Welcome to The Political Fix by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, a newsletter on Indian politics and policy. To get it in your inbox every week,...
Welcome to The Political Fix by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, a newsletter on Indian politics and policy. To get it in your inbox every week, sign up here.
We skipped the Friday Links edition last week, but it will be back with a new Q&A this week before the newsletter goes on a small break.
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The Big Story: Under-compensation
Unlike in the years when the Congress was in power, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s massive majority in Parliament since 2014 and its complete centralisation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has meant that you rarely get news stories about disagreements between ministries or top officials.
Which is why this report, from last week, is worth paying attention to:
“Taking a grim view of the GST compensation issue snowballing into a major controversy with even BJP-ruled states expressing concerns over non-payment by the Centre, the Prime Minister’s Office has sought explanation from the finance ministry, sources said.”
Stories about the Prime Minister’s Office “seeking explanation” from ministries are usually a clear indication of backtracking without admitting to it – or a pretence of accountability.
The context here is the extremely complex problem of the Goods...
