Whose Job Is It?
| AUTHOR | Pranay Kotasthane |
| DATE | October 20, 2026 |
| CATEGORIES | Public Policy State Capacity |
Last week, I spoke to eighth graders at Neev Academy, one of Bengaluru’s best schools. These are some of the most well-read students around, thanks to the school’s focus on reading. As expected, they had some amazing questions.
Neev takes reading seriously: nine full-time staff run its reading programme. Read more in this profile of the school. Even their school buses have “Read More..” inscribed in big letters/
The session was a part of their unit “Government and Me”, and I made three points:
- It’s not too many people. It’s too little government. Bengaluru’s problems come from a city government that has little money, little power, and for six years, no elected councillors.
- Not every problem is the government’s job. Sarkaar, bazaar, and samaaj each have a role, and society is a partner, not a passive patient on which the market or State operate.
- “Someone should do something” never works. Small groups do. A WhatsApp group of 500 might only complain, but it’s a small group of five which can get things done.
I spoke to Neev students earlier this year too, on myths about the Indian state. That post and slides are here.
But one thing stood out for me. Even these extremely bright students think India is overpopulated, and are skeptical of urbanisation. The data says otherwise. The Netherlands and South Korea are more densely populated than India, and they work well. India’s fertility rate is already about two children per woman.
What this means is that we have not done a lot of work to convince the next generation that density is good.
I am making the slides open access.