Now Reading: CSIS finds 94.5% state policies lack public documents
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CSIS finds 94.5% state policies lack public documents
A new tracker by the Washington DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has found that out of 438 policies announced by Indian states since 2023, 414 (94.5 per cent) still lack a primary-source document in the public domain. Only 24 policies had their documents published later. The tracker, which monitors policymaking at the state level, recorded these gaps across numerous states, highlighting a severe transparency deficit.
Ten states account for 58 per cent of the missing documents, with Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat showing a 100 per cent missing rate, not a single tracked policy had its primary document updated online. Andhra Pradesh followed with a 97 per cent missing rate, and Delhi and Odisha had 96 per cent each. The categories most affected are infrastructure and governance-related policies (113 missing) and industrial policy and business regulation (94 missing).
CSIS notes two problems: policies exist but are not published online, and about 30 per cent of the backlog consists of executive actions such as cabinet approvals that lack corresponding orders. The report recommends each state maintain a single authoritative policy repository, use public relations officers to ensure timely publication, and have NITI Aayog include transparency in its ease of doing business rankings.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The CSIS data exposes a structural weakness in India's federal governance: states, which now compete aggressively for investment through business summits and industrial policies, often fail to deliver the legal certainty that investors require. The 100 per cent missing rate in four major industrial states, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, is especially striking because these states rank high on ease-of-doing-business indices. The gap matters most for infrastructure and industrial regulation, where a single missing order can stall a project or increase compliance costs. NITI Aayog's next ease-of-doing-business ranking, expected later this year, will be a concrete test of whether transparency gets the weight CSIS recommends.
Source: theprint.in
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Methodology and corrections.
