2. What are the key changes in the design of government policies that have ensured better reach of benefits to the intended populace? Explain with the help of suitable examples. (10 Marks)
Students are expected to write about recent changes in the public administration policy making how it is working towards the efficient targeting of beneficiaries. Need to give suitable example of initiatives by government.
Introduction
Bureaucracy is often considered to be rigid not lending themselves too well to adaptation but recent changes in public administrations around the world are now under intense pressure to be flexible effective result oriented.
Body
Key changes in government policies recently:
E-Governance effectively delivers better programming and services in the era of newly emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs), which herald new opportunities for rapid social and economic transformation worldwide.
Legal RReform: The Central Government has scrapped nearly 1,500 obsolete rules and laws with an aim to bring about transparency and improve efficiency.
Decentralization: Centralised Planning Commission was abolished, replacing it with the think tank called the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), which would usher in an era of “cooperative federalism”.
Aspirational Districts Programme: It was launched in January 2018 to transform the lives of people in the under-developed areas of the county in a time bound manner.
Participation: A vital cornerstone of good governance is participation by all sections of society. This includes men and women, vulnerable sections of society, backward classes, minorities, etc. For example at PRI and municipal local bodies.
Responsiveness: Institutions and processes made serve all stakeholders, respond to their grievances. Example: GST council rationalising tax structure and slew of measures keeping in mind MSME sector, PRAGATI Platform.
UID: The unique identification project was conceived as an initiative that would provide identification for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services.
Public Distribution System: Computerization of the PDS is envisaged as an end-to-end project covering key functional areas such as supply chain management including allocation and utilization reporting, storage and movement of food grains, grievance redressal and transparency portal, digitization of beneficiary database, Fair Price Shop automation, etc.
JAM Trinity: DBT by leveraging the JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobiles) trinity and the technological prowess offers to drastically improve the benefit delivery system in the country.
Conclusion
In current times, the last mile delivery of services is being taken up in a vigorous manner through tools like E governance, DBT, Social Audit etc. Need is to further strengthen the existing measures to ensure a smooth delivery of benefits and improve governance in the country.
