In this article for the Firstpost, Shankkar Aiyar discusses solutions and on the need to invest in governance in the context of the crisis facing the Indian economy. 

Excerpts follow: 

"The stench of slowdown wafting down markets is such that the economy is gripped by angst and anxiety. Quarterly data on sales, across segments, are sliding in unison – from passenger cars to packaging material. And when innerwear sales slide you know the sheen of the economy has worn off. The persistence of bad loans on the books of banks and the near-collapse of the shadow banks is a loud May Day call.

The question is what can be done. In my book, Accidental India, I chronicled and proved that transformative change arrives in the wake of crises. Let us not waste this crisis. The first step to revival is to get real, invest in governance and dismantle the hurdles haunting the economy. This will enable employment, generate income and growth will follow."

Some solutions are:

"...Given the resource crunch, even if one accepts the government’s understated data on the deficit, it would be a good idea to set up the Expenditure Accountability Commission and task it to review the structure of spending and the architecture of governance. Its first task should be to shrink the size of government—dismantle useless ministries such as steel, chemicals, coal and even telecom. This calls for restructuring the 7th Schedule of the Constitution by handing back core subjects back to states—and provide for a performance-based incentive for higher allocations from the finance commission"

Read the full article here.