Do you believe that some states in India are picking up the tab so to speak of other states that refuse to reform? If yes, what can be done to fix this? If no, what is a better way, according to you, to understand this?

That is an extremely myopic and dangerous way of thinking in a federal structure such as India. If you extend that logic, the urban population will hold it against “slow-growing” rural areas and bigger metropolitan cities will hold this against other areas within their own states. This thinking also reflects a poor understanding of the complexity of national economies. For instance, though agriculture is a relatively low-growth sector when compared to let’s say information technology (IT) services, the food security concerns of the country dictate that we cross-subsidise agriculture. Over time, state-level policies will have to nurture local engines of growth—which could be in any sector of the economy. This fragmented thinking also reflects an acute lack of understanding of historical policy decisions that past governments have made.

Regional disparities seem to exist in every country; for instance, the coastal regions of America are far more prosperous than the heartlands. Is that a justified reason to suggest greater divisions of countries? If not, what is the reason that richer and poorer states should continue to exist within the boundaries of the same country?

There is evidence that smaller states are better governed ones. So from that perspective, we should think of smaller states. In any country, it is impossible to have spatially completely even growth—but that is a fundamental responsibility of the government—to design policies that can bridge large unsustainable gaps in quality of life of citizens across regions. For an electoral democracy like ours—where government policy must reflect the will of the people—we must also think of what is happening to our degree of political representation. Many developed states with smaller populations are far better represented (in terms of absolute number of citizens per MP/MLA) than poorer states with larger populations.