IT#4: While India is growing, the quality of basic services is not improving
No city in India has 24x7 water. The quality of water services (measured in hours of availability per day) is declining in some fast-growing cities such as Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Immunization rates are lower than countries such as Kenya, Bolivia and Indonesia--and stagnating. For the poorest 20 percent of the population in each country, child survival rates are lower in India than in Vietnam or Bangladesh. While there has been reform in trade and industrial sectors, there has been very little reform in the accountability relationships whose failure is leading to mediocre services for India's poor. And the reason for the paucity of reform is that these relationships are deeply political. Vested interests will resist attempts at reforms, and politicians who attempt to reform risk losing elections.
Fri, 12/28/2007 - 02:19 The difference between the high growth of the economy and the poor service delivery of water is that the former is driven by the private sector, which has prospered even with the limited liberal regime, while the latter is undertaken by the public sector all over the country. it is quite evident in India that all sectors in which public sector is involved - be it education, health, transport or water supply - services are abysmal. Overstaffing, poor accountability, poor returns on resources is a constant feature across all these sectors. Unless public sector is reformed, this paradox of growth on one side with poor services, will always remain.
Tue, 11/20/2007 - 03:15
Isn't it evident that 24*7 water supply is not guaranteed by any digit growth rate? Whether a country is growing (India) or stagnating (Nepal), 24*7 water supply has very little to do with it. I was wondering how this is IT and has surprised you? Also, is there evidence that growth improves services?
Growth concentrated in industrial sector and urban areas will have a very, very faint impact on overall quality of services across the nation. The urban-centered growth would at most force improvement in urban services but not of the whole country. And, while talking about such services across the country, is not it biased or somewhat unfair to argue that eventhough growth has increased, services have not!
Thu, 11/22/2007 - 09:41
Thanks for the comment, Chandan. When speaking about water, I was referring to the quality of services in some of the fastest-growing urban centers of India--Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad. While this may not be a surprise to you, it's hardly mentioned in the reports about these celebrated cities. More generally, I think it's important to point out that India's spectacular growth (almost 10 percent this year) hides several important problems, such as inequality and poor service delivery, that should be tackled if we're to end poverty in a generation.
Tue, 11/27/2007 - 06:32
If, as indicated in your blog, the celebrated cities have these problems of infrastructure, then what is the current condition in the other states such as Bihar, and Orissa and in the rural regions of the country?
If development is leaving behind many within the growing regions of the country, what are the current conditions in regions that are bound to sectors that are declining, such as agriculture? What are the potential ramifications of moving forward at a growth rate of 10% when sections of the population engaged in agriculutre are seeing growth-rate declines from 3.2% in 1980s to approx 1.2% in 1990?