India's civil service snoozes
Adam Smith Blog
By Madsen on Gov't Administration
The FT's New Delhi bureau chief, Edward Luce, paints a depressing picture of India's failure to reform its "chronically unaccountable bureaucracy." [FT by subscription] Much was expected of Manmohan Singh's new government, which made public administration reform a priority. Luce tells us why.
There was no point, it was argued, in increasing spending on priorities such as health and education - services for which Indian voters were crying out - until it could be ensured the money would reach the beneficiaries (as opposed to being pocketed by the bureaucracy).
In fact taxpayers' money is now coming thick and fast, on defence and social projects, as well as a promise to double the health and education budgets. But Luce tells us that "when it comes to the indispensable reforms - making civil servants sackable and setting up an effective anti-corruption system - there is little sign of action."
The reason may be that India's economy is still growing at 6.5% this year, independently of government, so there is some cause for satisfaction and a temptation to postpone difficult decisions. The real reason might be that too many of the key players are already aboard the gravy train and don't want it stopped. Public Choice Theory leads us to expect no less, but the story Luce tells is bleak.
A third of state school teachers are absent on any given day, according to a recent survey. The same applies to the country's primary health clinics, which are more often empty than staffed. Parents and patients alike are powerless.
It is partly because India is a democracy that civil service reform is so difficult to achieve - many of the coalition partners wish to protect their stake in the status quo. Democracy is not a problem for China, India's chief rival in the Asian growth stakes, but they, too, have a bureaucracy seeking to maintain its advantages and retarding progress. One route to reform elsewhere has been to transfer whole functions of government to the private sector, exposing them to choice and competition. It could work in India or China if either had the resolution to do it. |
