Public-Centric Administration: Current Temporary Efforts and Possibilities of a Permanent System
“The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.”
- Aristotle
Introduction
From the study of the principles of origin of the state, it is concluded that the state has originated to make human life easier and this function of the state has been there every time. The existence of the state is to accomplish the tasks related to human life and for this, the state has had the means called administration since the beginning. Administrative structures and systems work to fulfill the goals of governance and the needs of the general public. From the ancient tribal rule to the present public welfare democratic-republican governance systems, the administrative system has been present in some form or the other and as the democratic-republican governance systems have developed in the society, the decentralisation of administration and people's centralisation has further increased. In India's epic Ramayana, there is a description of Shri Ram going among the people listening to their problems, and organising Janata Darbar to solve the problems of the people. That is why good governance in India is addressed by the name 'Ramraj'. Similar examples are also found in the context of Chandragupta Maurya and his Prime Minister Kautilya, Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, King Harshvardhan, King Krishnadev Rai and Mughal Emperor Akbar.
Public-Centered Administration: Concept
Public-centric administration citizen-centric administration or public-oriented administration generally means such an administration in which the public has effective access to information, services, and resources, and the public also has effective participation in the policy-making process. This is a situation of two-way communication between the public and the government. In the 12th Report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, "Citizen Centered Administration: The Heart of Governance", it has been defined that this administration provides an environment of complete development to the citizens without any discrimination and provides all the citizens with an effective manner. Provides public services efficiently, effectively, and equitably. It has four main pillars, first, ethos i.e. service to citizens; second, ethics i.e. honesty, integrity, and transparency; Third, equality i.e. treating all citizens with sympathy towards weaker sections and fourth, efficiency i.e. quick and effective delivery of services without harassment and rapid use of information technology.
Jawaharlal Nehru has said in the context of making administration public-centric- “….Administration is meant to achieve something, and not to exist in some kind of an ivory tower, following certain rules of procedure and, Narcissuslike, looking on itself with complete satisfaction. The rest after all is the human beings and their welfare.” Although public administration itself is public-centric, many concepts have been given from time to time to make its form more public-oriented. These can be considered from the human relations approach, behavioral approach, social-psychological approach, ecological approach, etc. In public administration, the concept of New Public Administration emerged in the middle of the 20th century, which was supported by thinkers like Dwight Waldo, Frank Marini, and Golembiewski. An attempt was made to make it public-centric in which Dwight Waldo related it to social concern, Frank Marini considered it consumer-centric, Robert T. Golembiewski called it for the creation and growth of the people and Frederickson called it less institution-centric and more consumer-centric.
In the form of a public choice approach, Vincent Ostrom had supported making the administration decentralised, with public participation and with a plurality of institutions of public distribution. Similarly, in the form of New Public Management, David Osborne and Ted Gabler have favored making the government community-owned, consumer-directed, and decentralized.
In this sequence, taking a step forward in the direction of reform and decentralisation of administration, Michael Lipsky in his book 'Towards a Theory of Street Level Bureaucracy (1969)' proposed the concept of street-level bureaucracy or the availability of administration at the level closest to the general public, in which it has been proposed to make the administration public-centric and ensure its easy availability among the citizens and decentralisation of delivery of administrative services and decision-making.
Patrick Dunleavy and colleagues proposed a modern concept known as 'Digital Era Governance', which seeks to make maximum use of information technology in the delivery of services. As a result of this, we can see E-governance and M-governance, which have decentralised services in the hands of the common people. The ultimate objective of all these efforts is to ease the access of citizens to administration, efficient service delivery, and good governance.
Although in every administration there are personnel available for service delivery at the grassroots level, the services provided by them are very less, and for most of the services, the citizens have to wander to the headquarters. Here the word wandering has been used to indicate a lack of clarity in procedures, personnel not being available at their place, personnel being overburdened with workload, service not being delivered on time, etc. Possibly, this is the main reason for the discussion of good governance, transparency, decentralisation, and street-level service delivery in administration.
Research Methodology
The presented research is an empirical study which also makes a critical evaluation. The research area of the presented research is the entire Rajasthan. Both primary and secondary data have been included in the research. For the collection of primary data, the number of samples has been kept at 100, which has been selected from the entire Rajasthan by random purposive method. This sample size includes educationists, businessmen, students, farmers, housewives, government employees, politicians, social workers, etc. To collect data from the sample, a questionnaire was prepared on Google Form. The questionnaire was of a structured type in which both open and close-ended questions were included. Apart from this, the observation method has also been used to collect primary data. Secondary data has been taken from government websites of various states, annual progress reports, statistical reports, books, research papers, etc. The data was analysed using a simple percentage method.
Current Efforts of Public Centric Administration
Prashasan Ganvon ke Sang and Prashasan Shaharon ke Sang
In Rajasthan, this program is organised in two parts in which the works related to 22 departments are taken to the Gram Panchayat level along with the administration of the villages and the officers related to them are also available at that place at that time. Similarly, Prashasan Shaharon ke Sang program is run for urban areas in which all hearings related to all matters of urban development and urban local administration along with other tasks that can be decided by the departments/urban bodies at the local level are held, is done and all the problems related to these are resolved immediately. In such camps, all the facilities including E-mitra and other officials are available in one place, thereby eliminating unnecessary delays and procrastination in completing the tasks.
Vishesh Yogyajan Aayukta Aapke Dwar, 'Mission Tehsil 392' Program, Rajasthan
This program was organised by the Rajasthan Administration in the year 2022 by the Commissioner for Especially Abled Persons personally going to all the 392 tehsils of Rajasthan and hearing the problems of the especially abled and giving necessary instructions related to the problem to the concerned officer on the spot.
Baal Aayog Aapke Dwar, Rajasthan
This program was run by the Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in the year 2021 to make children feel safe and to build their trust in the administration. Through this program, while on the one hand, the Commission reached the doorsteps of children to listen to their problems, on the other hand, an effort was also made to know the actual situation of crimes related to children and to spread awareness about it.
Aapke Adhikar-Aapki Sarkar-Aapke Dwar and Aapki Yojna-Aapki Sarkar-Aapke Dwar, Jharkhand
The operation of this scheme was started in the year 2021 on the birthday of Lord Birsa Munda with the name ‘Aapke Adhikar-Aapke Sarkar-Aapke Dwar’. Seeing its success, it was relaunched in the year 2022 with the name “Aapki Yojana-Aapki Sarkar-Aapke Dwar.” In this program, petitions regarding problems related to public welfare schemes and services related to various departments are received and resolved.
Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar, Madya Pradesh
From the year 2019, 'Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar' program has been organised in Madhya Pradesh to provide benefits of government schemes to the general public on the spot and to solve public problems. The main objective of this program is to solve the problems/grievances of the citizens, and to inspect, monitor and provide information about various government schemes and facilities.
Zila Prashasan Aapke Dwar, Himachal Pradesh
In this program, stalls of various departmental schemes are set up in a special camp by the district administration, in which all the concerned officials are present. Apart from the district service delivery, the problems of the public are heard by the DM and immediate instructions are given to the concerned officer for their solution.
Apart from this, many state governments run such programs, like, Prashasan Aapke Dwar (Bihar), Khula Darbar (Haryana), Sarkar Aapke Dwar (Punjab); Noida Aapke Dwar (New Okhla Industrial Development Authority); Nyay Aapke Dwar and Shiksha Aapke Dwar (Rajasthan), to hear and solve problems of common public at their doorsteps. While such activities decentralise the administration, on the other hand, it makes administration and services public-centric.
Empirical Evaluation of Current Efforts of Public-Centric Administration Stability
Figure: 1 and 2 - Permanent and timely solution to the problems of the common people
According to the data shown in Figure 1, 64.3 per cent of the respondents believe that such programs do not provide permanent solutions to the problems of the public, whereas according to 23.5 per cent, the problems that arise or exist during those times are solved. According to the figures shown in Figure 2, people's problems are not solved at the appropriate time and are merely formalities. Whereas 11.3 per cent believe that such programs can be beneficial for those problems that are not of a serious nature.
Faulty Work
According to the data shown in Figure 3, 90.8 percent of the respondents believe that in such public-centric programs, emphasis is laid on the quick resolution of problems and immediate delivery of services, and every work is done quickly due to which the chances of errors remain high. In such a situation, if there is any technical error then one has to go through the entire process again. Since most of the work done in these programs is of a permanent and essential nature, such errors in them are a waste of both time and money. The researcher himself has had a similar experience in such a program when after making a document, it was found that there were mistakes in it and that document had to be made again at the headquarters. Probably most of the respondents have gone through such experiences.
Figure: 3 and 4 - Faulty Work and disruption of headquarters work
Headquarters Work Disrupted
At the time of organising such programs and camps at the local level, the head of the concerned department and other personnel have to reach the concerned place with the entire entourage and stay there for the entire duration of the program. According to the data shown in Figure 4, 79.4 percent of the respondents believe that during the organisation of such programs, all the work done at the headquarters gets disrupted. Therefore, during the organization of such programs, the citizens of the entire area have to face this inconvenience. Whereas 16.5 per cent of the respondents believe that this does not cause any special hindrance and this can be done for service delivery to the public.
Expense
According to the data in Figure 5, 63.3 per cent of the respondents believe that such programs are a waste of public money while 34.7 per cent believe that spending public money for the public is not a waste. According to the annual report of the Panchayati Raj Department, in the year 2013, the Rajasthan Government had allocated a budget of Rs. 20 thousand at each Gram Panchayat level for organising programs with the village administration, which is approximately Rs. 20 crore in one phase for the Gram Panchayats of the entire state. 13 Apart from this, if other expenses are also considered then this budget will increase manifold. The state government has restarted this program in the year 2023, which is almost five times more than the previous budget and the total actual expenditure will be many times more than before. In this way, even after spending so much money, no permanent system is developed.
Figure: 5 and 6 - Misuse of public funds and Motivated by Political Goals
Motivated by Political Goals
According to the data shown in Figure 6, 83.7 per cent of the respondents believe that such programs are organised to promote political parties and their achievements. Generally, it has been observed that most of such public-centric programs currently in vogue in the country are conducted before the elections to fulfill the political wishes of a particular political party or a particular political person and they become an arena for political meetings and speeches. The respondents also believe that in such programs, senior administrative officers are also put in the service of these political persons, which not only wastes their time but also harms their morale.
Figure: 7
Quantitative Goals Instead of Qualitative Ones
According to the data shown in Figure 7, 82.7 per cent of the respondents believe that such programmes deviate from their real objective of solving the problems of the common public and shift towards receiving and disposing of as many applications as possible. In such a situation, more attention is given to those problems which are of a simple nature and can be resolved quickly so that more data can be presented in the news.
From the analysis of the above data, it can be concluded that although by organising such programmes the government reaches out to the public and listens to the public and some problems are also solved, but mostly such programs work as political propaganda on public money. Which neither creates a permanent system nor provides permanent solutions to the problems. On the other hand, the main function of the government and administration, which is to listen to the problems of the citizens and solve them, is glorified at public expense. The work that the administration does sometimes in a year should be done every day and whenever possible it must organise such programs continuously. Therefore, some permanent system should be developed.
Figure: 8, 9 and 10 - Decentralisation of Services, Ease of Process and Single Window
Possibilities of Permanent Public-Centric Administration
Public money is spent on the programs of public-centered administration currently being run. With the expenditure of that or a little more finance, a public-centered permanent grievance redressal and service delivery system can be created and in this, the institutions and resources located in the past will be used. They can also be used to establish coordination. The following steps can be taken for the development of a public-centric administrative system-
Decentralisation of Services
According to the data shown in Figure 8, 90.8 per cent of the respondents believe that local-level services and problems that can be solved at the local level should be delegated to the regional level. This will have benefits, Firstly, it will lessen the workload of the headquarters, secondly, problems will be solved and services will be delivered locally, which will prevent waste of time, money, and resources, thirdly, physical verification at the local level will be more transparent as local personnel have easier access to the citizens, fourthly, citizens will not be needed to visit headquarters unnecessarily. Creation of documents like Caste Certificates, Domicile certificates, Connections to water and electricity supply, and matters related to the Revenue Department such as purification of accounts, division of accounts, land allotment, land holding rights, giving public way, agricultural land conversion, land use conversion, building regulations/construction approval, free-hold leases, the revival of leases and registration of unregistered documents issued earlier, etc., adding or removing names from various schemes; work related to widows, abandoned, elderly and disabled people; etc. are such tasks which can be delegated at the local level and the service centers located at the local level can be empowered to provide services, redressal of problems and complaints related to these issues. Whereas 6 per cent of the respondents believe that this will increase corruption.
Creation of a Public-Centric Grievance Redressal and Service Provider Centre in the form of 'Single Window'
According to the data shown in Figure 9, 98 per cent of the respondents believe that the Gram Panchayat office located at each Gram Panchayat headquarters should be developed as a public-centric grievance redressal centre with a 'single window' service provider centre for the local level citizens. This should be done and adequate resources should also be made available for it. The entire village-level personnel/officers of the street-level bureaucracy can be made available here who will ensure the delivery of services related to the common people. With this, the common man will have to contact one place for all services and complaints, which will avoid unnecessary running around and will stop wasting of time and money.
Ease of Processes
According to the data shown in Figure 10, 95.9 per cent of the respondents believe that for the delivery of various services and redressal of complaints, centers should be established at the local level and strengthened and the processes should also be facilitated under which applications for various services can be made.
The process of verification should be further strengthened and simplified, and they should be linked to the local centres so that one does not have to go to the headquarters to submit any kind of document for any kind of physical verification, and the same can be verified at the local centre itself. Send the centre verification report to the headquarters. Only such cases that are serious or suspicious should be called for verification at the headquarters. According to the respondents, in any other case, if the Headquarters feels the need for physical verification, it can do it through video conferencing from the Centre. Contacting citizens for the local center, their physical verification, etc. can be done easily and any fake documentation can be prevented. If there is a provision for offline applications for any service, then they can be accepted by this center and the center can send a systematic and complete application to the headquarters regularly after thoroughly checking the application and documents and if the application is not received by the headquarters. If he finds any kind of deficiency in the report, he can resolve it by sending it back to the centre through video conference or by calling the concerned person at the headquarters.
Obstacles in Establishing the Centre and its Solutions
There is always opposition to any kind of change in an established administration and if there is a question of decentralisation of administration, then this opposition will be even more because on one hand it reduces the powers of superior officials and on the other hand it increases the functions of subordinates. The obstacles will be faced in establishing Public-Centric Service Centers at the local level and their solutions are as follows-
• The main problem in setting up a centre is finance and since the entire system will be developed and implemented simultaneously in the entire state, its expenditure will also be incurred simultaneously. Therefore, its approval becomes difficult, but if we look at the recurring expenditure on temporary programs held in the past, a permanent centre can be developed at a slightly higher expenditure. Since this will be a permanent system, the expenditure on it will be incurred only once. On the other hand, the expenditure incurred on it can be charged on the services provided by it, which the citizens will gladly accept because it will save them money and time.
• The second most important problem is the division of work. Since most of these cases are of the Revenue Department, the Patwari will be made responsible for the work, and at present, due to a lack of sufficient number of the Patwari at the local level, they are also overburdened. On the other hand, there will also be a problem as to what level and authority related to a service should be delegated. For this, the positions and roles of the entire personnel system will have to be reinterpreted, which is a big technical task and a very time-consuming process. But here it should also be kept in mind that these obstacles come every time whether it is the formation of a district or the formation of Panchayati Raj Institutions. Therefore, this can be done by governments for good governance and public-centric administration.
• The third most important problem is that of corruption. Kautilya has said that where there is finance, there is always corruption and the employees commit corruption from that finance just like fish drinks water while living in water but is not visible. Therefore, there is a strong possibility that delegation of services at the local level will increase corruption at this level, but this problem can be addressed through measures like, effective supervision, determination of service rates, determination of accountability, and development of effective grievance redressal mechanisms, etc.
A small number of personnel and the availability of skilled personnel at the local level is a hindrance. Since most of the work is being decentralised, the personnel related to it should also be posted at the local level and more personnel should be made available at these places. The problem of personnel efficiency can be solved by necessary training.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that in a democratic country like India, where democratic values are developing with time, governments will have to adopt values like good governance, transparency, and decentralisation, and only by making the administration public-centric the real benefits of these values will be able to reach the common public. The model described in this article is only a suggestion that submits a solution to the government for the development of public-centric administration. At the practical level, it may have to face many other obstacles, but in administration, the reality is known only after doing any work, hence such efforts should also be made.
References
1. U. C. Aggarwal, Public Administration: Vision and Reality, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, 2003.
2. Citizen Centric Administration: The Heart of Governance, 12th Report, Second Administrative Reforms Commission, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India, February 2009, p. 8-9.
3. Awasthi and Maheshwari, Public Administration, Lakshminarayan Aggarwal, Agra, 2008, p. 50-52.
4. Awasthi and Maheshwari, Public Administration, Lakshminarayan Aggarwal, Agra, 2008, p. 34, 42-43.
5. Michael Lipsky, Toward a Theory of Street Level Bureaucracy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1969, p. 2.
6. B. l. Fadia, Lok Prashasan, Sahitya Bhawan, Agra, 2013, p. 193.
7. Prashasan Gavon ke Sang Guide, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Rajasthan
https://rajpanchayat.rajasthan.gov.in/hi-in.aspx
8. Prashasan Shaharon ke Sang, Local Self-Government Department, Government of Rajasthan
https://urban.rajasthan.gov.in/content/raj/udh/lsg-jaipur/en/cug-zone-/prashashan-shehro-ke-sang-abhiyan-2021.html
9. Vishesh Yogyajan Aayukt Aapke Dwar 'Mission Tehsil 392' program, Information and Public Relations Department, Government of Rajasthan https://dipr.rajasthan.gov.in/press-release-detail/69271/85
10. Baal Aayog Aapke Dwar, Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Government of Rajasthan, Rajasthan.
https://rscpcr.rajasthan.gov.in/home/dptHome
11. Aapki Yojna-Aapki Sarkar-Aapke Dwar Status Report, Sarkar Aapke Dwar, Jharkhand Government.
https://sarkaraapkedwar.jharkhand.gov.in/StatusReportBooklet.aspx
12. Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar, General Administration Department, Madhya Pradesh Government
https://gad.mp.gov.in/AapkiSarkarAapkeDwar06072019.pdf
Governance & Polity • 1 month ago
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