20/30 Hindsight: OR in Public Policy in India—Who Cares?

Abstract

OR applications in India have been mostly confined to large manufacturing industries and to a limited class of problems. OR has rarely had a role in the formulation of government policy. Indifference, aversion to change, and lack of will to experiment or to make an effort characterize Indian public life. The decision-making process is so diffuse that no one in particular can be found to be responsible, with the result that situations drift until solutions emerge on their own. These factors make implementing OR study results difficult, especially through the decision-making apparatus of the government. I describe here a study on staggering office hours in Bombay; all our efforts to implement the results were nullified by a combination of these factors.