Why do policies fail?

While all policies have good intentions, they don't always work out as expected. Since attending Takshashila Institution lectures, participating in group activities, and reading about the basis of public policy, I've realised that it's important to first understand the reasons for failure. From demonetisation in India to the 18th Amendment of the U.S. prohibiting alcohol, all of them have had drastic, unintended consequences, which makes it important to categorise these points of failure.

Vote Bank and Branding

All of us agree that the party forming the government is in this race to finish things before their term ends. This is exactly why you see a lot of inaugurations happening closer to the end of a political term. Farm loan waivers have been a quick-fix solution for many governments in the past to satisfy common man's needs and get them to vote for you the next time. Studies online, e.g., NABARD research study-22 on Farm Loan Waivers in India, show that farm loan waivers, unless planned well, can strain the state budget expanding revenue expenditure, forcing higher market borrowings or widening the fiscal deficit, resulting in increased inflation rates. A lot of resources are also spent on name-changing rather than game-changing, as The Wire puts it. The tussle between state and central governments and between the ruling party and the opposition also makes it increasingly difficult to come to a consensus - highlighting the need for stakeholder management.

Half Baked Truth

An allocation of ₹11,11,111 crore for capital expenditure in building and improving infrastructure, which is 3.4 percent of GDP, has been made in budget for 2024-25 (Ministry of Finance), but the news reports tell us that, in one instance, at least 10 bridges collapsed in Bihar in a span of 15 days. When surveys that have incorrect or no data on quality are used to make decisions, the image improves, but blunders happen.

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is another example. Initially hailed as an instrument that was bringing about significant improvements in health care, it was later found to be a disaster as per reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Much of the health centres were reported to be understaffed and non-functional.

Incorrect Understanding of the Audience

During the pre-UPI era, the rollout of demonetisation completely ignored the fact that much of India's population relied on cash transactions. As a result, we witnessed long queues at banks, businesses shutting down and daily wage workers failing to make ends meet. I personally feel that reservation in India, while it understood the audience at the time well, failed to be farsighted. It's already late to have modified the act to include income too as a necessary criteria. The government at times also forgets to account for the tech literacy of the citizens.

From what I have read about the CAA, it is set to expedite citizenship applications from folks belonging to certain religions who escaped to India from Muslim majority countries but clearly nothing for Muslim victims facing oppression or religious persecution in, let's say Taliban ruled Afghanistan and wanting to immigrate to India. With around 14% Muslim population in India, as per this answer from former Minister of Minority Affairs Smriti Irani, there's definitely going to be protests domestically and from Muslim majority countries that India may need support from.

Implementation

Since Modi government 1.0, the push for the Make in India initiative has been significant but, on the other hand, the World Bank reports ease of doing business going down in the country. Bureaucratic red tape has been identified as one of the issues here and there has been several attempts in attracting FDI and making the process simpler.

The MGNREGA, which was believed to have provided employment to rural households, now struggles with delayed wage payments and mismanagement, as mentioned in the report by Centre for Policy Research.

Most people, including former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, believe that demonetisation was "not a good idea" and the implementation was "not well-planned".