Frontiers of Agenda

But no government could function with just handpicked cheerleaders, and experienced bureaucrats stopped sharing their lifelong experience, out of fear, and the political savvy of ministers was treated with contempt. As the Cabinet system crashed and responsibility became opaque, India’s performance ranking in all internationally comparable indices started tumbling, every year. And the inviolability of statistics disappeared, as fudging began. Officers realised that only style and spectacle mattered, not substance. - Covid and the administration of a tragedy: How India lost the plot https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2021/apr/30/covid-and-the-administration-of-a-tragedy-how-india-lost-the-plot-2296633.html  by Jawhar Sircar "I had the unique opportunity to observe from within the functioning of the Narendra Modi administration for over two years, as head of the national public broadcaster. I resigned before my term, when I could take it no more."