The power of 3: One disaster

PM, CM, DM are the three engines of India's governance. Their handling of the pandemic is going awry and exposed the downside of the three-storey dictatorship

A prominent and eminent civil servant has a brilliant take on governance in India. It runs on three engines, he says: PM, CM, and DM. The prime minister, chief minister, and district magistrate. Much as I would’ve liked to give the person the credit for this fine description, I’d rather err on the side of discretion. Why expose him to blame for the argument that will unfold hereon.

This wasn’t a description discovered for the times of the coronavirus emergency, but to underline a settled phenomenon. The special powers that governments have acquired during this pandemic with the invocation of