The Indian state is an almost mythical animal. Inherited by Indians from the British Raj, the state is responsible for great injustice: Indians are generally more scared of the police than they are of goondas. Nearly every Indian also thinks the state is corrupt: bureaucrats and politicians are out to fleece them.

But paradoxically, Indians also look to the state for help and as a beacon to building a better society. Welfare and its contours are a feature of every election cycle. Moreover, backward castes have battled long and hard to control the levers of the state, using elections as well as reservations.

To explain these contradictions, we have on Adda, Yamini Aiyar. Till 2024, she headed the Centre for Policy Research, then one of India’s leading think tanks. Currently she is at Brown University in the United States as a senior visiting fellow.

Aiyar unpacks why allegations of corruption sometimes lead to undemocratic outcomes, how the centralisation of the Indian state hurts Indians and why we could do welfare much better.