Delhi’s pollution and Goa’s tragedy point to a ‘soft state’: For Indian tourism to boom, fix this first

The Asian Drama, Gunnar Myrdal introduced the concept of the ‘soft state.’ He was really writing about South Asia, especially India, with barely any mention of the ‘miracle economies’ of East Asia.He characterized the Indian state as a ‘soft state,’ implying a government with limited capacity, unable to unwind a gridlock of competing interests that sucked up and dissipated scarce resources. This pre-empted the high growth necessary for reducing widespread poverty.India is now a fast-growing economy and poverty is much reduced, but regulatory failure to clean up the air in Delhi under successive governments suggests that the ‘soft state’ still prevails.Of late, the soft state has also been very visible in the awful tragedy in Arpora, Goa, where a fire at an unauthorized night club, Birch by Romeo Lane, killed 21 persons.

The blaze was set off by fireworks in a closed structure on a sandbank in a water body without adequate exits.An order to demolish the structure issued months earlier was ignored with impunity, as were a range of other required clearances. The night club was operating without permits on the basis of just an excise licence.As reported, even this licence was issued on a forged No Objection Certificate from a local health officer.

The club’s owners, the Luthra brothers, and their associates had reportedly sliced through compliance requirements like a knife through butter, using a combination of bribery and browbeating.They were backed, allegedly, by powerful politicians and bureaucrats.The Arpora case is unfortunately not the only instance of regulatory failure that impacts tourism in Goa. Several other unauthorized tourist establishments are being closed in the wake of that disaster.Unsafe facilities, poor