Blog Archive - Page 54 of 130 - Accountability Initiative: Responsive Governance

Government Spending is Disconnected from the Realities of Health and Poverty

How far has India progressed on securing welfare of all? This blog is part of a series which uses data to unpack the status of health, education and policy reforms in India’s 71st year of freedom. The first blog of the series can be found here.

Poor health and nutritional deficiencies have become somewhat of a staple in the country. The loss of life due to ill-health are astronomical in both personal and social terms. These come along with significant economic losses to families, a large number of whom live on the margins of society. With such deprivation and the changing shape of India’s health crisis, one would expect the government in any developing country to ramp up healthcare funding. However, these expectations are dashed while looking at government spending (state and centre combined). The share of expenditure on health as a proportion of GDP has remained stagnant over the years.

Funding for the National Health Mission (NHM), the Government of India’s largest health programme, too remained largely immobile from 2013-14 to 2016-17. While allocations jumped in 2017-18, they have decreased by 2 per cent in 2018-19, in a year when the health crisis that India faces has been in sharp focus from the government. This decline in allocations is puzzling, considering the government has launched schemes like Ayushman Bharat only recently. While spending more isn’t a panacea, a lack of spending appears to reflect the low priority of public health in the government’s agenda.

Even within the limited funds spent by the government, spending smartly would be a priority. However, there seems to be a disconnect between the disease burden in the country and the direction of funding. Curiously enough, just a trivial 4 per cent was allocated to non-communicable diseases out of the total budget in 2016-17, while 6 out of 10 deaths in India are now a consequence of non-communicable diseases. To make matters worse, only 33 per cent of that meagre amount was actually spent.

A paralysed system

The Indian health system is paralysed in myriad ways and not yet adept in tackling the shifting disease burden. Given the increase in non-communicable diseases, specialists (surgeons, physicians, gynaecologists, and obstetricians) will be required with even greater urgency. There is however a shortfall in specialists, with 82 per cent out of required posts at Community Health Centres lying vacant.

The ailing public health system has pushed several households, across the income spectrum to access private health care options according to various sources. NSS 2014 shows that there is a preference for private hospitals: In cases where hospitalisation was needed, 58 per cent used private hospitals in rural areas, while this number was 68 per cent in urban areas. NFHS 4 data shows a similar story.

One would expect the poorest to be more reliant on government services. However, the high percentage of people even amongst the poorest accessing private healthcare and the proliferation of spurious “doctors”, without formal medical training, who are sought for up to 75 per cent of primary care visits in rural India reflects the extent to which the public health system is paralysed. This has far-reaching implications in terms of poverty and inequality.

Amongst the poorest 20 per cent women, a staggering 84 per cent had at least one problem in accessing healthcare. Every single issue caused by the health system affects the poor far more than the rich. At the same time, a substantial 48 per cent women of the richest 20 percent faced at least one issue in accessing health care. The magnitude of the health care crisis that India faces is multifaceted – issues such as gender and caste discrimination and the way they play out cannot be ignored.

The maintenance of poverty

Due to obvious necessities, families end up spending far more than they would, had our public health care system been effective. The average hospitalisation cost in a private hospital is almost 4 times that of a public hospital in rural areas, and a little more than 4 times for urban areas. In particular, private hospitals charge far more for beds, doctors and surgeons, and medicines. In fact, bed charges in private hospitals are more than 12 times bed charges in government hospitals. Even private doctors are costlier than public hospitals – the average total medical expenditure for treatment per person was ₹462 in public hospitals in rural areas, versus ₹581 for private doctors or clinics. The corresponding figures for urban areas are ₹394 in public hospitals, and ₹658 for private doctors or clinics.

A shift in the disease burden to non-communicable diseases like cardio-vascular illnesses and cancer compound the problem. Out of 100 deaths in India, 28 are caused by cardiovascular diseases, 11 by chronic respiratory diseases, and 8 by various cancers. Private hospitals are four times as costly for cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases, and three times as costly for cancer, compared to government hospitals.

This makes private health care unaffordable for many. Those that feel that private options are better end up paying a very high price for healthcare, often resorting to borrowing. As per NSS 2014, 25 per cent rural health expenditure and 18 per cent of urban health expenditure is financed by borrowings (excluding money borrowed from friends and family). Insurance may go some ways in easing the cost burden on families, but only 29 per cent households in the country have at least one member insured. This leaves a large number of people in a precarious position, susceptible to destitution due to health risks not covered by the state or personal wealth.

Since these expenditures are usually unplanned, they are a source of great anxiety for many. Imagine a household whose income is improving and may be close to escaping the clutches of poverty, but is pushed back down the income ladder due to a sudden expense. While the rich can draw on their wealth to deal with the problem, the poor often find their hard earned wealth quickly dissipating\and inequality in society persists.

Crucially, the costs of healthcare have been pushed on to individuals and families, and this has only added to the instability and uncertainty in the lives of the poor and in a mind-bogglingly unequal country, leaving people in a precarious position.

Can the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) help? The jury is still out, but lessons from previous insurance schemes like the RSBY clearly suggest that public funding for the private sector may be an exercise in vain. The profit-seeking private sector charges a higher amount than the public sector, and the government will have to shell out the costs. Furthermore, predatory practices (over-charging or over-treating), inadequate monitoring capability, and low state capacity are just some of the hurdles that PMJAY is likely to encounter. Instead, the state must step up in a more direct way rather than leave things to the private sector, if we are serious about larger goals – poverty alleviation and achieving basic human dignity and equality.

Immense Potential of ‘Open’ School Data Untapped in India

Imagine knowing the details of how children are learning in classrooms and what facilities they are being provided in schools to experience a better learning environment. In many countries across the world ‘open’ school data – information on schools which is publicly available – are being used by parents and communities to either make the choice of which school their child will attend or to hold schools accountable for the quality of education. Indian parents too have the option to access such local data. Yet a new study by us shows that there are multiple challenges in using this valuable information by Indian citizens.

The study is part of 6 country research effort to assess how open school data is empowering people and improving accountability in public education. Accountability Initiative wanted to understand how open school data is utilised by different stakeholders in the country’s public education system, and to what extent this has acted as an enabler for citizens as well as the government. We undertook the research[1] in three states during the latter half of 2017 and our findings have now been published.

In India, the Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE), an annual database maintained by the government, is the only source of information on the status of every school. Based on U-DISE data, school report cards (SRCs) are created and can be accessed online. Indicators covered in a U-DISE SRC include enrolment across grades, gender and caste representation, dropout rates, infrastructure facilities available in schools, teachers and their qualifications, incentives given to students and expenditure of government funds. This data provides rich insight on how the school is functioning, whether children are able to access facilities as per legal mandates and if there are enough teachers for every class. Thus, the data can help in identifying roadblocks to the provision of quality education.

The study found that this mine of information is being extensively used by the government for annual financial planning of school education and understanding the status of schools. On the contrary, only 10% of parents knew that this type of data existed and 2% actually logged on the U-DISE portal to access school-level data (based on a sample of 154 randomly selected parents of children attending public schools in the three states). The lopsided participation of parents is problematic as they are currently not in a position to use such data as evidence to demand accountability from government-run school education services or to register grievances with respect to the public education system.

Across the world, countries have faced obstacles in citizen uptake of open school data and figured simple ways to tackle them. A recent policy forum organised by UNESCO-IIEP was revealing in this respect. The event was attended by representatives from government education departments and civil society organisations from more than 10 countries ranging from developing to advanced economies. I am sharing some of their insights and the findings of the study.

Awareness generation on school report cards among citizens has been a major roadblock, especially in developing countries. This was one of the study’s findings too. Till now, there has hardly been any large-scale initiative by the Indian government to raise awareness about the existence and usage of U-DISE school report cards. The effort of government schools – another source of information sharing – is inadequate. For instance, none of the sampled schools had put up the SRC on their notice boards for public view and only some discussed it with parents and community members in their monthly management committee meetings. In the Philippines, school report cards are disseminated in school assembly meetings twice a year for parents. This is makes for an easy to implement solution.

The study also revealed how data presentation is of consequence for parents. Even if people knew of the data, it was not always presented in a manner that was easy to understand since school report cards in our country are laden with numbers and statistics. Australia has launched ‘My School’[2]recognising the potential of an easy-to-comprehend platform. It has a range of indicators about each Australian school. However, instead of displaying all information, parents have the flexibility to only look at indicators that they are interested in and that too in the form of graphs or another form of visualisation. Citizens can also look at trends in school performance over time. The uptake for such information is bound to be more promising.

In addition, capturing the kind of information that most parents want to know and the inclusion (or exclusion) of such data in the current format of school report cards is important. The study found that the top three aspects on which parents wanted information were: the learning levels of their children; the provision of basic infrastructure facilities in schools which ensure safety and hygiene; availability of qualified teachers on a regular basis. U-DISE data does not address learning levels even as it features the other two indicators among other information. Learning levels are assessed by a different government body (the NCERT) through the National Achievement Survey (NAS) based on a sample number of schools across every district in the country. As a result, the data on learning outcomes are representative at the state and district levels only, not for each school in the country.

Australia’s equivalent of U-DISE contains data on performance of students in annual national literacy and numeracy tests (NAPLAN) along with many other indicators such as enrolment, attendance, teachers and expenditure of school funds. School report cards published by the Philippines government include mean scores from a ‘National Achievement Test’. Similarly, many Latin American countries include learning outcomes in school data made available to public. The relevance of school report cards for Indian parents is likely to be less in the absence of indicators such as learning outcomes.

A fourth challenge to usage emanates from weak infrastructure.

Countries such as Australia do not have to jostle with the limited reach of online platforms as we do. A large proportion of parents of children attending government schools in India are from rural areas, and from economically poorer sections of the society. Most of parents have low literacy levels and they may not have access to the internet. Until and unless they can access school report cards through offline modes and in local languages, the usage will be restricted. At present the only way a parent can access a hardcopy of the school report card and compare it with another school is by requesting a copy from the block level office. This involves considerable investment of time and there is no guarantee on the time it might take to have the information in hand. Increasing availability is thus of importance.

The Indian government has introduced a public participation model of accountability wherein parents and communities can be directly involved in the provisioning of education in India and get their voices heard. It is well known that India faces varied challenges in this path. Low levels of literacy among parents, low income levels which force them to prioritise a livelihood over their child’s learning, inadequate school infrastructure, lack of teachers, are only some issues. They directly or indirectly impact the usage of school data as evidence either to make school choices or to demand accountability. The experience of other countries offers insights on exactly how open school data is a useful tool for ensuring accountability in the public school system. As we recommend in the study, a multi-pronged approach is needed to solve the usage problem among citizens.

[1] Bordoloi, Mridusmita. Kapoor, Varun. 2018. Using open school data to improve transparency and accountability in India. Series: Ethics and corruption in education. Paris: UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning.

[2] ‘My School’ is run by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), an independent statutory authority responsible for collecting and reporting data on Australia’s schools.

Available online at: https://www.myschool.edu.au/

आँगनवाड़ी सहायिका की दुविधाजनक स्तिथि

आँगनवाड़ी कार्यकर्ताओं और सहायिकाओं के वेतन को बढ़ाने का महत्त्वपूर्ण कदम भारत सरकार ने हाल ही में उठाया है | लेकिन पोषण सेवाओं को अन्य और कारण प्रभावित करते हैं | इसमें से काम का बोझ एक है और जिसमें स्तिथि कुछ ख़ास अच्छी नहीं है |

आँगनवाड़ी देश में लाखों बच्चों और माताओं के नाज़ुक दौर में सेवाएं प्रदान करती हैं | बिहार राज्य मे सामेकित बाल विकास सेवाओं के तहत 6 सुविधाएं दी जाती हैं: पूरक पोषण, पूर्व स्कूल गैर औपचारिक शिक्षा, पोषण और स्वास्थ्य शिक्षा, प्रतिरक्षा, स्वास्थ्य जांच और रेफ़रल सेवाएं | आँगनवाड़ी केंद्र में एक आँगनवाड़ी कार्यकर्ता और एक आँगनवाड़ी सहायिका होती है | वैसे तो आँगनवाड़ी को बहुत सारे काम करने पड़ते है लेकिन कार्यकर्ता को 36 प्रकार के रेजिस्टर भरने होते है जिसमे की 12 रेजिस्टर पर हर रोज लिखना पड़ता है | इसीलिए आँगनवाड़ी कार्यकर्ता कागजों मे उलझी रहती हैंऔर उनके कुछ कामों का भार आंगनवाड़ी सहायिका के ऊपर आ जाता है |

में आपको बिहार राज्य के पुर्णिया जिले के एक आंगनवाड़ी केंद्र के बारे में बताना चाहता हूँ जहां मैंने देखा की आगंवाड़ी कार्यकर्ता अपने कागजो को पूरा करने मे व्यस्त थीं | आँगनवाड़ी सहायिका बहुत सारे काम कर रही थीं जैसे बच्चों को खाना देना, किसी-किसी बच्चे को खाना खिलाना | बीच–बीच मे आगंवाड़ी कार्यकर्ता कुछ अलग काम करने को बोल देती जैसे की किसी लाभार्थी को घर से बुलाना है तो आंगनवाड़ी सहायिका को जाना पड़ता | ऐसे में बच्चों की देख भाल और बाकी कामों के बीच का संतुलन बिगड़ जाता |

आँगनवाड़ी सहायिका का मुख्य काम है 3-6 वर्ष के बच्चों को आंगनवाड़ी केंद्र पर घर से लाना और उनके लिए गर्म भोजन पकाकर खिलाना | आँगनवाड़ी सहायिका स्थानीय होती हैं | इनका चयन पंचायत स्तर पर मुखिया और बाल विकास परियोजना पदाधिकारी के द्वारा किया जाता है | आँगनवाड़ी सहायिका की योग्यता बहुत ही निम्न होती है और अधिकतर आँगनवाड़ी सहायिका पढ़ी लिखी नहीं होती हैं |

जब मैंने आँगनवाड़ी सहायिका से बात की तो पता चला की जब उनका इस पद के लिए चयन हुआ था तब सिर्फ एक बार प्रशिक्षण हुआ था | आज इनका 12वां साल है काम करते हुए ,बीच – बीच मे पोषण संबंधी क्या बदलाव हुए हैं इसकी उन्हें कोई जानकारी नही है | जैसे – जैसे आँगनवाड़ी कार्यकर्ता का निर्देश होता है वैसे – वैसे काम करती हैं | यह भी एक समस्या है की सहायिकाओं को कोई ज़्यादा नहीं प्रशिक्षण नहीं मिलता | यह तब जब वह सेवा को लाभार्थी तक पहुचाने की एक मुख्य कड़ी हैं | अगर उनको बच्चों के पोषण के बारे में ज़्यादा पता ही नहीं तोह वह बच्चों की देख-रेख कैसे कर पाएंगी, उनमें से कुछ बच्चे तोह गंभीर रूप से कुपोषित होते हैं!

काम का भार और प्रशिक्षण – इन मुद्दों के ऊपर ध्यान देना अब आव्यशक है जिससे ज़मीनी स्तर पर सेवा मे सुधार किया जा सके और सामेकित बाल विकास सेवाएँ का उधेशय पूरा हो |

Unpacking the governance question in the classroom

Are centrally sponsored schemes in India a useful apparatus for public service delivery?

How can citizens contribute to better governance?

What functions of the government should be decentralised?

These were some of the questions that saw heated debate at Accountability Initiative’s course ‘Understanding State Capabilities’ conducted at the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM). Spread over 3 packed days, the course helped students uncover complex ideas of decentralised governance, bureaucracy and its myriad challenges in India, social sector spending, government budgets, planning and social accountability.

The course early this month saw enthusiastic participation from the students at ISDM, the next generation of development leaders in the country, who often highlighted and brought out facets of their own work experience across different sectors, ably making the connection between classroom discussion and real-world practice. Some sections of the course definitely seemed to have resonated with the students, particularly the various activities spread across the course that provided students with an inimitable opportunity to engage, debate, and discuss not just with each other but also researchers from Accountability Initiative who formed the course faculty.

In an activity that aimed to bring out the facets of multiple governments in decentralisation, groups of students represented the Union, State, and local governments. A spirited debate emerged about the efficacy, efficiency, and appropriateness of different levels of government partaking in different functions required to start and run a school. Some interesting questions and insights emerged from the discussion, so much so that students could be found continuing their discussion in their smaller groups well after the end of the session and into lunch break!

Should the school curriculum be set by the Union government and standardisation be aimed for or should different states exercise their prerogative based on state specific learning levels and contexts? Who is better equipped to recruit and train teachers between the state and local governments? Should the state take up the responsibility of providing uniforms so as to achieve better economies of scale? These were only some of the critical questions raised and deliberated upon by the students, during this session.

The session on theories of decentralisation further facilitated the bringing out of nuance of the complex power play that ensues once answers to these questions are sought. The team from AI further laid out the juxtaposition of India’s commitment to decentralisation on one hand, and the limited success of fiscal decentralisation on the other.

Another fiercely debated topic was that of Centrally Sponsored Schemes. Here too, students drew from their own understanding and also built on valuable insights from the AI team. A debate erupted on whether or not CSSs strengthen state apparatus for public service delivery. A variety of perspectives came to the forefront. Some students felt that states currently lack the resources and capacity to attain satisfactory levels of service delivery in certain sectors, and thus CSSs are desirable. Others felt that such programmes were not necessarily a solution, and the focus should rather be on building capacities of state and local governments, so they can take up such initiatives at their own prerogative.

Another session that sent the students into an excited frenzy was the session on the reading of the Budget documents, where we think we encouraged many students to begin their own quest to become successful ‘fiscal detectives’.

These are only a few snippets of the larger story that the course aimed to convey to upcoming development practitioners. These sessions, and many more were building blocks that came together to build the larger narrative of the course around governance and accountability. Divided into 3 modules namely, ‘what does the government do’, ‘how does the government function’, and ‘what is the role of citizens in governance’, the course aims to provide a thorough on-ground perspective of the root causes of administrative and fiscal failure in India, thus positioning students as potential problem-solvers, capable of bridging these gaps.

The case of Kallu Ram’s missing Swachh Bharat Mission money

Kallu Ram and his family were owners of a brand new toilet, it even had a flush, a first for this family from a small village near Jaipur. The family was excited about the new toilet in the house, but making this toilet had left them high and dry. When Kallu was first approached by his village Panchayat to build this toilet, he was a bit apprehensive as they had little money for an extra expense such as this, and so far they were fairly happy going to the field. Then he found out that there was a government scheme called Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and he would get paid to build the toilet. Sure, it was an added expense, but the Panchayat was putting pressure and his daughter and son both wanted it. He believed this was perhaps the way forward, and with full faith in the government, the toilet was constructed.

It had now been four months since the construction, but with high usage and construction costs, all the toilet had really done was drain him of his resources. As a small farmer he had a tight budget and the only way he could ever afford this toilet was from the amount he would receive from the government. As per SBM norms the government is required to pay every beneficiary Rs. 12,000 per toilet for a low cost but good quality toilet. Once the toilet is built, beneficiaries are verified on the basis of usage. Kallu Ram had completed all these formalities four months ago and was still longingly awaiting to receive the promised sum. He now felt cheated and dejected as he had tried everything and the only answer he ever got from the Panchayat was, “abhi paisa upar se hi nahin aaya hai (the money has still not been come from the top)”. The SBM money promised to him had gone missing.

Enter Om Prakash Sharma, a smart college student, youth group leader, Nehru Yuva Kendra Block Coordinator and the star of our story. As a block coordinator, Om Prakash had helped many of his community members avail government services. He would soon become the fiscal detective who saved the day for Kallu Ram!

He wanted to find out exactly where the money was stuck. What route had it taken? Had it been allocated and yet not released? Had the centre really not released the money or had the funds just not reached the Panchayat? He knew that the government’s actual expenditure (reported two years after the budget announcement) was often far lower than the actual budget estimate. The slow movement of money was an important reason for this, and the slower the movement the harder it would be for him to track! Oh how he wanted to put his finger on the exact point where the money was stuck- after leaving the central government coffer, on its route to the last mile beneficiary.

You see as a NYK Block Coordinator Om Prakash had recently attended a course called ‘Hum aur Humaari Sarkaar’ conducted by Accountability Initiative where he had learnt about the complications in the fund flow system, the Indian budget system, and how government schemes are formulated and implemented. He now knew why the money often doesn’t reach its stipulated destination on time and where all it can get delayed and this case was his big opportunity to test his knowledge.

So when he first went to the Panchayat office with Kallu Ram, rechecked all the submitted documents and asked the Sarpanch and Panchayat Sachiv about the money, as expected he was told that the money had not come. He knew instantly there was more to this story than met the eye. It had been more than four months since all documents had been submitted, how was it possible that the money had not come? This led our young detective and his ‘client’ to their next stop- the Panchayat Samiti (the block level panchayat office). After some waiting, pleading, sleuthing and questioning they found out that the money had actually been transferred to Kallu Ram a long time ago. But Om Prakash had checked, no money had reached Kallu’s account. And if the money had been deposited where had it gone? This case was getting more and more interesting and Om Prakash more and more excited! He was on a mission and he was now going to find out what happened to the missing SBM money.

Many years of friendship with the peon now came into use, and Om Prakash was led to the Accountant. The man with all the answers to Om Prakash’s questions. The Accountant was a skinny, straight looking man with little time for idle chatter. Om Prakash knew if he wanted to know what had happened to the money, he would need to be quick and direct in his approach. And so Om Prakash began, “Sir, Mr. Kallu Ram here was to be transferred Rs. 12,000 for constructing a toilet under the scheme Swach Bharath Mission, it has been 4 months since he has submitted all his documents and still not received the money. Some members of the Panchayat Samiti claim that the money has definitely been transferred to him but as you can see from his accounts that is not the case, so I demand to know where is the money now and who has it been transferred to if not to him?”

The Accountant immediately agreed to look up the records. The records indeed showed that Kallu Ram had received the money. Both Om Prakash and Kallu Ram were dumbfounded! Om Prakash insisted on looking at the records himself. On closer inspection he found out that a payment had been made in the name of Kallu Ram but the account to which the money had been transferred wasn’t his. There had been an error in writing the account number and instead somebody else in the village had received the money due to him. Om Prakash had traced the money and caught the error.

The Accountant and the Panchayat Samiti apologised to Kallu, though somewhat grudgingly. They still claim that the error in the numbers is a mistake but somehow Om Prakash is not convinced. Kallu Ram is elated as the ‘mistake’ has been rectified and he has received his payment. Om Prakash has solved his first case as a fiscal detective and the case of Kallu Ram and the missing SBM money has been closed.

*****

This is the real story of a participant of the course ‘Hum aur Humaari Sarkaar’ from Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) in Rajasthan. The story is important for two reasons, first, that citizens empowered with knowledge can make a difference to achieving development goals, make the government responsive and hold it accountable. Knowledge is certainly not always enough and/or the only means of empowerment but it is an important catalyst. As per Benequista and Gaventa (2012) in many societies “citizens are unaware of their existing rights, lack the knowledge needed to interact with the state, or do not feel they have the agency and power to act”. In these situations, just like in our story, knowledge of how the system works becomes a weapon for citizens like Om Prakash, giving him the confidence and power to confront the state. This course focused on topics such as social sector spending in India, fund flow of money from centre to the last mile beneficiary, culture and decision-making dynamics of frontline bureaucracy and citizen action and social accountability, all of which played a part in Om Prakash’s understanding of engaging with the governance system and encouraged him to act. The fact that he is a member of an organised system of volunteers – NYKS – that encourages community participation and regularly gives him opportunities to increase his knowledge and learn new skills is also an advantage.

The other reason this story is significant is that the training that enabled Om Prakash to take action was not performance based rather it was information and/or knowledge based and in the current scenario of capacity building, information based training is often undermined. If woven with the participant’s current reality and context information based training can be extremely effective. Especially when it comes to understanding the reality of government functioning and the role citizens can play to improve governance. There are over 3.3 million NGOs in India with a majority of them based in the grassroots, run by grassroots development professionals or volunteers just like Om Prakash, who often have little exposure to the larger system within which they operate making its navigation challenging, and therefore limiting the scope of their impact to address their social sector concerns. One reason for this limited exposure is lack of access to relevant, applicable and easy to understand knowledge. The other is that most capacity building courses for the grassroots focus on skill building alone, without recognising the value of the context within which their participants work and will apply their skills. This story is proof that courses like ‘Hum aur Humaari Sarkaar’ has the potential to build knowledge that can propel citizen action.

More information on ‘Hum aur Humaari Sarkaar’ can be found here.

एक विधालय शिक्षा समिति के महिला सचिव की सूझ – बुझ का परिणाम

बिहार राज्य में प्रत्येक प्रारंभिक विधालय में विधालय शिक्षा समीति का गठन करना अब अनिवार्य है | यह शिक्षा समिति 17 सदस्यों की समिति होती है और इसमें माताएं जिनके बच्चे उस उक्त विधालय में नामांकित है की 50% सदस्य्ता होना ज़रूरी है | मैं आप लोगों से एक विधालय शिक्षा समिति की महिला सचिव के बारे में बताना चाहता हूँ जिन्होंने समिति में हो रहे पैसों के घपले पर रोक लगाने में मदद की | इनकी बात मुझे Accountability Initiative के द्वारा ज़िले में काम करते पता चली |

जिला काफी पिछड़ा हुआ है | शिक्षा समीति के अधिकांश सदस्य अनपढ़ और अनुसूचित जनजाति से संबन्ध रखते हैं | महिला सचिव भी पढ़ी लिखीं नहीं हैं | नियम के अनुसार सचिव और विधालय के प्रधानाध्यापक के बिना हस्ताक्षर से विधालय के खाते से एक रूपये की भी निकासी संभव नहीं है |

प्रधानाध्यापक महिला सचिव की असाक्षरता का फायेदा उठा कर उस महिला से खाली चेक पर हस्ताक्षर कराते थे और मनचाहा रकम बैंक से निकाल कर अपना व्यक्तिगत खर्च करते थे | महिला के पांचवीं कक्षा में पढ़ रहे बच्चे ने अपनी माँ के द्वारा खाली चेक पर हस्ताक्षर करने का विरोध किया | इसके बाद महिला सचिव ने रकम लिखने की मांग करि | जाहिर तौर पर प्रधानाध्यापक ने महिला सचिव को बोला की वह कोई फर्जी रकम नहीं निकाल रहे हैं |

जब सचिव नहीं मानी तोह यह बात प्रधानाध्यापक को नागावार गुज़री और उन्होंने विधालय शिक्षा समिति के बाकी सदस्यों के बिच यह अफवाह फैला दी की सचिव चेक पर हस्ताक्षर करने से पहले एक मोटी रकम की मांग करती हैं जिसके कारण विधालय में विकास कार्य बाधित हो रहा है | नियम के अनुसार समीति के अध्यक्ष पंचायती राज से चुने हुये प्रतिनिधि होते है | हर समिति को राज्य सरकार के तरफ से 9 कार्य और शक्तियों का आवंटन किया गया है जिसमे मुख्य कार्य कुछ इस तरह है – विधालय के संचालन का अनुश्रवन करना, विधालय में प्राप्त विभिन्न स्रोतों से प्राप्त मदों का उचित उपयोग, मध्याहन भोजन की देखरेख आदि | प्रधानाध्यापक ने यह भी अनुरोध किया की सचिव को हटाया जाए |

प्रधानाध्यापक की बात पुरे पंचायत में आग की तरह फैल गयी | महिला सचिव का घर से निकलना दुर्लभ हो गया | महिला सचिव ने अपनी व्यथा पंचायत के मुखिया को सुनाई | उन्होनें आम बैठक रखी जिसमे विधालय शिक्षा समिति के सभी सदस्य, पंचायत के शिक्षा प्रेमी सदस्य और विधालय के सभी शिक्षको को आमंत्रित किया गया | बैठक में महिला सचिव और प्रधानाध्यापक ने अपने पक्ष रखे जिसके बाद मुखिया ने प्रधानाध्यापक को पिछले दो वितीय वर्षों में निकाले गए रकम का पूरा वितीय रिकॉर्ड ब्यौरा दिखाने को कहा |

मुखिया और उनके सहयोगी के द्वारा विधालय के सभी वितीय रिकॉर्ड को बारीकी से देखा गया | गहन जांच – पड़ताल के बाद यह पाया गया की प्रधानाध्यापक ने विधालय का पैसा निकाला था जो कहीं कोई कैशबुक या अन्य दस्तावेज़ में उल्लेखित नहीं किया गया था | बैठक में सर्वसम्मति से मुखिया ने यह फैसला सुनाया की प्रधानाध्यापक के द्वारा बच्चों के भविष्य के साथ खिलवाड़ किया गया है इसलिए प्रधानाध्यापक को अपने खाते से विधालय के खाते में 1,00,000 रुपया जमा करना होगा |

महिला सचिव पर प्रधानाध्यापक के द्वारा लगाए गए आरोप को ख़ारिज किया गया और महिला सचिव को बैठक में मुखिया के द्वारा सम्मानित किया गया | मुखिया ने महिला सचिव को तारीफ़ करते हुए कहा की आज हमारे समाज में उपरोक्त तरह की कितने घटनाएँ घट रही होगी और उनका शोषण किया जा रहा होगा | आज प्रत्येक महिला को इस महिला सचिव से प्रेरित होने की आवश्यकता है और अपने शोषण के विरुद्ध आवाज बुलंद करने की आवश्यकता है |

इस प्रकार से महिला सचिव की सक्रिय भूमिका ने विधालय शिक्षा समीति का अस्तित्व बनाये रखा |

Safeguards Needed in the Face of Inevitable Urbanisation

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first blog can be found here.

Kerala is caught in a bind where its urbanisation has led to a continuous and thickly populated settlement pattern, but there is little safe land left for more habitation development. The 2016 report of the State’s Working Group on Urban Issues highlights this problem, in the following words:

“Kerala also needs to focus on what is internationally gathering momentum – the goal of sustainable urbanisation – which is to now seen to be central to strategies for mitigating climate change. Economising on emissions and promoting energy efficiency in urban areas has much to do with how cities are spatially configured and serviced. Apart from local land use regulation that steer settlements away from disaster prone areas and sensitive ecosystems, building compact cities around public transport and pedestrian movement constitute measures that can considerably improve energy efficiency of cities, reducing their climate change impact.”

Keeping this overarching vision in mind, the report goes on to lay down its approach, as follows:

To derive appropriate policy to ensure the achievement of the vision of inclusive urban development, the report goes on to lay down five non-negotiable principles that aim to make urbanisation sustainable.

The first, the report says, is to realise that the carrying capacity of urban areas is not infinite, but is limited by environmental constraints and conservation of natural and heritage resources. When one considers lands that cannot be diverted, such as the Coastal Restricted Zone and paddy fields, or heritage zones that cannot be taken up for inner city redevelopment, then the land that is open to green-field development gets considerably limited. This calls for tough choices, where preservation of the natural or existing built environment that is part of the State’s invaluable cultural heritage.

The second, according to the report, is that everything that has the effect of making our cities safe to live in should be done and anything that has the potential to make our cities unsafe in any fashion whatsoever, should not be rationalised or attempted to be done. Safety is a wide ranging idea and can include issues that touch the city as a whole (for example, where landfills should be located or whether reclamation of land from lakes should be attempted) to those that are very local in their span of influence (such as location of streetlights or public lighting in parks, or police stations and frequency of police beats). Furthermore, the components of a safe environment and therefore, the prioritisation of their implementation, can radically differ from stakeholder to stakeholder. What a child, a senior citizen, a differently abled person, a woman or a migrant labourer wants might vary dramatically from the priorities of an average citizen. For example, while mobility affects everyone, women and men often have substantially different patterns of demand for transport services. Personal safety is a major concern for working women who commute after dark and this often limits the choice and locations of their work. Therefore, planning for better law and order and safety should take precedence over other priorities in planning.

Third, the participatory process in planning and implementation cannot be bypassed. In Kerala’s context of decentralized planning with peoples’ participation, it is essential to have the active involvement of people as stakeholders from the very beginning of Plan formulation stage. While Grama Sabhas in rural areas have a high degree of participation from women, particular care will need to be taken to ensure the meaningful participation of children, the elderly, and the differently abled in participatory processes. Instruments of participation may need to be differently configured, in order to take care of the diverse nature of urban stakeholders and the fact that unlike the rural counterpart, the interest in urban services is not confined to that available near the residence of the stakeholder concerned.

Fourth, considerations of departmental turf should not become a constraint in achieving coordination. The government should not be swayed by vested interests whilst attempting the departmental redesign to streamline processes and improve coordination. Departments that are redundant or inappropriate in their current form, should be reformed or even done away with, if necessary. Institutions blaming the other for failure to achieve the common objective should be avoided.

Fifth, the concept of users paying for the services enjoyed and the polluter paying for the pollution caused, should be enforced. Wherever affordability is an issue, targeted transparent and measurable subsidies should be provided for the disadvantaged, marginalised and poor across all segments of growth.

I shall highlight what the report suggests, should be the spatial approach to local planning, in my next blog.

The previous blog in the series is here.

Unpacking the Potential of Synergy between Academia and Public Policy Execution

It can often be insightful to visualise the process of democratic governance as fine clockwork – an intricate machine whose inner workings might appear equally overwhelming to the perplexed observer trying to keep track of its several shifting gears, and to each component of the clock itself who feels like the metaphorical ‘cog in the wheel’. How then could one acquire a clearer picture of state performance in the public sector – something that directly impacts all tax-paying citizens? Seeking an answer to this question constituted the subtext of tasks I was assigned as an intern at the Accountability Initiative over the last month.

We know that public policy academics attempt to decipher these mechanisms in order to suggest ways of optimising welfare service delivery within existing institutions as well as to improve structural design. But although this research concerns us all, it is more often than not perceived to be dense and jargon-filled. In the worst-case scenario, this seeming inaccessibility can unwittingly translate into further disillusionment of the average citizen from policies that affect her or his welfare, and of the frontline bureaucrat who views himself as powerless in the grand scheme of government functioning. On the other hand, oversimplifying this knowledge for transmission purposes can also lead to a loss of the nuance obtained from rigorous academic inquiry.

Yet, scholarship on public policy and the real-world execution of these policies should not be viewed exclusively. There exists in fact potential for a dynamic synergy between the two, wherein not only does information gathered at the grassroots level feed reliable research outcomes, but that this research in turn also facilitates the training of government functionaries for more efficient last-mile service delivery. The Accountability Initiative’s Learning and Development work acts as a bridge between this gap, combining a grasp on the concepts and normative foundations of decentralised public service delivery mechanisms with a targeted dissemination of this in the form of relevant technical and administrative know-how for audiences ranging from development professionals to civil society organisations. Working on the ‘Understanding State Capabilities’ course afforded me an opportunity to catch a glimpse of both these dimensions.

Naturally, researchers at the Accountability Initiative possessed detailed information about the provisions, implementation and current state of a variety of social sector schemes in health and education which they had been closely tracking, as well as a deep understanding of the institutions of public finance and administration. The challenge was to condense this knowledge for the specific operational roles and responsibilities of the participants of the course. What intrigued me most was realising what a delicate balancing act such an endeavour proves to be!

After several insightful deliberations on the contextual appropriateness and comparative advantages of employing certain instructional tools or prioritising certain concepts relative to others, it was decided to supplement the conceptual framework of the course with case studies conducted by the Accountability Initiative on various social sector schemes such as those concerning budgetary devolution in the education sector (SSA), or on the evolution of constitutionally mandated bodies (Bureaucracy, Finance Commissions).

From this experience, I have now come to realise that though a cog or two might go awry from time to time, the clockwork-like coordinated precision of the state would be restored as long as citizens are sufficiently equipped to engage with it. Assurances of state accountability ought to be consistent and ongoing, rather than mere electoral rhetoric once every five years. In this respect, policy research and outreach go hand-in-hand.

सरकारी विद्यालयों के अस्तित्व को बचाने की बारी अब प्रतिनिधियों की

वर्तमान में देखा जाए तो आज प्रत्येक अभिभावक अपने बच्चे की बेहतर से बेहतर शिक्षा हासिल करने की दौड़ में जूझ रहा है। हिमाचल प्रदेश की बात की जाए तो अन्य राज्यों की तुलना में यहाँ पर भी सरकारी विद्यालय अपने अस्तित्व की लड़ाई लड़ रहे हैं। सोचने वाली बात है कि ऐसे हालात ही क्यों पैदा हुए, जिससे आज अधिकतर अभिभावक सरकारी विद्यालयों की तरफ अपना रूख ही नहीं करना चाहते। ऐसे में आखिर जवाबदेही किस की बनती है?

राज्य शैक्षिक अनुसंधान एवं प्रशिक्षण परिषद के सर्वेक्षण में यह बात सामने आई है कि हिमाचल में पिछले चार सालों में सरकारी विद्यालयों से लगभग 1,16,124 विद्यार्थी कम हो चुके हैं। सरकारी विद्यालयों में आठवीं कक्षा तक फेल न करने की नीति, शिक्षकों की कमी, बच्चों की शैक्षिक व गैर शैक्षिक गतिविधियों में भागीदारी तय नहीं होना, शिक्षकों के तबादले जैसे कई मसले हैं जिनसे अभिभावक खफ़ा हैं। इसी का नतीजा है कि सरकारी विद्यालयों से निजि विद्यालयों की तरफ पलायन बहुत तेजी से बढ़ रहा है।

बच्चों के शैक्षणिक स्तर की बात की जाए तो उसमें भी स्थिति संतोषजनक नहीं है। एनसीईआरटी के ताज़ा सर्वेक्षण के अनुसार हिंदी, गणित व पर्यावरण विज्ञान विषयों में राज्य के नौनिहाल पिछड़े हैं। हिमाचल प्रदेश तीसरी कक्षा में देशभर में 17वें स्थान पर है जबकि पांचवीं कक्षा में प्रदेश का 15वां तथा आठवीं कक्षा में 16वां स्थान है।

इस सबसे समझ में आता है कि समस्या केवल छात्रों की संख्या कम होना की नहीं है अपितु जो छात्र इन विद्यालयों में नामांकित हैं भी, उनके शिक्षण स्तर में भी काफी कमी है। एक समय था जब सरकारी विद्यालयों की शिक्षा को बहुत सम्मान की दृष्टि से देखा जाता था, लेकिन वर्तमान में इनके प्रति लोगों का नजरिया ही बिलकुल विपरीत होता जा रहा है। बल्कि लोग तो अब ये तक कह देने में भी गुरेज नहीं कर रहे कि ऐसी क्या माली हालत हो गयी है, जिसकी वजह से आपको अपने बच्चे का दाखिला सरकारी विद्यालय में करना पड़ रहा है।

राज्य सरकार अब पहली कक्षा से 12वीं कक्षा तक के छात्रों को स्मार्ट यूनिफॉर्म देने की तैयारी में है। पहल तो अच्छी है लेकिन सवाल यह है कि क्या केवल स्मार्ट वर्दी देने से इन विद्यालयों की मौजूदा स्थिति भी स्मार्ट हो पाएगी? राज्य सरकार ने वित्तीय वर्ष 2018-19 में शिक्षा विभाग के लिए Rs 7,044 करोड़ के बजट का प्रावधान किया है जो पिछली बार से Rs 840 करोड़ अधिक है। लेकिन बस संशय इस बात का है कि क्या शिक्षा बजट में निरंतर बढ़ोत्तरी के बावजूद अभिभावकों की मानसिकता में भी इन विद्यालयों के प्रति कुछ सकारात्मक बदलाव देखने को मिलेगा?

“हमारा पैसा हमारा स्कूल” अभियान के तहत हमने जमीनी स्तर पर विद्यालयों, स्कूल प्रबंधन समितियों एवं अभिभावकों के साथ चर्चाएं आयोजित कीं। जिसका मकसद यह था कि अभिभावक एवं अन्य लोग भी यह जान पाएं कि प्रति वर्ष सरकार द्वारा इन विद्यालयों पर कितना अधिक खर्चा किया जाता है। इस अभियान के दौरान हमने पाया कि अभिभावक अन्य चीजों के अलावा इस बात से भी बेहद नाराज़ हैं कि जब शिक्षक एवं अन्य अधिकारी ही अपने बच्चों को सरकारी विद्यालयों में नहीं भेजते, तो इसका अर्थ यही है कि उन्हें सरकार एवं स्वयं की कार्यप्रणाली पर ही विश्वास नहीं है। एक सच यह भी है कि वर्तमान में सरकारी विद्यालयों में अब अधिकतर उन्हीं परिवारों के बच्चे पढ़ते हैं, जो निजी विद्यालयों का खर्च उठाने में असमर्थ हैं या जहां निजी विद्यालय ही उपलब्ध नहीं हैं।

अजीब विडंबना है कि एक तरफ हर कोई चाहता है कि उसे सरकारी नौकरी हासिल हो, लेकिन जहाँ बात अपने बच्चों की शिक्षा की हो तो वहां केवल निजि विद्यालयों को ही तरजीह दी जा रही है।

लोग बहुमत देकर अपने प्रतिनिधियों का चयन इस विश्वास के साथ करते हैं ताकि वे उनकी समस्याओं का समाधान कर पाएं। इसलिए अब समय आ गया है कि हमारे प्रतिनिधियों को स्वयं आगे आकर अपने बच्चों को भी इन विद्यालयों में नामांकित करके एक आदर्श रूप प्रस्तुत करना चाहिए। यानी इसके लिए अब इन्हें स्वयं आगे आकर सरकारी विद्यालयों को इनकी वास्तविक पहचान दिलाने का बीड़ा उठाना चाहिए और अपने अधिकारीयों एवं जनता से भी इसमें सहयोग करने का आह्वाहन करना चाहिए। जहाँ पर इन्होने स्वयं आगे आकर पहल की है वहां पर सकारात्मक बदलाव देखने को भी मिले हैं। आप कल्पना कर सकते हो कि जिस दिन किसी सरकारी विद्यालय में मंत्री, विधायक या किसी कलेक्टर का बच्चा और मजदूर का बच्चा एक साथ पढ़ेंगे, उस विद्यालय की कायाकल्प होना निश्चित है।

शायद इसके लिए वर्ष 2015 में इलाहाबाद उच्च न्यायालय के जैसे आदेशों की भी आवश्यकता नहीं होनी चाहिए, जिसके अनुसार सरकार से जुड़े सभी प्रतिनिधियों, अधिकारियों एवं न्यायपालिका के जजों को अपने बच्चों को सरकारी विद्यालयों में नामांकित करना अनिवार्य कर दिया गया।

जिस तरह के मौजूदा हालात हैं, उसके अनुसार तो यही लगता है कि यदि समय रहते यथासंभव कदम नहीं उठाये गए तो हालात ऐसे हो जायेंगे कि इन विद्यालयों में भौतिक सुविधायें तो हो जायेंगी, अगर नहीं होंगे तो बस पढ़ने वाले बच्चे।

पूरे प्रदेश में पंचायत स्तर पर ग्राम सभाओं का आयोजन किया जाता है जहाँ पर सरकार की विभिन्न योजनाओं के बारे में जनता की मौजूदगी में चर्चाएँ होती हैं। अतः पहल के तौर पर सरकार को एक ऐसा सिस्टम तैयार करना चाहिए, जहाँ इन सभाओं में बच्चों की शिक्षा के बारे में भी चर्चा की जानी चाहिए। यह एक ऐसा भागेदारी मंच बने जहाँ शिक्षक एवं उनके उच्च अधिकारियों के अलावा पंचायत प्रतिनिधि तथा अभिभावक बच्चों के शैक्षणिक स्तर के साथ-साथ विद्यालय के अन्य मुद्दों पर भी गंभीरतापूर्वक बात करें। सिस्टम ऐसा हो कि जो भी समस्याएं इन चर्चाओं से निकलकर सामने आएं, उन पर त्वरित कार्रवाई हो। इससे जवाबदेही और भागेदारी का एक ऐसा बेहतर माहौल बन पायेगा, जहाँ हर कोई एक दुसरे के साथ मिलकर इन विद्यालयों को इनके असल मुक़ाम तक पहुंचाने में अपनी भूमिका निभा सकेगा।

Kerala Floods: Predicted Result of Accumulated Follies

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first blog can be found here.

Are the changing patterns of habitations in Kerala merely a personal impression? Is the changing biodiversity and the sprawl of homes in my ancestral village, Mankurussi, a one off phenomenon? Not so; indeed they are corroborated by data contained in official reports of the state.

In 2016, as a prelude to the preparation of the state’s 13th Five Year Plan, the Kerala State Planning Board constituted a Working Group on Urban Issues. The Working Group comprised experts with rich experience on town planning, to housing, environment, energy, and participatory democracy and inclusion, and I had the privilege of co-chairing it. The opening paragraphs of the report contain insightful information on Kerala’s urbanisation, provided by a very competent Director of the Union Urban Development Ministry.

The report observes that Kerala’s settlement pattern is unique; comprising for the most part a continuous spread of habitation and increasing urbanisation. The share of urban population in total population started increasing from the 1980s (18.7% in 1981 to 26.4% in 1991) and surpassed the country’s average by 1991 (25.7%). After a slowdown during 1991-2001, the percentage of urban population in the state grew rapidly during 2001-2011 (from 25.96% in 2001 to 47.72% in 2011). Kerala is now the third most urbanised state in the country after Goa and Tamil Nadu and is reckoned by the 2011 census to be the fastest urbanising State in the country.

The report notes that Census 2011 witnessed a steep increase in the number of Census towns, over the 2001 Census. This feature is near universal; only two districts, Wayanad and Idukki have no Census towns in 2011. That is an interesting bit of information, because both Wayanad and Idukki were severely affected by the recent floods. Over 50% of the Census towns are in Kannur, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts. The number of urban agglomerations progressively rose from 9 in 1981 to 19 in 2011, of which five were newly listed in Census 2011. The 19 urban agglomerations account for 91% of Kerala’s towns and 93.74% of the urban population.

Yet, Kerala’s much lauded models of democratic decentralisation may be increasingly out of step with this rapid urbanisation. Many urban areas in Kerala, particularly the areas of continuous habitation alongside most arterial roads in the state, are still Gram Panchayats in their legal status (Table 2). This is evidenced in the difference between the number of statutory towns, namely, urban areas formally declared as urban by law and therefore served by Municipalities, and Census towns, which are still governed by Panchayats but are classified as urban areas from a Census viewpoint, based upon the population, population density and working force engaged in non-agricultural activities.

The report notes that urbanisation has not been accompanied by a formal reconfiguring of Gram Panchayats into Municipalities, or City Corporations. While on the one hand urbanised structures offer greater opportunities for economies of scale due to agglomeration, the Panchayat system offers greater opportunity for public participation as compared to the Constitutional design for urban areas. Thus, the change of status of Panchayats to Municipalities has the potential to rob citizens of platforms of participation, without replacing them with an equally potent constitutionally mandated equivalent.

The report also makes some prophetic remarks that are best reproduced in full. The report says:

“Like the rest of the world, Kerala’s cities and settlements face unprecedented threats from unsustainable consumption and production patterns, loss of biodiversity, pressure on ecosystems, pollution and increased vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters and climate change and its related risks. Kerala’s natural environment and biodiversity has been under severe stress, largely due to urbanisation. Wetlands, coastal areas, forests and hill regions have been particularly affected and these are all sensitive and delicate environments. Low density urban sprawls are devastating local micro-environments – one only has to see the high rise flats coming up next to lake shores in Kochi and the urbanisation in Munnar – as examples of such folly. Furthermore, with climate change continuing unchecked, Kerala is likely to experience more frequently, catastrophic climate related disasters. Several such have already occurred, both as intense local events or state wide ones. These will disadvantage particularly, those structures and urban sprawls that have extended into environmentally sensitive areas.”

Very prophetic words, indeed.

The next blog in the series is here.