Delivering Public Services Effectively

Description

There is a wide diversity in the provision of public services in India.  In some states one can go miles without seeing a functional school, a public health centre, or a well-maintained road. In contrast, a few states provide public services to all in an efficient manner.  This book discusses how Tamil Nadu, one of the remarkable states, developed its social commitment to delivering services effectively.   The author traces this commitment to incessant public action, which started in the 1970s.  Unlike the great social movements, such as the Dravidian movement, this form of public action is decentralized and is initiated from within villages.  Since the seventies, people from all social groups have started taking action when services are not available or functional, thus creating pressure on the government to deliver these services. Traditionally oppressed communities are now able to engage in action, forcing those in positions of power to ensure that basic services are socially accessible to all.     This culture of protest evolved with socio-political transformations that improved the ability of common people to engage in action.  Similar changes took place in Kerala a few decades earlier than in Tamil Nadu.  Such changes started in other parts of India, such as the Hindi belt, several decades later.  The author posits that these socio-political changes hold the key to understanding recent improvements in public service delivery in states such as Bihar and Chhattisgarh.  If this social transformation persists, public services are likely to become a major political priority in the country.

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