Introduction Public services are socially essential or indispensable services. Public service delivery is one of the most significant and critical aspects of good governance because it affects the lives of millions of people. The government ensures that public services are available uninterrupted all the time and all the costs are within the reach of all. It means that services must reach the citizens (Bava, 2008). India is a developing country and it is through better public service delivery that inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic development can be achieved (PM's address, 2008). Government departments, through which most of the public services are delivered, are organised according to the bureaucratic model. They are hierarchical in structure with superior–subordinate relationships; reliability on control through inspection; rigid rules and procedures; preference for precedence, top-down planning and communication and bottom-up reporting; merit- and seniority-based promotions; and security of services. However, there is a great deal of public dissatisfaction with the present public service delivery at all levels of government. This document highlights the criticality of improving public service delivery and the challenges before bureaucracy to achieve it. |
Top Delivery of Public Services Citizen centricity with the aim of ensuring citizens’ welfare and citizens’ satisfaction is critical for any government – local, state or national – which aims to provide good governance. Therefore, stability, transparency, efficiency and continuity in the governance systems that the citizens are most immediately concerned with are absolutely necessary. Hence, our priority in India must be to place the citizen at the centre of a modern public administration (Second Administrative Reforms Commission, 2009). |
India is a developing country with special requirements. It is through public service that inclusive and sustainable economic development can be achieved (Deshmuk, 2009). The government is responsible both for accelerating the pace of growth and for making the growth process inclusive. The former calls for economic modernisation and liberalisation, in order to make the government less intrusive and more transparent. The latter calls for greater attention to be paid to public service delivery systems, in areas such as education, healthcare, urban and rural infrastructure and services and employment generation (PM's address, 2008). |
Public service delivery affects the lives of almost every citizen of a country in direct or indirect terms. It also affects the entire lifecycle of a citizen right from birth (or even pre-birth) till death (or even post-death). The importance of improving the public service delivery is all the more in a developing country like India, which has to cater to a billion-plus population (Raichaudhari and Jain, 2007). |
Top Challenges Before Public Service Delivery in India Little change has occurred from the kind of administration we inherited from colonial rulers. Administrative system is entrenched in such a way that it has become more or less impervious to change. Powerful interest has developed in status quo while institutional pluralism is required for deepening bureaucracy (Sharma, 2002). The late L.K. Jha, an able administrator, once said in a lighter vein, “The Bureaucrats public image is of a creature who sits on files, sleeps over reminder, turns a deaf ear to complaints, can't see beyond the tip of his nose, smells a rat in every proposal and at times eats his own words.” |
The success of public administration depends on the quality of the civil service and its accountability. India's civil services, the principal “face” of the government to the public and responsible for implementing government programmes, must shoulder some of the responsibility for dissatisfaction with the government's performance in providing a sound business environment, curbing corruption and providing public services. The problem is not initial capability but institutional deficiencies. Non-transparency, limited accountability, poor incentive structure and inadequate performance appraisal weaken the civil service's administration, as do the standard problems of political interference in specific situations and the government's widespread and intricate interventions that delay actions, create unwarranted power and provide opportunities for corruption (Saxena, 2008). |
On the other hand, people perceive bureaucracy as callous, corrupt and unsympathetic, which is more interested in higher salary perks, plum postings, extension and reemployment (Tribune, 2009). A Hong Kong-based political and economic risk consultancy, in a survey of 12 economies (June 2009), has described Indian bureaucracy as “the worst” suffocating and least efficient. Shockingly it puts India at the end after Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, the Philippines and Indonesia (Eshwar, 2009). In India corruption has polluted almost all branches of public life and governance (Malhotra, 2009). Again, a report by a Hong Kong-based consultancy company (2012) on 12 Asian countries that covered political and economic risk has confirmed that India is a bureaucratic nightmare and it has the worst bureaucracy. In the study on the scale of 1–10, India's bureaucracy scored 9.21 (Civil service Chronicle, 2012). People have long been harassed a lot in their relationship with the proverbial government “babudom” with endless forms, regulations, byelaws, paperwork, delays, secrecy, authoritarianism and negativism. There is incapacity in administration to work with the peer group (Mishra, 2007). |
The different parts of the country have witnessed growing public outcry against the system of public administration, and the public servants at the helm are being severely criticised for their irresponsiveness, insensitivity and lacklustre performance to delivery services. The citizens’ simmering rage has been steadily reaching the boiling point, not only compelling them to hold officials hostage but also committing suicides to get justice and fair treatment. The former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, in this context observed, “The experiences of the vast majority of our people at the grassroots has been that at the interface between the public and the administration is unresponsive, inefficient, unsympathetic, often callous, sometimes even cruel to those whom they are meant to serve.’’ To address these bureau pathologies plaguing the governance, reform initiative has become sine qua non (Siwach, 2009). |
We must introspect and recognise that there is a great deal of public dissatisfaction with the functioning of government, at all levels. The civil service must endeavour to address this challenge as a collective entity. The most important challenge is of instilling confidence in our people that our civil services are fair, honest and efficient. Each section of the society has its own grievance, and the civil service has its own. Our civil service is required to serve every section of the society, and they should do it in a professionally satisfying way (PM's address, 2008). |
And within the overall gamut, it is important to realize that the most crucial aspect of governance is improving public service delivery at the grass-roots level – the village or panchayat level. For a common man in a village, a Patwari (or ‘Mamladar’ as is called in some states) is the highest revenue officer, a ‘Thanedar’ is the highest police officer and a Forest Guard the highest forest officer because his/her interaction in day-to-day affairs is only with these persons and not with the District Collectors or Superintendents of Police or the Divisional Forest Officers posted at the district level. If the public service delivered through these grass-root-level officers is good, the image of the whole government and the administration is good and vice versa. Thus, the thrust should be to improve the working of these grass-root- and cutting-edge-level officers having maximum interaction with the common man. The Sixth Central Pay Commission's comments in this connection are worth noting: |
“For the common man, bureaucracy denotes routine and repetitive procedures, paper work and delays. This is despite the fact that the government and bureaucracy exist to facilitate the citizens in the rightful pursuit of their legal activities. Rigidities of the system, over centralization of powers, highly hierarchical and top down method of functioning with a large number of intermediary levels delaying finalization of any decision, divorce of authority from accountability and the tendency towards micromanagement, have led to a structure in which form is more important than substance and procedures are valued over end results and outcomes. Non-performance of the administrative structures, poor service quality and lack of responsiveness, and the subjective and negative abuse of authority have eroded trust in governance systems which needs to be restored urgently”(Second Administrative Reforms Commission, 2009). Moreover, citizens have not been made fully aware of various factors of the Citizens’ Charter. It has been observed that the plight of the Citizens’ Charter in different states is not satisfactory. Therefore, there emerges a need for revamping the scheme so as to achieve the goals enshrined in the Citizens’ Charter. |
Right to Information (RTI) Act can play a significant role in improving service delivery, yet threats on life of RTI activist has threatened RTI itself. Satish Shetty, Talegaon, near Pune, Maharashtra, was killed on 13 January 2010 for his campaign against land mafia in certain corrupt deals in Mumbai Pune Express. Visharam Laxman Dodiya, a Surat-based shopkeeper, following his refusal to withdraw RTI application seeking information on illegal electricity connection was killed in Surat on 11 February 2010. Shashidhar Mishra of Begusarai, Bihar, was killed for exposing corruption at the Panchayat and Block levels on 14 February 2010. Arun Sawant, Badalpur, Thane, Maharashtra, was killed on 26 February 2010 for filing an application with the Badalpur Municipal Council. Sola Ranga Rao, of Sitaram village, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, was killed on 11 April 2010 for filing his RTI to the District Collector on the funding of the village drainage system. Vitthal Gitebeed, Maharashtra, was killed on 21t April 2010 for exposing corruption in the village school of Beed. Dattatray Patil of Kolhapur, Maharashtra, was killed on 22 May 2010 for unearthing a corruption racket, which resulted in the removal of the area's DSP. Amit Jethwa of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, was killed on 20 July 2010 for his campaign against the illegal mining lobby in the Gir forest area (Joshi, 2010). Present among these challenging situations are certain hopes also to reactivate and rejuvenate public service delivery in India. The following initiatives have been taken in this direction. |
Top Efforts to Rejuvenate Public Service Delivery in India (Reddy, 2006) Adopting Sevottam Scheme The Second ARC in its 12th Report – “Citizen Centric Administration – The Heart of Governance” – has recommended that union and state governments should make the Seven-Step Model mandatory for all organisations having a public interface, which was accepted by the Government of India. The ARC had made the recommendations after studying the Sevottam model, which the commission felt was a step in the right direction. The central government's Sevottam scheme was initiated as a mechanism to assess initiatives and best practices related to service delivery. It is a model of service delivery standards based on experiments in e-governance. The model synthesises ground realities in India with international best practices and has created an assessment system suitable for government organisations in India. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has developed generic standards for quality service delivery (IS15700:2005) based on the assessment–improvement model developed by DARPG and TCS. The service provider will develop its own sectoral standards for improvement in service delivery. There are nine “QUALITY of compliance” criteria for which a requirement standard has been developed covering the three areas of (a) Citizens’ Charters, (b) grievance redressal and (c) service delivery capability. These criteria ascertain the extent to which the organisation is applying service delivery improvement tools in a systematic manner and is able to learn from experience.(http://india.gov.in/gov/studies) Total Quality Management The government continued to implement quality management initiatives under the total quality management programme. Apart from ongoing quality management efforts such as quality control circles (QCCs), innovations and benchmarking, a major focus was the implementation of the MS ISO 9000 standard and recognising organisational excellence in providing customer-oriented services. The implementation of the MS ISO 9000 quality management system gained momentum as more agencies adopted the MS ISO 9000 standard. All government agencies migrated to the new MS ISO 9001:2000 standard, which emphasised on meeting customer requirements and measuring customer satisfaction. (Public http://www.pdsa) Social audit is popularised Government is facing an ever-growing demand to be more accountable and socially responsible, and the people are becoming more assertive about their rights to be informed and to influence governments’ decision-making processes. Faced with these vociferous demands, the executive and the legislature are looking for new ways to evaluate their performance. Civil society organisations are also undertaking social audits to monitor and verify the social performance claims of the organisations and institutions; this will definitely improve service delivery. (www.idgnet.org/pdfs/social%20audit) Citizens’ Charter Bill 2011 The Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011, was introduced by the Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy in 2011 in the Lok Sabha. Salient features of this legislation were that every ministry and department of the government will have to address people's complaints within 15 days, failing which action will be taken against the officer concerned.
Under the bill, the government plans to set up a grievance redressal mechanism to tackle graft in the lower ranks of administration, a move that comes against the backdrop of Team Anna's anti-corruption campaign. The law will set up a mechanism similar to the RIT Act and seek to have a “citizens’ charter” to deal with public grievances. Under the proposed law, every public authority will have to designate a grievance redress officer (GRO) right from the block level up to the central government. The GRO will receive and act on grievances from the public on services that they are entitled to under any law or government policy, and if s/he believes that the public servant responsible has wilfully neglected to deliver the goods or services, s/he can recommend action under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The bill also allows an aggrieved party to approach the Lokpal in case they are unhappy with the decision of the Grievance Redressal Commission. A move believed to be aimed at mollifying Team Anna, this has maintained that the Citizens’ charter should be part of the Lokpal Bill and not a separate legislation. (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/citizens-charter-bill-parliament/1/165022.html) The Charter Mark Scheme The introduction of the Charter Mark scheme in 1992, to recognise and reward excellence in the delivery of public services, constitutes a milestone in the development of the Charter initiative during the Prime Minister's major years in 1990–1997. These Charter Mark awards are characterised as the “Oscar” and “Olympic Gold” for Public services (Sharma and Sharma, 2002). Result Framework Document Government of India has introduced a mantra for adjudging performance, called Result Framework Document (RFD), to be rigorously implemented in all ministries. On 11 September 2009 the Prime Minister of India directed all union ministers to formalise a unique memorandum with their secretaries binding them to achieve certain results. Each RFD will be subjected to regular scrutiny by the Advisory Task Force, which will include former civil servants and specialists. The cabinet secretariat will review its formulation and implementation. The Prime Minister will use inputs from RFD to evaluate the ministers’ output (Kashyap, 2010). Public–Private Partnerships Another effective way to ensure effective service delivery is through Public–Private Partnerships (Reddy, 2006). Both the private and the public sectors have certain advantages and disadvantages of their own. Having such a PPP mode is advantageous to both the sectors, because it mitigates the disadvantages of both the sectors through such partnerships. PPP has been gradually improving the public service delivery in various sectors – both in physical and in social sectors. The following suggestions can make public service delivery more effective. e-Governance To apply tools of information technology to simplify cumbersome processes and procedures of government departments and agencies so as to facilitate and finally to reduce interface between the government officials and the public, e-governance is popularised in India. There is still much more needed for strategic capacity-building efforts to increase society's ability to access, generate, adapt and disseminate information and communication technology. The government and administration at all levels should build an enabling environment and make proper arrangement for the utilisation of ICT techniques. There is a need to train personnel in each department about ICT techniques to be applied in their working, time to time, and all departments should be connected to each other through the internet so that public service delivery can be made more effective. Right to Information The enactment of the RTI Act, 2005, heralds a new era of open, transparent and accountable governance system in India (Jain and Jain, 2009). The RTI Act is a landmark legislation, which is increasingly being viewed as an important tool for empowerment of the poor and the weak. Availability of information to the general public and clarity about functioning of governmental institutions are essential components of good governance. This act promotes transparency, accountability, predictability and participation (Second Administrative Reforms Commission, 15th report, 2009). It has the power to bring unprecedented levels of empowerment to the citizens of this country (Jain and Jain, 2009). RTI has indeed helped people get better services from the public authorities (Final Report, 2009). There is a need to harmonise the civil services with the civil society. With increasing relevance of civil society in the wake of progressive enactments such as RTI, it should be possible to bring civil society closer to governance at the functional and cutting-edge levels (Kumar, 2009). Because of the peculiar issues and constraints, increasing the reach, utility and impact of RTI becomes all the more challenging at the cutting-edge levels of governance. The ultimate requirement is a change in the mind set the way government and bureaucracy functions. Service as a legal Right Madhya Pradesh was the first in the country to pass the Public Service Guarantee Act, 2010. Bihar followed with the RTI Act. Uttar Pradesh too has prepared the Janhit Guarantee Act. Punjab has issued an ordinance, while in Haryana deputy commissioners have been asked to ensure that 15 services are delivered in the given time schedule. Providing time-bound government service to harried citizens is a challenge that states are increasingly taking up (Tribune, 2011). The Public Service Liability Act was also passed in Himachal Pradesh to provide services as a legal right. The state government is resolved to fight against corrupt practices and is, at the same time, ensuring to provide services in a time-bound manner. The approval to the Himachal Pradesh Public Services Guarantee Rules, 2011, reflects upon the state government's determination to serve the common people. Under this, every citizen can now demand that the notified public services be provided within the prescribed time limit. If the officers/officials fail to provide services in a time-bound manner, they are liable to be penalised. In case the service is wrongfully denied or delayed, the applicant has recourse to remedial measures under the act/rules, including monetary compensation including disciplinary action against the defaulter officers/officials (Amar Ujala, 2012). The Electronic Service Delivery Bill, 2011 It aims at delivering all public services to citizens in the electronic mode, and is a welcome piece of legislation. By eliminating paperwork on a massive scale, the new measure can do away with the red tape and corruption that notoriously plague governance in the country. The draft Bill published by the Ministry of Information Technology at its website is similar to the RTI Act, 2005, in that it incorporates a complaints mechanism and prescribes penalties for failure to comply with the provisions. Importantly, it sets a 5-year deadline for all public services to make the online transition, with a further concession of 3 years in some cases. What people can expect in the new dispensation is electronic submission of forms and applications, issue or grant of any licence, permit, certificate, sanction or approval and receipt or payment of money. No time must be lost in enacting the law, given India's poor record of delivery of citizen services. Moreover, services now facing severe bottlenecks, such as passports, should be prioritised for electronic processing. The draft provisions make it incumbent on the central and state governments to publish a list within 6 months of the date of enactment, and they would do well to pick the worst-performing departments for inclusion first. India badly needs a major initiative on electronic service delivery and e-governance. That it has done little to use Information and Communications Technology to help citizens is evident from its 119th rank among 192 countries in the United Nations E-Government Development Index 2010. Although there is no standardised measure of e-governance, the indicators used by the UN – online service availability, telecom infrastructure and human capital – suggest that India is below the world average for the composite index. This underscores the need to get the electronic service delivery law in place urgently and to enforce it seriously. The experience with the RTI Act indicates that public support for modernisation will overwhelm any resistance from vested interests. What must be noted, however, is the continued failure of many government departments to disclose information proactively on the internet, as laid down under the RTI Act. Successful e-government requires that citizens get maximum information and are able to conduct online transactions and participate in decision-making. All this calls for wide access to online services in the form of kiosks and special centres. Rising India must make progress on each of these metrics, if it hopes to leave its colonial baggage of red tape behind (The Hindu, 2011). Suggestions for making more effective Public Service Delivery in India The following suggestions, if implemented seriously, can pave the way for rejuvenating public service delivery: Strategic Alliances The government cannot specialise in all areas. It must take steps to establish strategic alliances with a range of institutions in India and in other countries to seek their expertise. These institutions should be chosen because of their reputation or the synergy between their expertise and the focus areas for effective service delivery (Reddy, 2006). Contractual structure of employment Another promising way of improving effectiveness of service delivery is to modify the contractual structure of employment to make job renewal subject to satisfactory performance as measured by both administrators and the community that is being served. Greater empowerment of communities Local control over employment can be a powerful source of improved incentives for service providers. This can be taken even further by giving locally elected bodies more control over the schools and clinics meant to serve them. This could encompass not only hiring, retention, performance bonuses and other personnel policies but could also include cash block grants that allow local communities to customise spending according to local priorities (http://casi.ssc.upenn.edu/iit/muralidharan). Integrity Recognition Certificate The experience shows that we lack as a nation, we give wide publicities to wrong-doers. The wrong-doers become heroes and upright officers retire from the government quietly from the government with a pension packet and few lakh in the general provident fund; no one speaks about their integrity even in the farewell speech. Integrity Recognition Certificate may be issued by the government to upright officers in recognition of their uprightness. This scheme will allow the officer of integrity to earn name, a face and recognition. Cream is always present in milk but we cannot see it. It is by giving these officers the Integrity Recognition Certificate that we will be bringing them to the surface and everybody will be able to see them (Chaudhary, 2009). Strengthening watchdog institutions For government reforms to succeed, it is necessary that watchdog institutions like judiciary, press, comptroller and auditor general, institutions of Lokpal and Lokayukt are properly strengthened so they could ensure proper vigilance on the government service delivery. Reducing Bureaucratic Red Tape In Malaysia, the Ministerial Task Forces were established in 2003 in various ministries and agencies to reduce bureaucratic red tape. The Task Forces improved existing systems and work procedures to ensure efficient service delivery and prevent abuse and corrupt practices; identified, reviewed and amended rules and regulations that hindered the smooth delivery of services; reviewed and recommended enhancements to service standards contained in client charters and acted on customer feedback; and determined the necessary resource requirements to enhance service delivery. Task Force of a similar pattern must be established in India too to reduce bureaucratic red tape. Along with this, the following suggestions can also prove useful to improve service delivery:
The focus should be on face-to-face administration rather than on file-to-file administration. Strong accountability mechanism such as report cards, social audit, peoples budgeting, participatory planning and appraisal need to be strengthened. In 2011, over 25 administrative officers in the rank of Secretary to Government of India are facing charges of corruption, and departmental proceedings are moving at a snails’ pace. There is need to expedite the proceedings against corrupt administrative officials and bring them to book. The legislation of Bihar to confiscate the property of corrupt bureaucrats and politicians should be replicated by the centre and all the states. There is an imperative need to review Article 311 of Constitution, which gives undue protection to civil servants against arbitrary dismissal and punishment. No other country gives this type of protection; therefore, Article 311 should be repealed. The parliament should enact the Civil Services Bill, 2009, that seeks to prevent arbitrary transfers and ensures a fixed tenure for competent officers (Tribune, 2011). To provide services to the people in accordance with specified standards through easily accessible interfaces such as one-stop, single-window, automated service delivery outlets or common civic service centres, devoid of harassment or corruption, minimising waiting time and inconvenience to the public can go a long way in improving public service delivery in India (Final Report, 2009).
To ensure value for money and cost effectiveness in the provision of services, exploring alternative mechanisms such as outsourcing, public–private–people partnerships and public service agreements between policy-makers and service providers and adopting the most appropriate systems must be adopted in India to make public service delivery efficient and effective (Denhardt and Denhardt, 2009). Top Conclusion The different parts of the country have witnessed the growing public outcry against the system of public administration and the public servants at the helm are being severely criticized for their irresponsiveness, insensitivity and lacklustre performance to delivery services (Siwach, 2009). The failure to deliver has direct consequences in terms of subpar economic growth, persisting poverty, unfulfilled potential, social unrest and political strife (Financial Express, 2005). The role of a civil servant is indeed a difficult one – it combines an emphasis on excellence with the objective of equity in delivery of public services in addition to a high degree of transparency and accountability (Balakrishnan, 2009). Improvement in public service delivery is the need of the hour because it affects – both positively and negatively – the lives of every citizen of a nation. There is need to reinvigorate public institutions by giving people a voice. We need to select bureaucrats like E. Shreedharan who built the Delhi metro to provide better service delivery. Owing to the emergence of the neoliberal state, there is a need to rejuvenate and redesign Public Service Delivery. There is also a need to restructure, redefine and reorient of service delivery. Institutional pluralism is required for deepening bureaucracy. Reengineering and metamorphosis of administration in the direction of client-focused bureaucracy are required for the better delivery of services in India. |
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