The Politics of Policy Implementation in India

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The majority of policy studies assume that, once a policy has been formulated, it will be implemented. This is not unreasonable, after all. The scholars who analyze policies and build models of the policy processes do base their work on the assumption that the policy will be implemented, exactly as it is. Furthermore, this assumption extends to another: that the desired results of the policy will be close, at least, to those expected by the policy makers. It should be noted that this assumption is shared by many common citizens. As Thomas R. Dye said in 1972, “We assume that when Congress adopts a policy and appropriates money for it, and when the executive branch organizes a program, hires people, spends money, and carries out activities designed to implement the policy, the effects of the policy will be felt by society and the effects will be those intended by the policy.”
This assumption, like many others, serves to simplify our models. However, it was been observed over the years that it is invalid for many kinds of policies, most notably those formulated in many Third World nations. Third world governments often formulate broad, sweeping policies, while the bureaucracy, charged with their implementation, lack the capacity to do so effectively. Meanwhile, the opposition as well as affected individuals and groups attempt to influence not the formulation of the vaguely-worded policy, but its implementation. While India, a relatively newly industrialized country, can no longer safely be referred to as a Third World country (at least not without encountering vehement opposition), the presence of “broad sweeping policies” has been strongly felt in our Five Year Plans, at least in the past.
The point is this: models disregard one as...

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...uardian and custodian of the country’s natural resources, went on to say that there is clearly scope for malpractice in the implementation of policy.
The implication seems to be that political corruption is inevitable in policy implementation. The official stand on the subject seems to be that every interested party will make every effort to prevent such interference, buy these efforts are doomed to failure. Either that or that every party, despite attempts to restrain themselves, simply cannot resist a slice of policy pie. After all, if every interested party, political or otherwise, is so diligent, who is responsible for corruption? What happens in our country, between the best laid plans and their descent into disarray? The path to Hell is paved with good intentions, after all. Surely every step along the way was taken with the same. We shall never know.

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