Ajay Shah: India & China - The gap is narrowing Ajay Shah / New Delhi July 18, 2007
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=291483&leftnm=4 &subLeft=0&chkFlg= <Recent perceptions of the two countries may have something to do with the narrowing of the gap in FDI flows. There is considerable interest in India on the subject of how to increase government effectiveness, and how to improve governance. The World Bank has released an update on its cross-country governance measurement effort led by Kaufmann, Kraay and Mastruzzi. ...The "Political Stability and Absence of Violence" measure pertains to "perceptions of the likelihood that the government will be destabilized or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including domestic violence and terrorism". This survey evidence, which reflects the views of worldwide experts and practitioners, places India's political stability at 22.1 and China's at 33.2. Most people in India are very comfortable about India's "political stability". The World Bank's measurement suggests that India does not look so stable to the external observer, and presumably penalises India for domestic violence and terrorism, which includes the breakdown of law and order in many districts. ...In the key areas of education and health, there has been no progress in India between 1996 and 2005. On issues like teacher absenteeism, or the flight from public schools by parents of all income classes, or the breakdown of population-wide health programmes such as immunisation or sanitation, India has lost ground in the last decade. The gaze of politicians continues to be on welfare programmes, where the attempt is to use public resources to give out dole to favoured constituencies. The re-engineering of the state to shift focus to effectively delivering public goods-which benefit everyone and not narrow sections of the population-has not yet begun. The puzzle about India is the mismatch between a high score on Voice and accountability, which has not yet translated into a state which is focused on providing public goods.> Ditto regarding the certainty of a humungous mismatch between voice and accountability in Goa!!
