Delivering Public Services Effectively

Tamil Nadu and Beyond

S Vivek (, Academic/Activist, Liberation Technology, Stanford University)

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English

OUP India
14 August 2014

History; Politics & government; Civil service & public sector

There is a wide diversity in the provision of public services in India.

In some states one can go miles without seeing a functional school or public health centre, where roads are poorly maintained, and electricity has not yet been introduced, while in other places governments tend to function remarkably well in extending basic public services to all.

Tamil Nadu is one of those few states with an impressive commitment to services.

This book examines the dynamics that led to Tamil Nadu's commitment. The author argues that incessant public action in the southern Indian state underlies that commitment.

People tend to act when services are not available or functional and thus create pressure on the government to deliver. However, a few decades ago most Dalits, women or people from lower castes and classes would rarely enter administrative offices, police stations or other government offices - leave alone asserting themselves with these officials.

The crux of the book deals with the socio-political changes that made this form of decentralized public action possible, with its tremendous consequences for governance.

This work further goes on to establish how these dynamics have a resonance in many other parts of India.

While such changes started early on in southern India, similar patterns have emerged over the last 20 years in major north Indian states creating pressure on the once dysfunctional states to deliver more services effectively.

By: S Vivek ( Academic/Activist Liberation Technology Stanford University)
Imprint: OUP India
Dimensions: Height: 221mm, Width: 148mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 446g
ISBN: 9780199451326
ISBN 10: 019945132X
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 14 August 2014
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dedication Acknowledgements Foreword by Jean Dreze I. Introduction 1. Uncontrollable People 2. Thirty Years of Collective Action 3. Changes that Enabled Action 4. Normative Challenges in Tamil Nadu II. Beyond Tamil Nadu: A Tentative Argument 5. Setting the Agenda: India 6. The Voice of the Common Person-India Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Index About the Author

Vivek S. is an academic and activist, working with the Program on Liberation Technology at Stanford University (a part of Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law).

Reviews for Delivering Public Services Effectively: Tamil Nadu and Beyond

* Kai Furstenberg, South Asia Institute * puts the Tamil Nadu experience effectively into the wider national context of India. of exclusion and collective action palpable. The larger frame in the book's second half informative. The analysis of the struggles of the Dalits of Erani made the phenomenon of public service delivery in Tamil Nadu. It is generally well written, comprehensive and All in all, this book excels in giving a lively account of the struggle for and importance