The Chakravyuh Challenge: India’s Fiscal Escape Room

 

The Chakravyuh Challenge: India’s Fiscal Escape Room

In public expenditure, the Chakravyuh Challenge is that magical policy trap where the government can easily enter a scheme, subsidy, or public sector enterprise, but somehow—centuries after the Mahabharata—we still haven’t figured out the ‘exit’ part. Once money goes in, it settles down, gets comfortable, and refuses to leave—much like an unwanted relative after a festival.

Despite reforms making it easier to start new schemes, public firms, and ‘transformational programs,’ shutting down a loss-making PSU or outdated subsidy still requires the combined patience of a monk and the political courage of a superhero—neither of which appears frequently in budget speeches.

So why does the maze survive?

·       Schemes that outlive their purpose, kept alive because they're politically fashionable.

·       Public enterprises that lose money enthusiastically, yet the budget still treats them like precious antiques.

·       Accountability so dispersed across departments that even Sherlock Holmes would give up.

Escaping this fiscal Chakravyuh requires radical tools: outcome-based budgeting (aka ‘prove you work or goodbye’), sunset clauses (expiry dates for schemes—yes, like groceries), and independent evaluation (where someone finally asks, ‘Does this even make sense?’).

Until then, India’s fiscal policy will continue to excel at one thing: entering projects faster than it can exit them—making the Budget a document of beginnings rather than closures, and ensuring public funds take longer trips than the Kumbh Mela pilgrims.

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