Public Service Delivery In India

The goal of public services is to provide social protection to the poor and vulnerable, as well as to alleviate poverty. Public services help to reduce inequitable resource allocation and remedy past injustices such as caste prejudice and gender inequity.

Main challenges to public service delivery in India

• Large gaps exist in the country between the poor and the non-poor, with the poor suffering far more as a result of inadequate public service delivery.
• Citizens tend to vote for leaders from their own community, caste, or religion because of the culture of ‘identity politics.’
• The number of elected politicians with criminal records is on the rise, which could stifle economic progress.
• Politicians believe that providing help to citizens will result in increased electoral returns.
• Corruption is frequently cited as the root cause of governance problems.
• The poor are ignorant to the benefits of good health and education.
• In this age of social media, we have Whatsapp rumors and fake news.
• The utilization of ICT services is plagued with administrative issues.

Policy measures
Community mobilisation

• Low-cost method of putting pressure on public officials to deliver.
• Participation of women from poor, lower-caste, vulnerable households Self-Help Groups (SHGs)

Technology

• Technology can be used to keep track of service delivery and promote accountability.
• The use of biometric identification and computerized benefit transfers has resulted in a decrease in program leakages.
• Using ITC to enhance efficiency of health care delivery.
• Increased teledensity and broadband penetration are required.

Cohesion and consensus among states

• All of these public services are primarily provided by the state. Hence, cohesion and consensus among states should be promoted and laggard states need to be
  incentivised to undertake reforms.

Decentralisation

• Local governments, not top-down governments, may be better at conserving natural resources.
• Regular training of public officials will help to strengthen the capacity of local governments.

Affirmative action

• Improved access to public services for marginalised populations.

Performance-related pay

• Performance-based remuneration encourages public employees to put in more effort and, as a result, improves public service performance.
• Non-monetary incentives can be a simple and effective way to reward good work e.g. transfers to preferred locations

Way Forward
In the domain of bureaucratic reform, more research is required. Building strong accountability structures and media has an important role to play here. A forum for all
media houses to come together and contribute to an informed debate on what is plaguing our public systems can be formed. Also, issues of last-mile access need to be tackled. By following these steps, the quality of public service delivery can be enhanced.