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Op-Ed JULY 23, 2021 | The Indian Eye 14

Vaccine battles, afghan crisis and religious places

Views and opinions from the top commentators in Indian media

hough several cracks have
emerged in this federated role of local bodies
Tmodel over time, concep-
tually it got it right – vaccine dis- ndia is urbanizing fast and
the governance of our cit-
tribution is about efficiency and Iies has fallen far behind in
responsive governance. its ability to cope with it. The
In India too, it is this prin- Covid-19 pandemic has taught
ciple of responsive governance
that federalism must capture. us an important lesson – decen-
Allocate power based on who tralization is key to successful
– Centre, state or local – is best prevention, detection and man-
equipped to efficiently perform agement of diseases in urban
areas. We need governance to
a particular governance task. be accessible to citizens in their
In a pandemic, this principle neighborhoods. Public health is
is nothing but common sense – one of the functions listed for
it is about getting the job done.
But even at other times, if fed- devolution to municipalities un-
eralism is to remain relevant der the twelfth schedule to the
Constitution (Article 243W of
and not constitutionally frozen, 74th Constitution Amendment
it needs to evolve beyond what The slow pace of vaccination in the country can cause big problems if a third Act, 1992, 74th CAA).
the framers of the Constitution wave of pandemic hits India (ANI)
thought.
Today, it cannot primarily be ghanistan will be seen in Beijing A repudiation of treaty pro- the 15th finance Commission,
about secession and self-gov- as a great ideological victory. visions — a position that India even before the second wave,
ernment, as it was at our found- Iran has been locked in a has adopted in other arbitral had called out the need for
ing. Instead, it is better recast confrontation with the US lon- disputes including the one in- decentralized primary health-
as a principle to maximize re- ger than either China or Russia, volving Vodafone — only be-
sponsive governance. Only then and has even more reason to smirches New Delhi’s record of care to be handled by local
will it serve the citizens and not see America pulled down by a fair and equitable treatment of bodies, with the engagement
simply be a political slogan that peg to two in its neighborhood. foreign investors who no longer of elected councilors, commu-
serves its leaders.” Pakistan Prime Minister Imran have the appetite to do business
arghya sengupta, Khan, who has long been a crit- in this country. Drawing on the nities and resident welfare as-
The Times of India ic of US policies in Afghanistan, legend from the Mahabharata, sociations. it has set aside rs
might be tempted to say, “I told the former chief economic ad- 26,000 crore for municipali-
the afghanistan you so”. For the Pakistan army viser, Arvind Subramanian, had
question that has invested so much in the devoted an entire chapter in the ties over the period 2022-2026.

Taliban, it is a moment of geo- Economic Survey of 2015-16 to
nsurprisingly, there is a political vindication in Afghan- what he termed the “Chakra- While municipalities across
bit of schadenfreude in India are closely involved one
UMoscow and Beijing to- istan.” vyuha Challenge” of the Indian way or another in the fight
day at the failure of the Amer- C raja Mohan, economy. against Covid-19, they are most-
Mr Subramanian argued
ican mission in Afghanistan. The Indian Express that a market economy requires ly taking instructions from state
Russia has not forgotten that Cairn’s tricky exit unrestricted entry of new firms governments, either directly or
the US had backed a jihadi in- but must also permit easy exit. through district collectors. At
surgency against the Soviet oc- oreign investors waiting He had lamented that post lib- the heart of the challenge is the
cupation of Afghanistan in the to come to India will be reluctance of state governments
1980s, which ended in Moscow’s Flooking at these develop- eralization; India has moved to implement the 74th CAA in
humiliating military retreat. ments with interest. The Indian from socialism with restricted letter and spirit.”
The US withdrawal from Af- government’s dogged refusal to entry to a form of “marketism” Nivedita ep &
without exit that would have
ghanistan today also reinforces respect international arbitral seriously adverse consequenc- srikanth Viswanathan,
the strongly held conviction in awards will only serve to dim the es. The Cairn Energy case is a The Print
Beijing that the US is in termi- country’s prospects of attracting litmus test to determine how far
nal decline. Coming at a time foreign direct investment. Cairn Every week, we look at what
when China is offering an alter- has based its claim to damages down the road of liberalization the top commentators in the
native to the Western model of on the terms of the UK-India India has really traversed.” Indian media are talking about
domestic and international gov- bilateral investment treaty, a editorial, and bring to you a slice of their
opinions and comments.
ernance, the US defeat in Af- stand that India contests. Telegraph India

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