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Improving delivery of public services

The focus of the recently released, India-specific, World Bank's Development Policy Review, is seen in its title "Inclusive Growth and Service Delivery: building on India's success." The DPR is on familiar ground when it says that recent strong economic growth has bypassed large sections of the society and there is an urgent need to ensure that its fruits are shared by all sections. On a number of socio-economic parameters the country has done well. Health conditions have improved, absolute poverty has been reduced by more than half, and illiteracy has been reduced considerably. Yet nearly a quarter of India's citizens still live below the poverty line. From a development perspective, therefore, India's success has created fresh challenges. The DPR has chosen to concentrate on the delivery of core services — such as health care, education, and power and water supply — to ordinary citizens. Since practically all these services are undertaken by the public sector, a key issue that emerges is one of evaluating public spending in these areas. Even that approach may not be original and, besides, there are already institutions, notably, the Comptroller and Auditor General who have a constitutional responsibility to look at all aspects of government spending. Where the DPR probably breaks new ground is when it advocates greater accountability of the institutions providing these services. Only by strengthening and extending the coverage of core services can the benefits of economic growth be shared by all.

Both the goals — an improvement in service delivery and a more inclusive economic growth — depend upon empowering every person and creating opportunities for him. It is worrisome that, in both, the gaps between the best and the worst performers among the States are growing in India. As the DPR points out, India often figures among the world's best and worst across a range of indicators. The headcount poverty rates in rural Orissa (43 per cent) and rural Bihar (41 per cent) are higher than the corresponding poverty rates of Malawi and Ghana. At the other extreme, Punjab and Haryana, the more prosperous States, have poverty rates comparable with the richer Latin American nations. While citing such statistics and findings from recent reports of the World Bank, the DPR outlines the challenges ahead and advocates a pattern of reform for the institutions charged with delivering the core services. Most of the reform measures suggested have been or are in the process of being implemented: fixing internal accountability so that decision-making by the government-run service provider is free and fair; decentralisation of government machinery; conferring the right to information; and giving the private sector a role. Finally, few will disagree with the DPR's observation that the primary challenge for the country now is not that of raising the rate of growth from 8 to 10 per cent but of sustaining the growth while spreading its benefits more widely.

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