E-governance can improve service delivery by connecting citizens directly with service providers. In recent years,central and state governments in India have been experimenting with technologies such as smart cards to help deliver large scale social sector programmes more efficiently. This policy brief examines the use of smart cards in India and explores the potential of these cards to make service delivery more efficient and accountable.
Release Year: 2010
The Kerala Ombudsman
This is the first of a series of case studies that document innovative accountability experiments being undertaken in the country. This case study documents the office of the Kerala Ombudsman the only ombudsman’s office of its kind in India that considers complaints against local governments.
Administrative Decentralisation in India – The 3Fs
In 1992, the Government of India passed the 73rdand 74th amendments to adopt a decentralised model of governance.The Panchayat Briefs series examines the impact of these reforms in the context of new research on decentralisation in India. The second in this series examines the state of administrative decentralisation in India and the extent to which states have devolved the 3F’s (functions, funds and functionaries) to Panchayats
Decentralisation – The Path to Inclusive Governance?
In 1992, the Government of India passed the 73rdand 74th amendments to adopt a decentralised model of governance.The Panchayat Briefs series examines the impact of these reforms in the context of new research on decentralisation in India. The first brief in this series examines the ability of decentralisation to promote inclusive governance through a focus on research on the impact of Gram Sabhas and Reservations on people’s participation.
International Experiences with Decentralisation
In 1992, the Government of India passed the 73rdand 74th amendments to adopt a decentralised model of governance.The Panchayat Briefs series examines the impact of these reforms in the context of new research on decentralisation in India. The third brief in this series analyses the structure and impact of decentralisation in three countries–Bolivia,Switzerland and Uganda
Incentivising Rural Sanitation: The Nirmal Gram Purask
The field notes in this series seek to document accountability mechanisms built into key government programs for service delivery. The current note examines the implementation of the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) in Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh. It assesses the extent to which the NGP promoted participatory and accountable governance. The field Work for this project was done by Ipshita Roy, Nisthasri Awasthi
Invited Spaces, Invited Participation
Governments around the world have undertaken institutional reforms aimed at opening up spaces and inviting citizens to participate in directing and monitoring public service delivery. These spaces have taken different shapes and forms, reflecting the evolution of debates on participation and accountability, as well as the influence of donors, and civil society-led accountability efforts. Often backed by legal and constitutional guarantees, these are spaces where citizens are invited by the state to become part of its governance machinery.
Some of these spaces are supported by institutions created through decentralization reforms, where citizens are invited to participate in the state’s deliberative processes. In others, citizens are invited to assist in the implementation and administration of programs, and in yet others, invitations have been extended to scrutinise and monitor the everyday operations of the state. In all its different shapes and forms, the institutional landscape for development is now crowded with “invited spaces” that are part of the new development blueprint.