The permanent bureaucracy is a hangman's noose around the country's neck. They have a billion ways of derailing projects with political and public support if they don't like it. So many people have talked about their conversations with these gatekeepers where they openly threaten that the politician will be gone in the next election but they will remain. So you don't have a choice but to deal with them.

The current BJP government in the centre is probably the most powerful one in the history of modern India as far as political power is concerned. But look at the statements the Finance Minister makes: [1]

> "The question should be how much it takes for me to convince the ministry and the boards. It is not so much about the PM. The PM was very clear that he wanted to do something. It was for the ministry to reach a comfort level and then proceed with the proposal,"

They are trying to "convince" the bureaucracy instead of ordering them to get on with the program. No wonder these projects do not succeed.

This scourge of bureaucracy extends to wherever the government has a vice-like grip on a particular sector (like banking). Here is a case of a non-profit that digitizes manuscripts (eGangotri) struggling to access the grant it has received from the government: [2]

> As most patrons know Ministry of Education had most kindly chosen us for a IKS grant but with a very limiting condition and in my opinion over-bureaucracy to only allow ICICI Bank as the Chosen Partner and this has turned a nightmare for us.

India succeeds in services because most of the ten thousand-odd permissions you require to set up a manufacturing unit do not apply. You try to start a physical plant and see how many people you have to pay off before you can succeed.

The legal system is so slow that the government's own projects can be blocked by filing nuisance cases in random courts and tribunals. Private businesses have no hope in hell.

Without police reform, judicial reform and bureaucratic reform, we will keep chugging along. Always underachieving.

[1] "PM quickly got behind tax cut, bureaucrats took convincing: Finance Minister" https://www.indiatoday.in/budget/story/union-budget-nirmala-...

[2] Frivolous and Presumptuous Banking Services of ICICI Sec-50 https://egangotri.org/2024/12/04/frivolous-and-presumptuous-...