Role of Regulatory Agencies in India’s Governance
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556118785426 |
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
| Author | Prabhat Kumar Datta,Susanta Majumdar |
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
64(3) 427–441
© 2018 IIPA
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0019556118785426
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ipa
Role of Regulatory Agencies
in India’s Governance
Prabhat Kumar Datta1,2,3
Susanta Majumdar4,5
Abstract
Independent regulatory agencies( IRAs) in a democratic system of government are
designed to ensure and promote their independence and autonomous functioning.
It is rooted in the concept of regulatory state. Developing countries like India
stepped into this direction in the 1990s. In this article, an attempt has been made
to analyse the working of IRAs with special reference to the electricity sector.
The article demonstrates how the rollout of the agencies brought into light the
difficulties of achieving functional independence and operational effectiveness.
The discretionary authority is limited from within and without although the
institutional space for regulatory policy is slowly but certainly becoming more
open. The study seeks to identify some of the weaknesses of this new institutional
arrangement that have become evident over the last few years.
Keywords
Regulatory state, regulatory agencies and institutions, democratic accountability,
market efficiency, social concerns
Introduction
During the last two-and-a-half decades, modern nation state has undergone unprec-
edented metamorphosis in respect of its structures and processes of governance.
A new version of the state called regulator state has added a new perspective
1 Former Centenary Chair of Public Administration, Department of Political Science, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
2 Adjunct Professor, China Rural Studies Centre, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
3 Adjunct Professor, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
4 Former Secretary to the Government of West Bengal, West Bengal, India.
5 Former Course Director, Civil Services Study Centre, Administrative Training Institute, Government
of West Bengal, West Bengal, India.
Corresponding author:
Prabhat Kumar Datta, Plot No IA 245, Sector III, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700097, India.
E-mail: dattaprabhat@gmail.com
To continue reading
Request your trial