New Delhi, Aug. 10 -- A newspaper report has raked up an old split among economists. Can governments allocate an economy's resources better than the market? Since economics is essentially about how to get the best results from scarce means, that question goes to the heart of this discipline.

According to an Indian Express article on Friday, of the Rs.2,192 crore worth of easy-term loans approved under India's new Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund, a chunk was earmarked for startups with links to the selection panel, a few members of which even owned equity in awardee firms.

Disclosures were made, the Centre has averred, and linked individuals duly stayed away from those decisions to keep conflicts of interest out.

For a fu...