The ambience of policymaking: Why it is crucial for driving change in India

The government's best tribute to Vajpayee would be to implement his idea of creating a mahaul for reforms

This is probably an apocryphal story, but it underlines a crucial principle of governance in a country such as India. The story pertains to the late 1990s, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister. A group of Indian business leaders pleaded with Vajpayee to allow foreign investment in the sector in which they operated. They made a strong case for a policy change and believed that they had convinced the prime minister.

But Vajpayee must have also recognised that his being convinced would not be enough because the idea of allowing foreign investment might not go down well with some