I have had this question asked to me a lot of times : wouldn't it be a lot better if we had a corporate style governance.. And while the proponents of this theory list out the obvious benefits like quick decisions, faster development, more transparent functioning etc, there is one aspect that they completely fail to recognize, and that is the social responsibility of the government..

If you look at how corporates work, they will feed the bread-winning horse the most, which is very fair on their part.. For eg, if a certain division is making most of the company's profits, that division will also get the maximum budget.. Aberration like the one in the case of Apple Computers, where the profit making Apple II funded the eventually proved disastrous Apple III for a long time, and caused a survival crisis, are considered poor managements decisions..

But now, consider a government setup in a country like India.. The profits will come in from the industries, the commerce centered around the cities, the taxes paid by the urban citizens etc etc.. However, most of this money is not spent back on them, unlike a corporate, but spent on rural education, health care etc, which by any model, will never be profitable.. That however, does not mean our money must not be spent on it, for we can not expect a village school in a tribal area to be economically viable, this just means that as a civil society, we must accept this form of subsidy, for these children of lesser mortals cannot be, and should not be denied education for want of funds.. Same goes with rural health care, and a variety of other such schemes..

And if the country was indeed run by corporates, you would see a eight lane and six track Golden Quadrilateral, lined up with all the industries, while the rest of the country would languish in the dark.. And after this, they might also claim to have no budgetary deficit, which shouldn't come as a surprise.. What we really need is better planning and investment in the rural areas, to make them self-sufficient and economically a "non-white elephant", atleast in three to four decades.. Till such a thing happens, my fellow brethren, we must share the burden for the greater good of the country..