It is important that government departments set aside people and money tasked to communicate the laws, rules, and regulations that the department is charged with administering. Doing so is an important, but neglected, step in ensuring the effective implementation of public policies. In India, in particular, the Union and State governments, who rarely bother to inform citizens about what their laws and rules are.

The federal government of Australia and the state government of Victoria are organized, and budgeted to carry out this function. They also do this in innovative ways. However, Australian citizens do not always know the details of all the laws that maybe relevant to them, because they either get too many messages or do not get an integrated and personalized communication.

Harsh Shrivastava is the Planning Commission of India’s consultant on improving the process of planning, specifically in the formulation of the just-approved Twelfth Five Year Plan. He is a policy wonk, but has done stints in journalism, politics, and business and is trying to understand the connections between all these fields. He’s also been held an Emerging Leaders Fellowship at the Australia India Institute earlier this year. This is Harsh’s second talk at the Crawford School ’ earlier this year, he’d presented on Indian federalism ’ and its challenges and opportunities.