The Hindu Business Line : World Bank lays emphasis on service delivery

THE UNION MINISTER of State for Commerce and Industry, Mr Jairam Ramesh (left), with the World Bank Director, Mr Michael Carter (middle), and the Bank's senior management specialist, Mr Vikram K. Chand, releasing the World Bank Report in the Capital on Friday. — Kamal Narang

New Delhi , June 23

A new report by the World Bank has made out a strong case for greater political ownership, stability of tenure for reform champions and reinforced accountability mechanisms as the key to improving public services delivery in India.

The report Reforming Public Services in India: Drawing Lessons from Success and a book Reinventing Public Service Delivery in India: Selected Cases Studies that is based on the report were here jointly released by the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, and the Country Director, World Bank (India), Mr Michel Carter.

The report underscored the need for greater political consensus on social development programmes, the empowerment of the civil service through stability of tenure and managerial autonomy and greater civil society involvement in programme design and monitoring. Through a detailed analysis of 31 success stories across a range of sectors including education, health, information technology and urban management, the report seeks to build better understanding as the key factors that enabled these successes.

Releasing the report and the book, Mr Jairam Ramesh said that the economic reform programme had been initiated by the Government way back in 1991 and there had been continuity in it. He said that in order to ensure that public service delivery achieves maximum efficiency, the Government has used information technology (IT), passed the right to Information Act and empowered various Self-Help Groups and uses digital devices to make its public investment programmes like Rural Employment Guarantee succeed in its reach and impact.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Carter said that the cases documented in the book illustrate "improvements in service delivery that could take place even in the absence of large-scale systemic changes."

The report's lead author and senior public sector management specialist at the World Bank, Mr Vikram K. Chand, said that the vision of political leadership along with broad consensus across party lines holds the key triggering service delivery reforms.

The report identified certain common factors in recent innovations in service delivery. They pertain to the need for political ownership and consensus for the success of social programmes, stability of tenure for officials championing reform in service delivery and redefining service standards and real process re-engineering to accompany e-governance efforts to improve service delivery.

The report covers a range of services and cases, including Mumbai's online complaint monitoring system, the transformation of the Stamps and Registration department in Maharashtra, Karnataka's road transport corporation reform, Andhra Pradesh's E-Seva model and Tamil Nadu's success in improving human development outcomes.

The report draws attention to how both regional parties in Tamil Nadu DMK and AIADMK engage in one-upmanship to extend social programmes, including the adoption of a universal public distribution system (PDS), a midday meal scheme in 1982, effective family planning and nutritional interventions by meshing welfarism and politics.

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