No one did it, it happens: War to exam scandals, poll outcomes and crumbling cities
Editorial on how repeated institutional failures often arise from many small lapses, weak coordination, and scapegoating after damage occurs.
- Large public failures often arise from a chain of ordinary, avoidable mistakes rather than one villain.
- Exam-paper leaks, scandals, infrastructure breakdowns, urban decay, and weak accountability reflect the same governance weakness.
The Indian Express editorial argues that large public failures usually come from a chain of ordinary, avoidable mistakes rather than one obvious culprit. Exam scandals, urban decay, infrastructure breakdowns, and political disappointments often grow from repeated small lapses, ignored warnings, weak coordination, and the search for scapegoats after the damage is visible.
Public institutions weaken when leaders do not act on early signals and do not correct small errors in time. A brittle system can then turn one visible breakdown into evidence of many hidden weaknesses.
UPSC may frame institutional failure around why repeated administrative breakdowns happen in public institutions, how early-warning systems and inter-agency coordination reduce failure, and how accountability should be fixed without reducing complex problems to a single scapegoat.
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