Bureaucratic reform is probably the most important step to take once this second wave is under control. A country of 1.4 billion cannot be run by one man with a handful of ministers. The bureaucrats must pull their weight. Introduce efficiency wages, incentives and punishments.

A guarantee of lifetime employment with no bonus structure for exceeding expectations and strict recourse/penalty for underperformance, incentivizes suboptimal behavior. Even the Arthashastra explicitly talks of the importance of efficiency wages for top bureaucrats.

Most are unaware of the scale of the nationwide mobilization we are witnessing today. It is easy to find a bogeyman, but it’s worth remembering that the state machinery is enormous and requires to be firing on all cylinders simultaneously.

The PM naturally relies on a vast support network to get the job done, which includes the states. That the MVA government displayed a criminally lackadaisical attitude towards the spiraling cases nearly a month ago stands testament to the risks inherent in our federal structure.

Important thread. https://twitter.com/knowthenation/status/1385609730408603649