RIGHT TO SERVICE ACT—INSUPERABLES

RIGHT TO SERVICE ACT—INSUPERABLES

Prof Joseph K. Alexander

In quantity constrained regime like India where the demand for services from the 121 crores  of citizens far exceed its supply, Government services are bound to be below par and inefficient. This essentially leads to corruption and under the table deals and or influential interference to get out of priority services from the scanty suppliers and supply points. A-moral officers inclined to corruption from the lowest category to the head of the executive, judiciary and legislature fatten themselves on this under the counter unearned income. The marginalized and less empowered become more relegated and poor. The remedy is to increase the supply of services to match the ever increasing demand for them. This is well-neigh impossible even for the less populated and more advanced nations. Another alternative is to make every service point and officer in charge more efficient and involved. In these days of democracy verging on to “mobocracy” and officers who are politically compartmentalized and believe in “sarkar karyam murapola”, this is insurmountable.

All tall claims of manifestos of political parties and promises made by politicians  in press conferences are bunkum and barren. Administrative Reforms Commissions and their recommendations ;decentralization of governance to LSGs; declaration of the charter of rights of  citizens; civil service reforms; measurers to create transparency in governance; attempts to ensure accountability, fair play and honesty of officers; procedural reforms to get rid of  un-necessary rules, regulations controls and simplification of procedures; one-window delivery system; e-governance, inter-connectivity of offices, and e-filing and e-delivery of services  are some of the measures undertaken to induct good governance. More can be added to this list to better service delivery to citizens. The aim is to make each service point and delivery officer more efficient. It is our experience that Kerala’s political climate does not permit us to make these half-hearted measures to achieve their objective.

What is required are:

1.      An informed citizenry who realize that these are objectives that cannot be achieved in a short period. It requires sacrifice of some immediate comforts to achieve the distant goals. So they should weigh the benefits with the sacrifices before jumping to delaying and opposing tactics.  

2.      No Government will be able to supply all the services required or demanded by the people. Attempts to do so by the British Government and communist countries proved a thorough failure. Hence all governments resort to Public Private Partnership (PPP). I have seen for example, very good roads and transport systems in foreign countries where people pay tolls at every point of the system.

These are the methods to overcome the insuperables. May our politicians have wisdom to bring this awareness to their ranks in Kerala?

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