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The Republic Day provides us with a proper occasion to talk about the subject of reforms in India. Reforms as a term may be greeted by suspicious glances by certain sections of the Indian society and that sums up the prevailing sense of dissatisfaction within the Indian society. This dissatisfaction is not due to any opposition to reforms—it’s rather due to the underwhelming nature of prior steps that were taken in the name of reforms. One of the most prominent being the anti-corruption movement that we saw at the start of the decade that ultimately led to a watered-down bill. Another example would be the failure of countless governments to reduce crimes against women and the LGBTQ community. Now as India completes its 70th year as a republic, we should start a discussion on how reforms are perceived and how this can be helpful in changing the approach towards the whole discourse of reforms.
One of the most important things that we need to highlight is that reform is a multi-dimensional process. Any understanding of it from a singular point of view only creates further marginalisation. Throughout Indian history, we can find examples of various policy decisions being implemented by various governments as a result of public protest and demonstration. These policy decisions were thought to be reflective of the will and demands of societies at that particular point in time. Case in point in the post-1991 era: Large scale development and output through the private sector was seen as the only solution to the falling state-owned system of economic development. Hence, the reforms of 1991 were seen as necessary and accepted reforms. While these reforms today are seen as a new dawn in the history of Indian economics, the government that implemented it lost power in the next elections.
Another example can be the various cases of land dispute between state government-backed firms and local residents, which have led to huge consequences and have made questions in regard to development and reforms more complex. Then this question has to be asked: Why reforms which seemingly had popular support failed to take off in India?
Let us not be caught up in the practices that this intends to highlight, and not claim to be victims, or be blamed as perpetrators of the perceived failure. Here, blaming the government or citizens is nothing but a futile exercise. Rather, it is a problem that has been at the base of Indian political imagination. While all the citizens of India are equal, we tend to forget the diverse cultures that are part of this country. These diverse cultures are not only restricted to the drawing rooms of the Indian middle class, rather these diverse cultures have found their voices on the streets of India. Hence, cultural practices play an important role in determining how different sections of the population view policy reforms. In simple terms, any policy reform has to take into account the varied nature of India, and take decisions accordingly. It is high time that we understand that terms like ‘reforms’ are multidimensional and are affected by various factors. Therefore, policymaking has to be contextualised to suit various parts of the country.