The Hindu Business Line : `People-centred' draft policy on service delivery ready

COURTESY, transparency and efficiency should be the hallmark of all Government institutions, especially those providing services to the public, says the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy. He made this observation while inaugurating a workshop on `People-oriented service policy' in the city today.

Organised by the State Government and the Administrative Staff College of India-Hyderabad, the two-day workshop will discuss the preliminary draft of the Service Delivery Policy developed for Government institutions in the State. In fact, Kerala is the first State in the country to attempt to introduce such a Service Delivery Policy, the Chief Minister said.

Referring to debates about the role of Government, Mr Chandy emphasised that there is a need to understand that the primary role of the Government is to provide public services to the people, especially the poor.

However, over the past two decades, there has been a "marked deterioration" in the standards of public services in Kerala, he said. The quality of public services in the State needs to be improved, he added.

However, if the quality of services offered by Government institutions has to be improved, the way in which these services are planned must be changed. It is with this objective that the State Government is developing a Service Delivery Policy, Mr Chandy said.

The draft Service Delivery Policy says that the policy should be made a regular part of the planning process and will be implemented across all institutions and agencies that provide public services. In the initial phase, the policy will be implemented in 22 types of institutions across eight departments.

Institutions covered in this phase include the State Secretariat, District Collectorates, district hospitals, primary health centres, village offices, municipalities, municipal corporations, Government schools and so on.

The draft policy also suggests several basic service delivery principles — people-centeredness, laying down of clear standards, equity, transparency, accountability, fairness, good behaviour, rationality, efficiency, convergence, grievance redressal, continuous improvement, sustainability and changing attitudes.

Creation of an audit system for service delivery is another measure suggested in the draft policy. It also suggests that performance be assessed on the basis of the achievement of service standards and also on the basis of the achievement of performance targets.