Centre for Research on Governance and DevelopmentThe Public Policy BridgeIndependent Research. Informed Dialogue. Transformative Policy.
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Research vertical 01
How governments raise and spend public money, how they are held to account for it, and how the machinery of administration can serve citizens better.
Every policy promise eventually becomes a line in a budget. This vertical follows the money: where it comes from, where it goes, and whether anyone can tell what it achieved.
Kerala built strong public services on the back of steady public spending, but a large share of today’s revenue is committed before the year begins, to salaries, pensions and interest. Choices about capital investment, welfare and debt now carry consequences for decades. Citizens and legislators deserve clear, independent analysis of those choices, not slogans from either side.
Accountability is the other half of the story. Audit reports, legislative committees, the right to information and social audits all exist on paper. The question this vertical asks is how well they work in practice, and what would make them work better.
The vertical works closely with the Federalism, Economy and Institutions and Social Justice verticals.
What does the state actually get for each rupee it spends on salaries, pensions, subsidies and capital works?
How can off budget borrowing be made transparent without stopping investment the state needs?
Which reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General lead to action, and why do others not?
How much real fiscal freedom do panchayats and municipalities have, and how well do they use it?
A forthcoming edited volume bringing together essays by CRGD researchers and invited contributors on the central questions of governing Kerala in the coming decades.
Scholar One
Borrowing by state owned bodies has become a large and contested part of public finance. A simple annual disclosure statement would let legislators and citizens see the full picture without stopping investment.
Scholar One
A practitioner reflects on what Kerala's experiment in local democracy achieved, what it did not, and what the next generation of reform should look like.
Adviser One
Every argument about the state's finances turns into an argument about who is to blame. The public deserves a debate about choices instead.
Adviser Two
Kerala transferred real money and power to local governments in the 1990s. This report examines how local finances have evolved since, and what would strengthen them for the next thirty years.
Scholar One, Intern One
Every five years, a commission decides how a large share of India's tax revenue is divided between the Union and the states, and among the states. Here is how it works.
Scholar One
WorkshopIn person
RoundtableHybrid
Public lectureIn person
Advocacy
An effort to persuade the state to publish a single annual statement of all its extended liabilities, including borrowing by state owned bodies and guarantees.
Accomplished
A series of workshops in Malayalam that helped elected ward members read and question their local government's budget.
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