Means to Other Ends

INFRASTRUCTURE facilities are by definition means to an end. If inadequate, they prove to be bottlenecks to growth. If well developed, they facilitate, at best partially stimulate, economic development. Few would deny that in India the current level of development of such facilities is proving to be a bottleneck in the growth process and improvement of the quality of life of the poor. Nor is there much difference on the proximate determinant of failure in this area, viz, the inability of the state to mobilise and allocate adequate resources to an area which has dominantly been a 'public' preserve. This limited 'consensus' is reflected in the India Infrastructure Report produced by the officially constituted Expert Group on the Commercialisation of Infrastructure Projects and released in a format consciously or otherwise designed to solicit attention. But it is used to build a case which has implications going beyond the infrastructure sector.