Shankkar Aiyar’s book 'The Gated Republic' describes itself as an inquiry into the history and politics of public policy and the anatomy of failure. It is an acute commentary with evidence of how and why millions of Indians are “desperately seceding, as soon as their incomes allow, from dependence on government for most basic of services”.
The Gated Republic is your third book. How would you characterise each book?
Each book is an answer to a question. Accidental India was about why things don’t happen—it proved transformative change comes only when there is a crisis. The second book looked at how things happen when they happen—it chronicled the creation of the world’s largest identity platform amidst the systemic landscape across two regimes with opposing ideologies. The Gated Republic looks at persistence of apathy despite the silent crises in delivery of the most basic obligations. All three books urge awareness and activism. Democracy is not a spectator sport.
Why did you choose to write The Gated Republic now?
India is at an inflection point, the cusp of ability and aspiration. No country has shifted orbits without investing in health, education, water, power and security. It is delusional to think flyover economics or gated solutions are the answer to public policy failures and can take the country over the jam.
Unlike your previous books, this is more sombre, even pessimistic. Does Aiyar, the political economy analyst, see no hope ahead?
I do not think it is pessimistic. It is a realistic assessment—a call to people across quintiles of income and privilege to wake up and realise that a corroding, corrugated foundation can sustain neither the economy nor society.
Your book brings out the failure of government to deliver in gutwrenching detail and yet you say government must provide these services.
It is the moral obligation of the government to provide these five basic services. The modern world affords governments to choose any and every model of delivery—public, private or PPP. The proviso being that the government will pay for, hold oversight and be accountable.
What is the biggest lesson of the pandemic and what is the one positive India can leverage in the post-COVID world?
Lesson number one is state capacity matters. Countries with better public systems have done better. The accelerated adoption of telemedicine, Zoom classes and work-from-home shows technology can help India bridge many of its deficits. The share of women in the workforce has been at a historic low. Participation of women can be addressed with hybrid work-from-home models.
You split your time between India and North America. Do you see democracies such as India, Canada and the US working together?
Protectionism of the ‘on our own’ kind is seductive now, but economics matters. If India plays its cards well it could emerge as the host for collaborative innovation and production.