AKHILESH YADAV is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP), India's largest state. He recently sat down with The Economist for an interview at his official residence in Lucknow. Here is an edited transcript.

Q. You’re India’s youngest chief minister. You’re known for computerising government services. Do you see yourself as a moderniser in a traditional society?

A. No, I think I’m a traditionalist but one with experience of the West and a knowledge of English. To compare Uttar Pradesh with Gujarat or Bihar [two other states with modernising chief ministers] isn’t right. UP’s a different challenge and we have to provide competition to those two states. When I arrived, the situation in government wasn’t good. I have to inspire the government and implement our policies. We’ve started to do that; we’re focused on infrastructure—on roads, power and irrigation—and on the quality of education, especially for girls. We’re trying to improve the physical infrastructure and human infrastructure.

Q. You said you could boost UP’s growth rate to 10% a year. That’s very ambitious. What do you need to do to achieve that?

A. Yes, I did say that. Growth is 6.2% now; what I told the planning commission meeting was that we could increase it to 7% next year; then 8%-9% in 2014/14; then 9%-10% in 2015/16, so in 2016/17 it will go to 10%. We think that’s possible. The internal demand generated by the state is high. When we took over, the state was knee-deep in corruption and billions of the state budget was being wasted on memorials [a reference to his predecessors’ fondness of building large public monuments]. Even then we achieved 6.2%. Imagine what will happen if we invest in infrastructure and education.

Q. Your father [Mulayam Singh Yadav, the head of the ruling Samajwadi party] said he was disappointed by the performance of the government. Are you disappointed?

A. I don’t think most people are disappointed. The government is on the right track. In five or six months, we’ve started to turn things around. It’ll take time of course. We inherited a legacy of bad power, bad transmission system, bad everything. You can’t do everything in just a few months. But we had a good session in the state assembly. We got our budget passed and now we’re starting to implement it. We’ll be distributing new unemployment benefits very soon. Then we’ll give 300,000 rupees [$5,440] to girls who pass class 12. People are waiting to see the policies implemented before they pass judgment on us.

Q. Can you explain what the role of your father is in the government?

A. He is the leader of my party, a very experienced politician [he has been chief minister of UP three times] and he has the right to give me advice. It’s a mentoring role. But I don’t call him up every time I have to make a decision and ask him what do to. I’d never have the time to do anything if I did that.

Q. Are you concerned that communal relations [ie, between Hindus and Muslims] are getting worse and that communal violence may be coming back?

A. I’m very sad and concerned about it. There are forces behind the recent upsurge in violence. You know who they are. But I don’t think the public itself is really behind the violence. I’ve given instructions to the police to be strict in maintaining law and order and we will back you up. I’m confident that we are getting a grip on the situation.

Q. Is it OK to steal a little so long as you don’t loot? [Akhilesh’s uncle, the senior minister in charge of the state’s public-works department, made headlines by offering exactly that advice to bureaucrats.]

A. These things happen everywhere and the media took advantage. It was a slip of the tongue. We absolutely cannot allow this sort of thing in our state. Corruption hampers the government, it harms the economy and it prevents social benefits getting through to the people. So we have to fight to stamp it out.

Q. You’ve been accused of chopping and changing over policies, announcing a policy one day and changing it the next. Is that a fair criticism?

A. Maybe to some extent. But there’s nothing wrong in that. You have to listen to people who are affected by your decisions. In a democracy, you need feedback. Anyway, most of the changes people talk about haven’t been policy announcements. They’ve just been proposals. If people don’t like them, then we should have the courage to take them back: that’s what democracy is. I also think it’s a sign of character not to insist blindly on wrong decisions.

Q. Are you facing resistance to the changes you want to implement from the bureaucracy and from some government ministries?

A. Any change which is gradual will be OK, so long as it is gradual. I’m implementing our manifesto, people can’t complain about that. We were elected to do it. While we stick to that I don’t think there will be any problem.

Q. Finally, I’d like to ask a question about the relationship between the centre and the states. UP was criticised recently for taking more than its fair share from the national power grid and I wondered if you thought this might be an example of authority starting to shift from the centre to the states?

A. I think relations between us and the centre are gradually getting better. It mainly depends on the central government. Nothing is set in stone. I think Congress makes a big difference. Congress is trying to build better relations with the Samajwadi party, and we are responding to that. The previous government was asked for help in building one of the most prestigious university hospitals in the state and it refused to give the land for more than four years. They approached us; we thought it was a good project for the state, so we gave them the land they wanted.

(Picture credit: Samajwadi Party)