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From Paper Leaks to Public Infrastructure: Why India Needs a National Public Examination Infrastructure

Introduction: The Wrong Debate Every major public examination controversy in India follows a familiar pattern. Allegations of paper leaks, malpractice, or procedural lapses are followed by public outrage, official resignation, judicial scrutiny, inquiries, and calls for tougher penalties. Governments respond by tightening security protocols, strengthening encryption, increasing surveillance, restricting access to question papers, introducing stricter operational procedures, and sometimes arrests. While each of these measures may reduce vulnerabilities, they all begin from the same assumption — that the existing examination system is fundamentally sound and merely requires stronger safeguards. This assumption deserves reconsideration. India today conducts dozens of high-stakes admission and recruitment examinations every year for millions of candidates. These examinations determine entry into medical, engineering, business, law, and other specialist colleges/universities, public employm...
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Government Housing, Reimagined: From Employee Welfare to State Capacity

Introduction: A Paradox Hidden in Plain Sight There are certain public policy questions that emerge not from official reports or expert committees but from ordinary walks through our own cities and towns. One such question has stayed with me for a long time. In many Indian cities and towns, government residential colonies occupy large tracts of prime urban land. Some remain vibrant and fully occupied. Others are only partially occupied. A few contain entire buildings of vacant flats that receive little to no attention. Yet just beyond their boundaries lie densely packed neighbourhoods where families compete for limited housing, rental costs continue to rise, and every available plot of land is utilised to its maximum. The contrast is difficult to ignore. This is not an isolated phenomenon. Across India, central and state government departments, organisations, corporations, and universities collectively own enormous residential estates built over several decades. These colonies were est...
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