Avoid activities that don’t serve public purpose: Niti Aayog to govt -Governance Now

Avoid activities that don’t serve public purpose: Niti Aayog to govt

There has been a neglect of some activities that only the government can undertake and are of great public value, said three year action agenda

GN Bureau | August 30, 2017

#NIti Aayog #Ashwani Lohani #Air India

GN Photo

Niti Aayog has suggested that the government should avoid activities that don’t serve any public purpose.

“India’s choice to build a socialist pattern of production during several post-independence decades has resulted in the government entering many activities that do not serve any public purpose and are best performed by the private sector,” said the Three Year Action Agenda, a NITI Aayog document.

“At the same time, there has been a neglect of some activities that only the government can undertake and are of great public value. Manufacture of products such as parachutes and three wheelers falls in the first category while the provision of public health in the second,” said the document.

The turbulence being faced by Air India is an example that is often cited to highlight the government’s participation in an activity that is not necessary.

Things have only been downhill for the national carrier. It is inefficient and nowhere close to putting up a fight to the private airlines. The gross mismanagement has only added to its misery.

Ashwani Lohani, a turnaround specialist, was brought in improve the airline, but he too was moved as the chairman of the railway board.

Read: The Air India Maharajah is hurt and bleeding

Jamie Whyte, research director of London based Institute of Economic Affairs, has made an interesting observation.

“The state does not exist to provide what people cannot provide. The idea is ridiculous, since anything the state provides will in fact be provided by people. No, the state exists to make people provide what they will not provide voluntarily,” he wrote.

“That may sometimes be OK. Perhaps people should be forced to contribute to the cost of national defense, for example. If we weren’t forced to, each of us might try to free-ride on the voluntary contributions of others and, in the end, less would be spent on national defense than even we free-riders would want,” Whyte added.

Comments

Other News

“Game” of cricket: Governance lessons from India’s favourite sport

India’s cricket journey is more than a record of sporting triumphs; it is a live case study in strategy, incentives, and equilibrium: the very foundations of Game Theory. As India prepares for its eight-match white-ball series against Australia, the world’s most-watched rivalry will again unfol

In this year of extreme rainfall, climate change has amplified deluge

Southwest Monsoon 2025 recently concluded with ‘above-normal’ rainfall to the tune of 108% of the long-period average (LPA). This is second consecutive year in the last decade to record above normal rains. Climate change has a critical role in driving the rainfall on the higher side, according

This Diwali, as we clean our homes, let`s clean our digital lives too

Every year, as Diwali approaches, I begin my annual ritual of cleaning – opening drawers, cupboards, and those mysterious “boxes of everything” we all seem to have. It starts as an act of tidying up, but it always turns into a little journey of rediscovery. Among the old receipts and forg

Sea leave rise: Multi-level adaptive governance needed to meet the challenge

By the end of this century, global sea levels may rise by more than 1 metre, and the mean sea level rise is expected to increase by 180 mm. Climate change is one of the gravest issues before us and one of the most pressing issues linked to the climate change is the sea level rise. The coastal communities a

Rethinking the funder-practitioner relationship in capacity development

The Human Capacity Development landscape in the social development context has evolved significantly over the years. From the more simplistic term “training,” it has now developed into a much more nuanced concept, “Competency-Based Capacity Building” (CBCB). Yet, one question persis

The economics of smart cities

Imagine a city where trash isn’t trash, energy isn’t wasted, and economic prosperity isn’t achieved at the cost of human wellbeing. A city where every rupee invested in infrastructure yields returns not just in roads and buildings, but in health, jobs, equality, and dignity. Smart city pr