Artha Global hosted an internal brown bag with Subhashish Bhadra, author of the book “Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government is Holding Indians Back” on Friday, April 21, from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM IST. This was an in-person, on-the-record event hosted at the Artha Global office in Khar West, Mumbai.
About the event:
Subhashish discussed his book, which focuses on the origins and nature of modern Indian institutions and the need for good institutional design. He used case studies to highlight the role of institutions in India. He suggested principles of a good institutional design to be tightness of law, transparency in adherence to law & independent oversight. Addressing insufficiencies in current institutional design, he proposed guardrails of public opinion, capital mobility, mass mobilization, and litigation, which can be used to bring about a balance between the state and society. During the stimulating conversation, the team learned about the problems associated with India’s institutional design and discussed how good institutional design can overcome the same.
About the speaker:
Subhashish Bhadra is an economist by training. He received an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford on the Rhodes Scholarship and a BA in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi.His career has straddled both the policy and corporate worlds. Bhadra spent over half a decade working in public policy, especially on issues of technology policy, regulatory governance and digital rights. As part of his job, he funded many of India’s leading think-tanks and helped shape the policy discourse in these areas. Bhadra has worked at a leading global management consulting firm, a venture capital firm and a tech start-up, working closely with CEOs, entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, academics and others throughout his career. He has also published several articles in leading dailies like The Times of India, Hindustan Times and Indian Express.