Corruption and temporality: the criticism of state planning in India

The association of corruption with state planning is a key trope in the literature on India’s erstwhile planning regime, pejoratively named the ‘License Raj.’ Writers often shore up temporal ideas to advance this association, alleging that corruption is an inevitable feature of state planning. These temporal ideas range from an association of corruption with inefficiency, the division between the ‘modern’ and the ‘pre-modern,’ and, finally, various horizons of the past which notions of corruption conjure up: ancient, colonial, or otherwise. Through close reading of texts that depict corruption as inherent to India and to industrial policy, this article explores how temporal ideas advance a view of corruption that legitimates market liberalisation. As such, it reveals insight into the relationship between time and dominant notions of corruption.