2030) found that in Tamil Nadu economy “not only did total electricity consumption have high correlation with total GSDP—industrial and agricultural GSDP—but consumption from different sectors was also correlated with the GSDP of the respective sector.” Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering State in the country providing power to all sectors. It achieved much earlier a rank among States with 100 per cent village electrification, besides being within the top 10 States with the highest per capita power consumption in the country. To revive the Indian economy, which is hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Union Government has announced a slew of economic packages with several mutations. As part of the package, the Union Finance Ministry has sought few reforms by the State governments in the area of food subsidies, ease of doing business, improving urban local bodies’ revenues and power sector to get additional borrowings. The State finances are already stressed with huge spending beyond revenues and expect to borrow more. The Government of Tamil Nadu (in a letter to the Prime Minister dated on May 18, 2020) criticised the reform measures urged by the Centre to be taken in the power sector stating that “to attach needlessly demanding conditionalities to the additional borrowing requirements appears to be unreasonable.” “Imposing needlessly onerous conditions on borrowings will constrain the State Governments in finding funds to meet essential needs.” Further, the State criticised “aggressively pushing a reform agenda on which a consensus is yet to be developed…” and it hit hard to express that “the State Government has already undertaken the reforms without expecting any financial assistance, there are some areas, most specifically in the area of power distribution reforms, which are politically sensitive.” This is one area where the political mandates were time and again mutated towards alternative options, but did not touch the structural reforms. But why is the State, which is top-ranked in the overall governance index in the country, afraid to implement structural reforms? The arguments on power sector reforms, which are politically sensitive in the State, also seem to be linked to vested interests. The simple truth is that the ruling political party in Tamil Nadu does not have the political will to carry out reforms by taking into account the importance of power sector sustainability. Even the former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had lacked the political will to do reforms in the power sector.  With the State Assembly Elections due next year in May, the power sector reforms and the proposed changes in the Electricity Act are beyond the priority area of the State government.  However, the welfare polity pursued for decades by the Dravidian parties by providing free power to the rich, crony farmers and industries and other freebies is not a sustainable model for long term, both for the power sector as well as the health of the State economy. The Union Ministry of Power had launched the UDAY Scheme to improve efficiency in power production and distribution. On January 7, 2017, Tamil Nadu joined as the 21st State under the UDAY scheme by signing an MoU with the Union Government to bring reforms in the power sector for the long-term sustainability of the economy. Keeping in view of the above aspects, it would be interesting to look at the status of the power sector in Tamil Nadu. As per the Central Electricity Authority’s monthly report for April 2020 (the latest month available), the total installed capacity of power (in MW) of 21.8 per cent is with the State government, 59.2 per cent is with the private sector and 19 per cent is with the Union Government. The State’s share of installed capacity is 8.9 per cent in the country and its share in the southern region is 29.3 per cent. The private sector share is three times that of the State’s capacity. The State has the largest wind and solar power generation capacity in the country. State’s Aggregate Technical and Commercial Loss (AT& CL) is 13.49 per cent, which is less than the all India level of 18.93 per cent. But the State’s AT&CL losses are higher compared to the States like Gujarat (5.45 per cent), Kerala (9.99 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (10.9 per cent) and Telangana (10.9 per cent), to mention a few. In recent years, there have been improvements in the power production and distribution efficiency in the State. But the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) has continued to make losses for several years and is under severe financial constraints. TANGEDCO incurred a loss of Rs 40,000 crore between 2014–15 and 2018–19. It gets subsidies of around Rs 9200 crore from the State government to provide free power to farmers and 100 units free power to households, among others. In 2018–19, the power sector subsidy was the second largest with 21.1 per cent share after food subsidy which was 36.8 per cent. Moreover, power producers’ (including the private sector) outstanding dues to TANGEDCO in the State have increased to over Rs 78,000 crore in August 2019. The State’s overall outstanding payments to power generators amounted to Rs 132.97 billion as of January 2020. Keeping in view of the input costs and AT&CL losses, the power tariffs were not raised periodically to make power production and distribution systems more strong to support the State economy. The power tariff was raised last time in 2014 and still there was a loss of Rs 4,400 crore in that year alone and this was partly due to the staff salary hike by the Pay Commission,

Need to Rope in Private Sector Hospitals in the Fight against COVID Need to Rope in Private Sector Hospitals in the Fight against COVID Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan June 1, 2020 Public Policy   Unprecedentedly, the world humanity has been at peril since the spread of the Coronavirus, which emerged first in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and it reminds us about the two World Wars and a host of plagues of the past. The initial attitudes of both China and the World Health Organization in communicating the massive spread of the virus were not impressive, despite the best use of their collective powers and advanced science and technology in identifying the deadly virus’s life cycle and nature of reproduction. The global community is in an abject condition fighting the tiny, yet deadly virus for the past six months and has become more fragile now than ever in human history. Authorities across the globe have responded varyingly depending upon the velocity of the virus spread and its sustainability and longevity.  The public health systems across the globe, even though with their limited resources, have become a machinery of warriors in the fight against COVID-19.The collaborative systems have become dynamic to save lives by preventing the spread. A health emergency like COVID-19 was a big blow to the public health system in a country like India in many ways more than the shortage of doctors, nurses, ventilators, masks, bed capacities, ICU, etc. But the actual realities are undermined to some extent. It is now close to four months since the first COVID-19 positive case was reported in India. Now, COVID-19 has gone beyond a metaphor testing the capacities of the government system in India. The public health systems in Indian States are in different stages of evolution and are far away from the capacity of handling emergencies like COVID-19. They are by and large not well equipped with the necessary medical equipment and thereby causing more mental stress to patients and medical staff. Nevertheless, the State’s health systems responded swiftly, despite their systemic limitations, to best handle the COVID-19 patients. But despite the best efforts to observe a complete lockdown, the number of COVID-19 positive cases have been significantly increasing in major populated States. Now, two months after the total lockdown forced by the Indian government to contain the pandemic, one of the pertinent questions arises is about its failure to engage private sector hospitals optimally. As on May 31, there are only 676 testing labs across the country, of which only 204 testing labsof private hospitals are approved and engaged by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct the testing. Given the growing number of COVID-19 positive cases in the country, especially in the major populated States, the number of private hospitals approved are nothing but a drop in the ocean. Private hospitals in India have 80 per cent of the available ventilators but are handling less than 10 per cent of the critical care for COVID-19.[1] All the private hospitals empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme—the State’s own health insurance scheme—have a huge capacity to complement the public health systems to effectively fight COVID-19. But the nexus between the National Health Mission and the private sector healthcare infrastructure seems to be completely underutilised at this very critical juncture. Efficiency and quality cannot improve without choices for services like healthcare in a country like India. There is neither a legal nor a logical basis for excluding private sector hospitals from the fight against COVID and allowing only government hospitals, despite their acute shortcomings, to treat the patients. The testing of patients for COVID-19 is still very low compared to many countries and one of the main reasons might be the failure of the Indian government to strategically engage the private sector hospitals. The most contested issue now India faces is the low level of testing of people who may have symptoms, which has not been taken seriously even now by the State authorities. It is evident from the global experience that early testing is imperative for containing community spread which otherwise could devastate the country more than any cyclone or an earthquake. Why is there no effort from the Union Government to bring out a comprehensive policy framework to engage private hospitals across the country to augment the efforts of public health systems in the fight against COVID-19? Without bringing out comprehensive guidelines for involving private hospitals and providing a level playing field with price parity under insurance schemes, different State governments have enforced their power and authority to use and misuse the facilities of private hospitals across the country, setting a bad precedent. Moreover, voices were raised from some quarters in the country for the nationalisation of private hospitals. But even doing it for the cause of COVID-19 would be suicidal to the vibrant private healthcare sector in the long-term perspective. Without unified guidelines of the Union Government, both the State governments and private hospitals have gone into a firefighting over the mode of operandi. Fighting COVID-19 is a peculiar challenge for all the State governments in India. Different State governments have enforced the colonial law, the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 or their own health emergency law in a hasty way to take over private hospitals and their medical staff. Uttarakhand was the first State to announce on March 24 that all private hospitals have to reserve 100 or more beds—at least 25 percent of beds—for COVID-19 patients, which essentially meant for government utilisation. Similarly, States like Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh issued orders that the entire private hospitals would be temporarily utilised by the governments for the treatment of COVID-19 patients; though, later Chhattisgarh withdrew its order. The Delhi government had issued an order to reserve at least 20 percent of beds for COVID-19 patients in private hospitals that have 50 or more bed capacity. The government also threatened private hospitals and issued a show-cause notice to a private hospital for refusing to admit patients. The Telangana State

Structural Challenges in Reaping Demographic Dividends of India Structural Challenges in Reaping Demographic Dividends of India Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan May 26, 2020 Public Policy As India is fighting the COVID pandemic and going through an unprecedented economic situation, the Prime Minister has envisioned to focus on five pillars for rebuilding the country. India’s youth is said to be the fourth pillar in rebuilding the country and achieving the dream of a “Self-reliant India”. Unfortunately, the Union Finance Minister’s series of announcements of economic packages has not included anything for the youth population to make them more productive and resourceful to achieve this dream. There has not been any encouraging trend either in the past six years. The General Budget for 2020–21, presented by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2020, received mixed responses to skill development programmes for youth and reaping demographic dividends. The budget provision for skill development is Rs 3,000 crore. But according to KP Krishnan, former Secretary of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the total budget provisioned for skill development for the country, aggregated by two dozen Ministries and Departments of the Union Government, is about Rs 11,000 crore. This is a huge amount for creating an institutional structure for fulfilling the aspirations and skilling the youth, but unfortunately has been in a muddle. Now with the changing global scenario, it would be interesting to look at some of the policies of the government. The Centre had announced in the Budget that it will aim to tap the potentials of overseas opportunities “for teachers, nurses, para-medical staff and care-givers…” and special bridge courses in sectors like healthcare with equivalent certification matching with the receiving countries. It had also aimed to engage 150 higher educational institutions to impart apprenticeship embedded degree and diploma courses to make the youth employable. Surely, these are no less than piecemeal announcements for some quarters because they do not match with what India contributes to the labour force every year; around 5-7 million youth are entering the labour market without any formal education or vocational skills. One of the most vital factors in production is human resources which is still underutilised, despite being imperative to economic growth and development. One of the most talked-about subjects in the last two decades is the boon of demographic dividends that India has, but emphasis is not given to the process to impart vocational education and skill development to the youth, and the need to institutionalise it both in government and private institutions beyond the ITIs, ITCs, polytechnics and apprenticeships. Though, there have been several policy initiatives since 2008, the governments did not break from their stereotype and bureaucratic silos to gauge an effective institutional mechanism to deliver a competent labour force. It is even ironic that organisations like the National Skill Development Corporation and its Sector Skills Councils, National Skills Development Agency, National Skill Development Trust, etc. could not make much impact on the district-level even now. The issue is not with the funds and industry linkages but the transparency and accountability of institutions involved in the skill development programmes across the Ministries and Departments vis-à-vis the State and UT Governments. This is akin to the case of earlier experiments done in vocational education, which was a failed attempt. In 1988, the Government of India had launched a scheme for vocationalisation of school education, providing financial support to the State governments. Unfortunately, since early 2000, the Central Government has not been providing enough financial support to them with an institutional mechanism to standardise the curriculum and teacher education for the expansion of vocational education in the higher secondary level. Thus, since 1988, the scheme has only covered close to 10,000 schools with vocational streams and trained about less than a million students. The target set for 2020–21 is to cover 1500 vocational schools across the country to impart vocational education to a few lakh students.  According to a report of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, “more than One Crore youth are being imparted skills training annually under various programmes of the Central Government.” Till December 2019, under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, about 87 lakh youth were trained. However, the Ministry on March 3, 2020 announced in Parliament that it has trained only 73.47 lakh youth in the country till January 17, 2020. Out of which, 40.27 lakh youth were trained in short-term courses and 33.20 lakh youth were felicitated in recognition of prior learning with certification. This shows that we are still far away from achieving the targets of the Skill India Mission. Nevertheless, unlike the previous general budgets, this year’s Union Budget has added another flavour with “life skills” in the field of skill development, which is interesting and imperative for the youth at this juncture. In India, except for the CBSE system of education, no other education Boards seem to have a syllabus for life skills in school education. Indeed, in 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO) had developed Guidelines on “Life Skills Education for Children and Adolescents in Schools”. It includes 10 core life skills to be acquired for a healthy and balanced life for learning and living even in an extreme situation. They are self-awareness, empathy, critical thinking, creative thinking, decision making, problem solving, and effective communication, interpersonal relationship, coping with stress and coping with emotion. These life skills are not necessarily a mere classroom textbook learning but they can also be structured with suitable narratives along with activities for effective learning for all kinds of students including those who are unable to attend schools or any institutions. Several years ago, the Madurai based Aparajitha Foundation in Tamil Nadu had developed the above 10 core life skills into systematic module-based learning for school children of Class VI to Class XII with a narrative rendering videos of about 120 in total with simple examples and illustrations to educate children. Each “Tim Tim Taare” video has 45 minutes with 15 minutes for activities. These videos were distributed to thousands of schools across

What Steers Tamil Nadu’s Higher Trajectory of Economic Growth? What Steers Tamil Nadu’s Higher Trajectory of Economic Growth? Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan May 8, 2020 Public Policy The two Dravidian political parties in Tamil Nadu are at constant war with each other on alleged use and misuse of Dravidian ideology in the name of the welfare of its people, Tamil language and delivery of various welfare schemes. Hindi hate speech and appeasement of minorities for votes are the two most contested politics of Tamil Nadu for the last half of the century. Unlike other states in the south and west, the politics of Tamil Nadu has been studied by too many, while its economy is not studied by many for no good reasons. However, despite their divisive polity, a competitive spirit can be seen among the leaders across the political spectrum towards inclusive development and growth of Tamil Nadu. At times, it is astonishing to see a sustained progress of the Tamil Nadu economy compared to other states in India. What drives Tamil Nadu is its core competence and capacities of sectors like healthcare and nutrition, education and entrepreneurship which are the main ingredients of the State’s sustained high growth trajectory. The average growth rate in the two decades following liberalisation was 7 per cent per annum. Trajectory of Growth In recent years, the State has been continuously facing calamities such as Chennai Floods in 2015, Vardah cyclone in 2016, a severe drought followed by Ockhi cyclone in 2017, Gaja cyclone in 2018, drought and water crises in 2019 and now the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the State badly. The government still gets lesser allocation under the State Disaster Relief Fund from the Union Government. Nevertheless, the Tamil Nadu economy has been showing a stable trajectory of growth during the last few years, even though the current political establishments are often caught up in corruption and scandals. During the period from 2011–12 to 2015–16, the AIADMK government had managed to secure an average growth rate of 6.7 percent as against the national average growth rate of 6.9 percent. The second term of the AIADMK, i.e., the last three years (2016–17 to 2018–19) witnessed an average GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) growth rate of 7.7 percent which is impressive and 0.23 percent higher compared to the Indian economy (7.4 per cent). The projected GSDP growth rate for 2019–2020 is 7.3 percent compared to the 5 percent growth rate for the Indian economy, which shows a significant difference of 2.3 percent. Tamil Nadu is ranked first among the states in terms of the highest number of factories and industrial workers. Also, the State is ranked second in terms of employment generation in the organised sector. Sector-wise Contribution to GSDP The State’s primary sector which includes agriculture and allied activities contributes 11.8 percent to the GSDP. Also, Tamil Nadu has a dynamic manufacturing sector, comprising textiles, leather products, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering, agro-based products and food processing, etc, significantly contributing to the national economy. The State’s secondary sector’s GSDP share is 36.0 percent. During the last two decades, Tamil Nadu has been witnessing thriving trends in the services sector by value addition as well as employment generation with IT and ITeS, electronic hardware, banking, financial services, healthcare, tourism, etc. growing dynamically. The tertiary sector’s GSDP share in the State economy is 52.2 percent. The State is capable of financing the targeted welfare schemes for improving the living standards of people as the treasury yields higher revenue from a higher trajectory of economic growth. One of the sources of higher income for the State is the sale of liquor, which also creates social disruptions in terms of loss of income and health hazards to millions of poor families. Still, the State spends beyond its income keeping a revenue deficit of Rs 25,071 crore. Strong Foundation of Infrastructure The key strengths of the State are premised on its strong foundation of both social and physical infrastructure which paves for diversification of sectors by taking advantage of human resource capital for continuous progress and revenue generation to improve social development. Tamil Nadu has a well-developed infrastructure with good road and rail network connectivity. The State has three major ports, fifteen minor ports and seven airports for moving goods and services as well as people from one point to another within a matter of a few hours. Trichy, a tier-two city, is emerging as the fastest growth centre with transformations including a massive expansion of its airport with Rs 950 crore investments, which is a first of its kind in the country. Moreover, the State has leading higher and technical education and research institutions which strive for the next generation of industrial growth. Tamil Nadu has also been building robust industrial training and technical institutions with multi-skill development centres collaborating with industries for a sustainable industrial growth and to achieve productivity having the right mix of skilled and competent human resources. State’s Policy Initiatives The State machinery is continuously working closely with subject experts in the industry across the sectors to take advantage of the emerging trends at the national and international levels for reaping the benefits of markets without a loss in employment generation. The policy initiatives in sectors such as Business Facilitation for ease of doing business, New Information and Communication Technology, Aerospace, Defence, Solar Energy, New Integrated Textiles, Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations and Treated Waste Water Reuse intending to reduce dependence on freshwater and to prevent pollution of water bodies, Electric Vehicles, etc are aimed at sustainable approaches to achieve inclusive growth and development. Tamil Nadu is also working to introduce a new industrial policy to provide incentives to the MSME sector which is facing critical challenges after the implementation of GST. Out of the 68 working PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings) in the State, only 39 are making profit and 25 are loss-making units with an incurred loss of Rs 9,366.31 crore for the year 2016–17 alone, as per the CAG report released in