ABSTRACT
Karnataka has been a forerunning state in implementing sub-national market-oriented economic and institutional reforms. It was quick to adopt neoliberal reforms after the GoI introduced a major programme of structural adjustment in 1991, and in 1996 it was the first state to be given a loan from an international development bank for a large urban infrastructure development project. It was also one of the first states to experiment with turning people in slums into paying customers of public water services with support from various international and bilateral development agencies. Furthermore, it embarked on many urban ‘good governance’ reforms before they became part of a national level urban renewal and institutional reform programme that was launched by the GoI in 2005. The Government of Karnataka (GoK) has been rewarded by international development banks for its commitment to reforms. For instance, the World Bank has provided the GoK with a number of sub-national loans for state-level structural adjustment and governance reforms, including a major project to radically transform urban water governance. According to the World Bank, such progress has positioned Karnataka as a ‘reform leader’ in the Indian sub-continent (World Bank 2001a: 2). It is a state that other sub-national governments are expected to learn from, model themselves on, and follow. But why was it that Karnataka became a forerunner in accepting and adopting market-oriented reforms?
