BLOG | ashwinmahesh

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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