“This book greatly enhances our understanding of the evolution and practice of policy analysis in India, adding an important tool to the field of comparative public policy analysis.”
— Helen Sullivan, Australian National University

“India is the world’s largest democratic decision-making system. This book skillfully traces its intricate history, key actors, institutions, and pressing contemporary issues, significantly deepening our understanding of India; it also provides a valuable frame of reference for comprehending the policy systems of other countries in Asia and the West.”
— Leslie A. Pal, Carleton University and Hamad Bin Khalifa University

★ Co-edited by Azad Singh Bali (with research backgrounds at the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne, and Murdoch University; an expert in comparative public policy and empirical studies of South Asia) and Satyajit Singh (University of California, Santa Barbara; founder of the Indian Public Policy Network; former World Bank and United Nations consultant), this volume brings together scholars and seasoned practitioners to provide an authoritative analysis of the policy‑analysis mechanisms of the world’s largest democracy.
★ It systematically traces the evolution of policy analysis in India since independence, covering diverse domains such as education, policing, the judiciary, fiscal federalism, open data, international organizations, and public–private partnerships. The work illuminates both the progress and the persistent shortcomings of policy analysis across all levels of Indian government, offering both historical depth and a comprehensive institutional overview.
★ Drawing on real‑world cases—including the 2011 Economic and Caste Census, the Economic Survey, the Report on the Administration of Justice in India, and the development of the statistical system—the book showcases the practical realities and methodological tools of policy analysis at the central, state, and departmental levels.
★ Confronting challenges such as data gaps, accountability deficits, and governance bottlenecks, while balancing local practice with a comparative perspective, this volume equips graduate students, policy analysts, researchers, and government and civil-society professionals with operational frameworks and benchmarks for engaging in the policy process and fostering rational, accountable governance.

What drives the policy choices of the world’s largest democracy? How do policy analysts influence decisions that affect more than a billion people? This book brings together leading scholars and seasoned practitioners to trace the evolution of policy analysis in India since its independence, illustrating how policy analysis is conducted across government ministries, sectors, and different levels of administration.
Drawing on a wealth of empirical cases spanning education, policing, international organizations, fiscal federalism, the judicial system, open data, and more, the book clarifies the actors, methodologies, and institutional contexts underlying India’s policy analysis, highlighting both the progress achieved and the persistent shortcomings that affect the quality of public decision-making.
This book is intended for graduate students, young policy analysts, researchers, and professionals from government, civil society, and other sectors, helping them engage more effectively in India’s policy process and contribute to the development of a more rational and accountable governance model.

Azad Singh Bali (Editor)
Azad Singh Bali is currently a joint faculty member at the School of Politics and International Relations and the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. Prior to joining the Australian National University, he served as a research fellow at the University of Melbourne and Murdoch University.
His research interests lie at the intersection of comparative public policy and social policy, with a focus on empirical studies in South and Southeast Asia. He is currently conducting a research project aimed at examining the policy-making process in India.
Some of his research has been published in journals such as Policy & Society, Public Policy & Administration, Social Policy & Administration, and the Australian Journal of Public Administration. He co-authored the book Asian Health Policy Governance (Cambridge University Press) with M. Ramesh. Azad is also a member of the editorial team for the journal Policy Design and Practice.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Madras in India, as well as a Master of Science and a PhD from the National University of Singapore.

Satyajit Singh (Editor)
Satyajit Singh is a professor in the Department of Political Science and Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He previously served as a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi in India. He has also held positions as the founding dean and professor at the Institute of Development Studies and the School of Human Ecology at Ambedkar University Delhi; as the Indian Chair Professor at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan; as a visiting scholar at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex; as a Leverhulme Fellow in Environment and Development at the University of Sussex; and as an Asian Research Fellow at the Philippine Development Research Institute in Manila.
He has also worked at the World Bank and served as a consultant for UNDP, UNICEF, and the European Commission, having carried out assignments in multiple countries across the Asia-Pacific region. He is one of the founders and the current convenor of the Indian Network for Public Policy. His research interests include public policy and institutional reform, South Asian politics, and environmental and water politics.
His publications include Local Governance: Politics, Decentralization, and the Environment (Oxford University Press, 2016); Taming the Waters: The Political Economy of Large Dams in India (Oxford University Press, 1997); co-edited Damming Nations: Displacement and Resettlement in the Narmada Valley (Oxford University Press, 1997); co-edited Decentralization: Institutions and Politics in Rural India (Oxford University Press, 2007); co-edited Local Environmental Politics: Natural Resource Governance in India (Eastern Black Swan, 2024); edited Politics as Fiction, Fiction as Politics: Rag Darbari (Eastern Black Swan, 2026); and co-edited Analyzing Public Policy in India (University of Bristol Press). He has also published articles in journals such as Asian Survey and Policy & Society.

1. Policy Analysis in India: An Introductory Overview — Azad Singh Bali, Satyajit Singh
2. India’s Policy Commitments and the Pluralistic Knowledge Paradigms of Policy Analysis — Satyajit Singh
3. Building a High-Performance Statistical System in India — Bibek Debroy, Aditya Sinha
4. Open Government Data in India: Progress, Gaps, and Prospects in the Field of Policy Analysis — Namrata Chindalkar
5. The Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC‑2011) and Its Role in Indian Policy Analysis — Amarjit Sinha
6. Policy Analysis and Fiscal Federalism in India — Deepak Sanan
7. Policy Analysis at the Subnational Level: Local Practices for Sustainable Development in Chhattisgarh — Nitya Khemka, Suraj Kumar
8. The Indian Judiciary and Policy Analysis — Manish
9. The Role of Policy Analysis in Shaping and Managing Public–Private Partnerships in India: Core Competencies for Business Sustainability—Ethical Literacy — Kumar V. Pratap
10. Policy Analysis Within the Indian Parliament — Ajay K. Mehra
11. Economic Policy Analysis in the Government of India: A Case Study of the Economic Survey — Stuti Rawat
12. Empowering Teachers to Enhance Quality and Efficiency: Policy Analysis and Education Reform in New Delhi — Yan Yifei
13. International Organizations and the Formation of Public Policy — Shailaja Fennell
14. Strengthening Stakeholders: The Imperative of Accountability Governance in India — T.R. Raghunandan, Sidharth Santosh
15. The State of Policing in India and the Indian Justice Report: A Policy Analysis Tool for the Indian Police System — Radhika Jha, Vipul Mudgal
16. Policy Analysis Within Indian Political Parties — Somiya Varma, Sneha Kohli, Asmi Sharma, M. Aman Asim, M.V. Rajiv Gowda
17. Building Policy Analysis Capacity in India: The Role of Public Policy Schools — Dayashankar Maurya, Ishani Mukherjee
18. Conclusion: Postscript