I have long been interested in public policy but have not gone into the details of what makes it work.
While I have been socially aware of all the ills of what public policy has become, I have never dug deep to understand how it works and what really ails the system.
When I started learning more about public policy making in India, What I learnt made me compare it with what I have learnt working in software development and in consulting.
While we are not supposed to compare apples and Oranges, I did exactly that - comparing policy making and software development using abductive reasoning.
A little note on abductive reasoning
Abductive reasoning or hypothesis based observation is not scientifically sound mechanism to prove that processes work across various disciplines. I am resorting to this technique because it is relatively easy to do for an analyst and simple to explain as well.
Having data at times distorts having to explain inter-dependencies between components in any complex system. One key aspect to the fact that data driven analysis is the different between correlation and causation. If you just compare data, you get correlation. If you have studied the systems pretty well, you get causation.
It is with these assumptions that I am trying abductive reasoning
Public Policy Making in India
Public policy making in India is very robust. For an young nation which had relatively very little supporting institutions and very little support from other nations, India is at a very good stage in terms of policy making.
It has gone through the stages of policy making relatively quickly and has made fewer mistakes than other young nations. We could also say that we are lucky in terms of that.
Our public policy institutions - be it the National Academy of administration, the economists at the central bank, other regulatory authorities and other smaller policy making bodies have fared really well and are at a very good level of awareness and experimentation for an young nation.
Having said that, I am also very sad to note that India is also not an young nation at the same time. If you compare the indian civilizations, some of them have been very old and have been very varied in terms of cultural , economic and social conditions. We have had tolerant, intolerant, vibrant and oppressive civilzations. It is really sad that not much of history has been preserved or referred to while looking at how some of the institutions or policies could be localized for India.
The policy making doctrines have also evolved over time - from decentralized to socialist to federal and now capitalist leaning doctrines. Each phase have been critical to India - making sure that the country takes every along.
Effectiveness of policy making
As policy making as a process evolved from one doctrine to another - each time supporting the aspiration of India as a country, it was also influenced heavily by the political leaders at that time and the thinkers that were aligned with the political leaders.
India had a relatively stable policy for the first 3 decades - hardly changing stance and mostly isolated from the global sphere. The policy making was mostly inward looking since the integration of states was still in progress. This phase was essentially decentralized with the local governments more effective that the federal structure.
However, as time went by, the lag of policy makers to match up to the reality on the ground has taken a toll. While the doctrines of policy making has changed, the mindset and pace of change at the policy making institutions has still hung on. It is still evident today when a lot of policy making institutions struggle to understand how to measure data, how to use data to tweak policy for better effectiveness and how to communicate changes through the rank of any organization.
These have essentially been pulling down the country as India wants to race ahead and be a better nation.
The weird benefits of having an inefficient policy making structure
The study of policy making or the policy making institutions are not easy. They are very complex organizations or systems and are pretty convoluted - even more in India where the spread is even more varied.
We see that policy making is getting tougher and more complex as more systems come under play - Economics, Banks, Trade, Infrastructure, Skill building, Education, Business, Health, Entertainment, Culture, Transportation, Agriculture, Science, Technology - I am just getting started here.
However, we have had some great but weird benefits of having an inefficient policy making. A lot of policies that would have allowed India to accelerate did not bear fruit - thus allowing us to take time to rethink them and come up with better policies over time and also giving us time to get the right resources for the job.
This has also increased frustration to the growing middle class - that is becoming apparent in multiple ways. Some of the really weird but very helpful ones is the political activism that we see these days. Political activism of the middle class might look destabilizing in the short term - but properly managed - could lead to a more engaged and inclusive ecosystems for any country to flourish.
Another key side effect of the frustration is also the level of aspiration that Indians have in the global stage. The brain drain that we saw in the late 90’s and the early 2000’s is an example of that. These are amazing resources to tap into for an institution
How do we make policy making better
Policy making institutions have evolved over a period of time and are going to take time to change. That is exactly the same thing that we consultants do when we try transformation efforts at corporate enterprises. In fact, it is even tougher at corporate enterprises since they have stakeholders - people that we have to answer to.
When we raise a question of how to make policy making better, there are several solutions that have been proposed. Some of them have been very effective but not sustainable. Changing from a federal structure to a more decentralized structure, having a more inclusive policy making process, being more participative etc.
Policy making is simple - in terms of what it has to achieve, Trying to define it any more than that would not make it easy for us to make the process efficient. Some times searching for easy or short term solutions tends to add complexity to solutions. We have to approach policy making as just that - it being simple - and start working with simple solutions that are sustainable and also visible for a period of time.
Just a point to note - Simple ain’t easy. They are different
While I have been socially aware of all the ills of what public policy has become, I have never dug deep to understand how it works and what really ails the system.
When I started learning more about public policy making in India, What I learnt made me compare it with what I have learnt working in software development and in consulting.
While we are not supposed to compare apples and Oranges, I did exactly that - comparing policy making and software development using abductive reasoning.
A little note on abductive reasoning
Abductive reasoning or hypothesis based observation is not scientifically sound mechanism to prove that processes work across various disciplines. I am resorting to this technique because it is relatively easy to do for an analyst and simple to explain as well.
Having data at times distorts having to explain inter-dependencies between components in any complex system. One key aspect to the fact that data driven analysis is the different between correlation and causation. If you just compare data, you get correlation. If you have studied the systems pretty well, you get causation.
It is with these assumptions that I am trying abductive reasoning
Public Policy Making in India
Public policy making in India is very robust. For an young nation which had relatively very little supporting institutions and very little support from other nations, India is at a very good stage in terms of policy making.
It has gone through the stages of policy making relatively quickly and has made fewer mistakes than other young nations. We could also say that we are lucky in terms of that.
Our public policy institutions - be it the National Academy of administration, the economists at the central bank, other regulatory authorities and other smaller policy making bodies have fared really well and are at a very good level of awareness and experimentation for an young nation.
Having said that, I am also very sad to note that India is also not an young nation at the same time. If you compare the indian civilizations, some of them have been very old and have been very varied in terms of cultural , economic and social conditions. We have had tolerant, intolerant, vibrant and oppressive civilzations. It is really sad that not much of history has been preserved or referred to while looking at how some of the institutions or policies could be localized for India.
The policy making doctrines have also evolved over time - from decentralized to socialist to federal and now capitalist leaning doctrines. Each phase have been critical to India - making sure that the country takes every along.
Effectiveness of policy making
As policy making as a process evolved from one doctrine to another - each time supporting the aspiration of India as a country, it was also influenced heavily by the political leaders at that time and the thinkers that were aligned with the political leaders.
India had a relatively stable policy for the first 3 decades - hardly changing stance and mostly isolated from the global sphere. The policy making was mostly inward looking since the integration of states was still in progress. This phase was essentially decentralized with the local governments more effective that the federal structure.
However, as time went by, the lag of policy makers to match up to the reality on the ground has taken a toll. While the doctrines of policy making has changed, the mindset and pace of change at the policy making institutions has still hung on. It is still evident today when a lot of policy making institutions struggle to understand how to measure data, how to use data to tweak policy for better effectiveness and how to communicate changes through the rank of any organization.
These have essentially been pulling down the country as India wants to race ahead and be a better nation.
The weird benefits of having an inefficient policy making structure
The study of policy making or the policy making institutions are not easy. They are very complex organizations or systems and are pretty convoluted - even more in India where the spread is even more varied.
We see that policy making is getting tougher and more complex as more systems come under play - Economics, Banks, Trade, Infrastructure, Skill building, Education, Business, Health, Entertainment, Culture, Transportation, Agriculture, Science, Technology - I am just getting started here.
However, we have had some great but weird benefits of having an inefficient policy making. A lot of policies that would have allowed India to accelerate did not bear fruit - thus allowing us to take time to rethink them and come up with better policies over time and also giving us time to get the right resources for the job.
This has also increased frustration to the growing middle class - that is becoming apparent in multiple ways. Some of the really weird but very helpful ones is the political activism that we see these days. Political activism of the middle class might look destabilizing in the short term - but properly managed - could lead to a more engaged and inclusive ecosystems for any country to flourish.
Another key side effect of the frustration is also the level of aspiration that Indians have in the global stage. The brain drain that we saw in the late 90’s and the early 2000’s is an example of that. These are amazing resources to tap into for an institution
How do we make policy making better
Policy making institutions have evolved over a period of time and are going to take time to change. That is exactly the same thing that we consultants do when we try transformation efforts at corporate enterprises. In fact, it is even tougher at corporate enterprises since they have stakeholders - people that we have to answer to.
When we raise a question of how to make policy making better, there are several solutions that have been proposed. Some of them have been very effective but not sustainable. Changing from a federal structure to a more decentralized structure, having a more inclusive policy making process, being more participative etc.
Policy making is simple - in terms of what it has to achieve, Trying to define it any more than that would not make it easy for us to make the process efficient. Some times searching for easy or short term solutions tends to add complexity to solutions. We have to approach policy making as just that - it being simple - and start working with simple solutions that are sustainable and also visible for a period of time.
Just a point to note - Simple ain’t easy. They are different
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