Arvind Subramanian on possible reforms

in a Voxeu article says:
"But the desirable (tackling inflation) is probably infeasible. And the feasible (financial sector reforms) is not ambitious enough for the current circumstances and risks squandering, yet again, the Prime Minister’s political capital.
There is, however, an alternative, ambitious possibility. Economic and political decentralisation, combined with the rise of coalition politics, have sharply reduced the central government’s domain of economic influence.
But the one area where it retains influence – or rather strangling control with disastrous economic consequences – is higher education. This last bastion of the licence-quota-permit raj is crying out for reform.
There is political, administrative and regulatory interference on virtually every aspect of higher education:

* admissions policies,
* internal organisation,
* fees and salaries, and
* the structure of courses and funding.

In higher education, deregulation, liberalisation, and globalisation are the way forward.
There may well be a continuing role for state provision, and especially state funding, of higher education, but a much greater role and freedom for the private sector are both desirable and unavoidable."
Devesh Kapur and Pratp Bhanu Mehta in 'Mortgaging the future? Indian education reforms', an article quoted in the above paper, paint a very bleak picture of Indian education:
"Despite impressive reforms elsewhere, Indian higher education sector remains the most tightly controlled and least reformed sector. Deep ideological and vested interests have made reform in India’s Higher Education sector all but impossible."
The reason for Arvind Subramanian's optimism seems to be the recent political victory of Manmohan Singh.