Great comment, thank you for sharing it. I’ve seen some of it in Garhwal where villages didn’t get proper attention by the Govt. We keep forgetting that states in India are akin to states in Europe.
A modern version of Gram Swaraj combined with Switzerland type canton system might work well but there are no incentives for the administration for that.
I'm not sure a canton type system is necessary if the Gram Swaraj system sees further investment and is coupled with delimitation for legislative assemblies, it would solve most of the pressing problems.
A lopsided population to MLA ratio makes it easier for MLAs to be disconnected from local government, and incentivizes governance through internal party machinery (beg the CM or the local party leadership to get your MLA or DM to do something) instead of via the local administration, which further deprofessionalizes local government.
> We keep forgetting that states in India are akin to states in Europe.
Pretty much. Even within states the diversity is insane (eg. MP, KA, or UP would be better served split into 3-4 states).
A modern version of Gram Swaraj combined with Switzerland type canton system might work well but there are no incentives for the administration for that.