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ashwin mahesh
My column in Deccan Herald on the balance between state, market and society runs once in four weeks. In it, I explore ways in which people can be part of all three, and how we can ensure that each one remains independently important to our imagination of development. Click here to see the full list of articles.
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The Federal Manifesto
1. Federalism must be a first principle of organising administration, resources, responsibilities, powers, etc. between different levels...
Ashwin Mahesh
Jun 15, 20192 min read
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Carpenters can't fix your leaks
If there's a leak in the water line in your building, you'll call the plumber. You won't call the carpenter and hope that by a...
Ashwin Mahesh
Sep 5, 20182 min read
147 views
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Swaraj in action
If swaraj is the USP of new politics, then how can we implement it meaningfully, so that individual citizens and communities feel...
Ashwin Mahesh
Apr 18, 20172 min read
123 views
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Development is urban, formal and industrial.
The contours of development include higher levels of urbanisation, a shift towards more industry, and integration with formal aspects of...
Ashwin Mahesh
Jul 18, 20161 min read
89 views
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With the government, within the government, and as the government.
Over the last two years I have written extensively about the emerging new idea of governance around the world. Historically in...
Ashwin Mahesh
Jun 19, 20162 min read
379 views
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A new arthashastra
We need a new arthashastra. The conventional view of this treatise is that it a manifesto for kingship. But equally it is a manifesto for...
Ashwin Mahesh
Oct 13, 20153 min read
80 views
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Keep it local, keep it accountable
Who should run the government schools in the city - the Education department of the state government, or the BBMP? Who should run the...
Ashwin Mahesh
Aug 29, 20153 min read
56 views
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A bankable truth
Banks make profits by taking depositors' money and lending it to borrowers. For a very long time, public sector banks' deposit rates were...
Ashwin Mahesh
Aug 23, 20152 min read
32 views
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The President's turn
Looking back at the struggle to improve governance in Bengaluru, it is painful to see how many opportunities we have missed. Each time,...
Ashwin Mahesh
Aug 3, 20155 min read
33 views
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The whole state is criminalised
What Vyapam tells us is that the whole state is criminalised. It is true in every state. After all, we are fighting the exact same scam...
Ashwin Mahesh
Jul 10, 20151 min read
43 views
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Why don't ALL schools do what the BEST ones do?
Why don't ALL schools do what the BEST schools do? It seems quite straightforward. At least, why don't all the public schools do what the...
Ashwin Mahesh
Jun 17, 20152 min read
104 views
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Promote the principle, not the program
There are two or three ideas which, if the government embraces, we can easily have a great run of economy and society. (1) Promote the...
Ashwin Mahesh
May 30, 20153 min read
50 views
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Is decentralisation the way ahead?
"Can everyone lead?" The question can seem like a contradiction in terms, but increasingly around the world, people are asking whether...
Ashwin Mahesh
Apr 17, 20152 min read
44 views
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The publicly managed city
Even a cursory look at some of the problems in urban governance will reveal that the current structure of public administration and...
Ashwin Mahesh
Oct 30, 20143 min read
55 views
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The accumulation of opportunity
For a few months in 2000, I used to live in Hampton, Virginia - original home of the great space missions of NASA. But apart from this,...
Ashwin Mahesh
Aug 20, 20144 min read
268 views
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Seven 4-letter words you can be proud of
About two years ago, I said to a few young people that 'if you do the following seven things EVERY WEEK without fail for the next FULL...
Ashwin Mahesh
Oct 30, 20133 min read
782 views
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School's out, life's in.
Of all the things I treasure about my education, I value most what Dr.Anjeneya Swamy taught me in one course at B-school. He is a small...
Ashwin Mahesh
Sep 15, 19993 min read
55 views
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The promise of a different life
Thirty three years ago, in the spring of 1970, my mother and father took their infant son to the Christian Medical College Hospital in...
Ashwin Mahesh
Jan 15, 19997 min read
130 views
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