CRS214 | Evolution of the Regulatory State in India: Historical and Comparative Perspectives

Course overview and prerequisites: This course seeks to provide an overview of the history and evolution of regulatory theory before focusing on how the theory and practice of regulation has evolved in India. It thus has a dual focus: on the broader history of regulation, and developments in the comparative and global arena, on the one hand, and the evolution of regulation in India, and how it has developed since independence, but particularly over the last 35 yeas since the advent of liberalisation in the early 1990s.

Although the field of regulation has a core economic basis, the role of law has also been vital to its evolution. This course seeks to chart that trajectory at a broad conceptual level while also focusing on specific sectors to draw insights for the practice of regulation. A significant part of the course will track the intellectual history of ideas in relation to regulation. In that sense, this course has an interdisciplinary focus, as it tracks history, comparative experiences and theoretical premises of regulation across economics and law. In relation to Indian regulation, the course will focus on phases of regulation in India across its post-colonial journey, emphasising the importance of the 1947-1991 and post 1991 eras. We will focus on several sectors in this course beginning with case studies of India’s electricity and telecom sectors. Students will be encouraged to write research papers on these and other sectors, including any topic that falls within regulation broadly speaking, enabling an overview of regulatory policy in discrete and significant areas of the Indian political economy.

The course is designed for LLB, MPP and LLM students. Pre-requisites for this course include core courses on constitutional and administrative law as well as specialised courses in the third year of the 5 year LL.B programme. Only Year 4 and 5 students from the 5 year programme are eligible to apply. MPP students who have done the core course on regulation in the MPP programme are eligible to take this course. All students in the class are expected to be able to write a research paper.

This is a course designed for those who want to write a good research paper. The assessment modes are therefore suitably designed for this purpose. Please sign up for this course only if you have a genuine interest in both the topic of regulation, and in writing a research paper.