Good delivery of public services is essential to escape the dependence on bad public services.
Our founding fathers wanted political freedom for the people
of India – freedom to determine who we would be governed by, as well as freedom
of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship. They wanted justice and
equality, of status and opportunity. And they wanted us to be free from
poverty. One widely held hypothesis is that our country suffers from want of a
“few good men” in politics. This view is unfair to the many upstanding people
in politics.
One improves the quality of public services to increase the
resources devoted to the service, and to change. A number of worthwhile efforts are underway to
improve the quality of public education and healthcare. But if resources leak
or public servants are not motivated, which is likely in the worst governed
states, these interventions are not very effective.
Some have argued that making a public service a right can
change delivery. It is hard to imagine that simply legislating rights and
creating a public expectation of delivery will, in fact, ensure delivery. After
all, is there not an expectation that a ration card holder will get decent
grain from the fair price shop, yet all too frequently grain is not available
or is of poor quality.
Information decentralization can help. Knowing how many
medicines the local public dispensary received, or how much money the local
school is getting for mid-day meals, can help the public monitor delivery and
alert higher-ups when the benefits are not delivered. But the public delivery
system is usually most apathetic where the public is poorly educated, of low
social status, and disorganized, so monitoring by the poor is also unlikely to
be effective.
Some argue that this is why the middle class should enjoy
public benefits along with the poor, so that the former can protest against
poor delivery, which will ensure high quality for all. But making benefits
universal is costly, and may still lead to indifferent delivery for the poor.
The middle class may live in different areas from the poor. Indeed, even when
located in the same area, the poor may not even patronize facilities frequented
by the middle class because they feel out of place. And even when all patronize
the same facility, providers may be able to discriminate between the voluble
middle class and the uncomplaining poor.
