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The news item was tucked away on page 17 of the Delhi edition of the Sunday Times of India on June 14. According to it, the distinguished chief guest at the golden jubilee celebrations of the National Institute of Urban Affairs underlined the urgency of building “antifragile systems,” and went on to invite the elite bureaucratic gathering to “introspect and analyse” why all ideas and insights known and often talked about are not implemented and delivered on ground.

A perfect question really, and one which assumes great significance given that the man raising it is none other than P.K. Mishra, principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Along with national security adviser Ajit Doval, Mishra has been Modi’s most constant and trusted Seva Teerth Delhi (as the PMO is now called) presence these past 12 years. Though he is no P.N. Haksar, Mishra is counted among the handful of strong and moral men who have lent substance and heft to the Modi regime.

It is precisely for this reason that the theme the principal secretary has touched upon deserves reiteration and resolution. It is something that stares us in the eye every day in every city. One has only to read the morning newspapers to get an idea of the extent to which administrative shabbiness has come to pockmark our national journey towards a ‘viksit’ Bharat.

Indeed, the sceptic may well ask: When juxtaposed with all the hullabaloo about surpassing Jawaharlal Nehru’s record as PM, does Mishra’s invitation to “introspect and analyse” not amount to a confession of a job only half-well done, if not of........

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