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Rights, accountability and citizenship: India's emerging welfare state
... Other aid agencies have also promoted the use of GRMs (DFAT, n.d.;ADB 2018). The past two decades have also seen an expansion of national grievance redress systems through legal and independent ombuds institutions and programme-level mechanisms for addressing complaints, many of which are larger in scale and scope than those of aid agencies (Randolph and Edjeta 2011;SSPS 2020;Chen 2016;Gazdar and Zuberi 2014;Gauri and Brinks 2008;Aiyar and Walton 2015). These GRMs absorb considerably more policymaker attention, administrative energy, and resources than in the past. ...
... Governments appear to make similar calculations about the costs and benefits of GRMs, seeing them as ways of accessing citizen opinion, improving projects, public services, and performance (SSPS 2020; Randolph and Edjeta 2011;Aiyar and Walton 2015). One study explained the "universal positive association between a country's educational level and the quality of its government" with reference to citizens' complaints: educated citizens complain more and … these complaints lead to better conduct by officials fearful of being punished, which in turn leads to greater accountability and a higher quality government. ...
... In India, advocacy by activists of national grievance redress legislation in 2011 reflected an "important analytical step in India's accountability movement in its shift from transparency to enforcement" (Aiyar and Walton 2015, 270). This analytical shift can be traced to civil society efforts to institutionalize downward accountability strategies such as jan sunwai or public hearings, statutory social audits (Aiyar and Walton 2015;Pande 2014Pande , 2021Vij 2013), and a sub-national Right to Hearing law from the state of Rajasthan (Agrawal and Nair 2018) in state practice. Civil society in India has expressed a longstanding demand for citizens' rights to be heard (Swamy 2020). ...
Institutionalized complaint systems are notable features of improving public programmes and government practice. This article reviews literature on formal grievance redress mechanisms in the global South to understand whether these mechanisms help the aggrieved to complain and seek redress for their grievances. In this emerging literature, the institutional and definitional boundaries of formal grievance mechanisms are slippery; systems that look like grievance systems may do little to enable complaints by those who seek to register them, and even less to enable them to achieve redress; with limited evidence on how these formal grievance systems work on the ground, and without sufficient power to act on complaints these formal grievance systems appear to be more ornamental; and where they have worked uncommonly well they have not always attracted political support to go to scale. The article concludes with a discussion of avenues for research identified through this literature review.
... Governments appear to make similar calculations about the costs and benefits of GRMs, seeing them as ways of accessing citizen opinion, improving projects, curbing corruption, and improving performance (SSPS 2020; Randolph and Edjeta 2011;Jenkins and Manor 2017;Aiyar and Walton 2015) . In China, extensive public complaint systems reflect the fact that the government knows that "citizen feedback helps sustain authoritarian rule" (Göbel and Li 2021, 40) by addressing sources of discontent with public authorities and engaging citizens in monitoring lower-level officials (see also Dimitrov 2014 on the use of complaint systems in communist Bulgaria) . ...
... In 2011, when India's transparency and accountability activists advocated for a national grievance redress legislation, it reflected an "important analytical step in India's accountability movement in its shift from transparency to enforcement" (Aiyar and Walton 2015, 270) . This analytical shift can be traced to ongoing civil society efforts to embed downward accountability strategies such as jan sunwai or public hearings, statutory social audits (Aiyar and Walton 2015;Vij 2013), and a subnational Right to Hearing law from the state of Rajasthan (Agrawal and Nair 2018) into state practice . Civil society in India (as in other countries) has a longstanding demand for a citizen's right to be heard, especially the powerless and marginalized who are most dependent on the state for their well-being . ...
... 2016) . Aiyar and Walton's (2015) classification of "thin" versus "thick" accountability activities . Ayliffe et al . ...
This chapter looks at the evidence on complaint mechanisms in the public sector and was developed to support the Open Government Partnership's Skeptic’s Guide 2022.
... Much of the current literature on the relationship between fiscal federalism and social policy outcomes focuses on the design of the intergovernmental fiscal system, specifically the division of taxes and expenditure responsibilities, as the primary explanatory variable for understanding variation in regional outcomes (see Acosta and Tillin, forthcoming for a comprehensive summary of the literature). Another robust strand of literature emphasizes the role of subnational politics as a key factor (Aiyar and Walton 2015;Priyam 2015;Tillin 2017) in shaping welfare outcomes in decentralized settings. ...
... Specifically, from the perspective of social policy, the increased regionalization of India's politics created a new dynamic where state politics began to proactively shape social policy outcomes. As many scholars have highlighted, state politics have, in this phase of India's federal evolution, emerged as important drivers for innovation and change (Aiyar and Walton 2015;Deshpande, Kailash, and Tillin 2017;Priyam 2015). ...
... From the perspective of social policy, these powerful chief ministers played a very important role in shaping social policy priorities in states. States have been documented as becoming important sites for social policy reform and innovation and state chief ministers emerged central drivers behind these reforms (Aiyar and Walton 2015;Deshpande, Kailash, and Tillin 2017). An important characteristic of this new welfare landscape was the dynamic that state governments developed vis a vis central scheme. ...
This paper examines the relationship between fiscal federalism and social policy in India through an analysis of the effects of a recent effort to increase fiscal decentralization to state governments on the nature of social policy investment at the sub-national level. Through its analysis, this paper highlights the persistence of a strong centralisation bias in India’s fiscal architecture for social policy. We trace this centralisation bias to the political and administrative dynamics of the federal bargain. The peculiar dynamics of this bargain have created a context where the core goal of centralization – to ensure equity – is undermined while the expectation of decentralization – greater accountability through alignment of expenditure with local needs and preferences, fails to take root. India is thus likely to continue to witness significant regional variation in social policy outcomes, despite a centralised financing architecture.
... Some scholars argue that active civic engagement of marginalised people may expose citizens to fight illegitimate policies, indifferent treatments, decisions, corrupt practices, and other evils of public institutions (Kabeer, 2000;Houtzager, & Archarya, 2010;Aiyar, & Walton, 2015). Nevertheless, in the case of plantation people, since the inception, their life, occupation, and other activities, have been confined to privately-owned industrial settings, which did not give them sufficient avenues to engage in civic activities to enhance social capital, civic skills, and make them feel equal with others in the society in terms of rights and entitlements. ...
The study explores the status of access to public institutions, public services and social rights of the plantation people in Sri Lanka which is an area that has received little attention from Sri Lankan researchers. The plantation community was a part of the colonial indentured system under which they migrated from South India to the newly developed plantations in Sri Lanka. Although they are citizens of Sri Lanka with legal status, they have been marginalised within the society for decades,
especially in democratic governance structures. The evidence gathered from six months of extensive field work carried out in Nuwaraeliya and Rathnapura provides supports to the argument that denial of quality of government (QoG) principles and citizenship rights are more likely to generate low quality of public institutions and public services, discriminations, ill-treatments, unfairness, particularism, patronclientelism, corruption and other forms of malpractices in the public service delivery. It is widely argued that formal or legal citizenship establishes social rights to individual citizens regardless of their social and other status, which in turn enable one to enjoy public services and other welfare benefits as rightful citizens. Nevertheless, this has not always been the case in Sri Lanka; where legal citizenship has not resulted in social rights and governance structures being improved in the plantation sector. This study, thus, based on the empirical evidence, contends that formal citizenship is less likely to improve the access to social rights and public services, which rest upon the quality of government such as quality
public institutions and public services, impartial, fair policies and agencies and officials. This study also shows the demand and supply side issues of delivering public services in the plantation sector – lack of demand on the part of community members limit the supply of public services.
... The administrators in emerging economies are still reluctant to accommodate this form of payment, which suits the needs of advanced and developed economies [65]. According to previous research, Bitcoin is incompetent to serve as an alternative currency and can only be used as a speculative asset. ...
... The administrators in emerging economies are still reluctant to accommodate this form of payment, which suits the needs of advanced and developed economies [65]. According to previous research, Bitcoin is incompetent to serve as an alternative currency and can only be used as a speculative asset. ...
Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, have garnered global attention in recent years as digital alternatives to traditional fiat currencies. This paper explores the complex landscape of cryptocurrency adoption, consumer behavior, and perceptions. Beginning with the origin of cryptocurrencies and the dominance of Bitcoin with its USD 1.23 trillion market capitalization, the paper highlights popular online platforms facilitating Bitcoin trading. It also examines the varying legal statuses and regulations across different countries, with a notable divide between Eastern and Western nations, attributed to factors like wealth, risk tolerance, and government restrictions. The role of blockchain technology as the foundation of cryptocurrencies is explained, emphasizing its role in ensuring secure and transparent transactions. The paper delves into the processes involved in handling cryptocurrencies, including the blockchain, exchanges, wallets, and mining. Consumer behavior and the factors influencing cryptocurrency usage are analyzed, with a focus on speculation, algorithm trust, spending power, and demographics. Survey findings and case studies from diverse geographical areas reveal patterns of adoption and local consumer perceptions. The paper concludes by discussing the cryptocurrency market’s inherent volatility and sensitivity to regulatory changes, as well as the different types of cryptocurrencies and online exchanges shaping this evolving financial landscape. Overall, it offers insights into the complex dynamics surrounding cryptocurrency adoption and its potential impact on global finance.
... It survived this crisis partly due to the democratic sensibilities that were tended to at all levels in the organization and decisions made by the trustees on the question of leadership. 8 For a discussion of the "rights turn" in India, seeRuparelia (2013) andAiyar and Walton (2015). For empirical explorations of the slippages and realities in practice, seeGaitonde et al. (2020) andDyer et al. (2022). ...
This chapter recounts the vision and experience of Seva Mandir, an NGO based in southern Rajasthan. Seva Mandir’s practice is inspired by Gandhian thought and practice. At its core is the idea of communities of care—local people coming together to take responsibility for the local ecological and cultural commons, thereby organically leading to justice and sustainable, equitable development. Such work is difficult, takes time, and involves acknowledging and addressing the internal contradictions in communities exposed to individuated, dependency-laden “benefits” from the developmental state and from unbridled economic growth. The chapter shows the potential of Seva Mandir’s path of insisting on local democracy (of social relations) and autonomous capacity for self-governance (swaraj) for attaining meaningful development. The chapter also explores the importance and challenges of building institutions and institutional cultures that embed and embody these values. In the case of Seva Mandir, early on a culture of dialogue, reflexivity and care took root and was nurtured by inspiring leaders at different levels of organizational hierarchy and especially at the grassroots. The chapter suggests that this too is a key element of Gandhian practice.KeywordsSeva MandirGrassroots democracySelf-relianceTrusteeshipConstructive workGandhi
... Street-level bureaucrats' influence has grown in the wake of rapidly expanding public services and the ever-increasing regulation of daily life through local levels of government over the last three decades (Aiyar and Walton 2015). Further, the expansion of local governments' roles and functions has happened despite limited capacities (Pritchett et al. 2013). ...
This paper presents a critical assessment of the much-discussed tension between bureaucratic accountability and the contextual discretion of ‘street-level bureaucrats’ (i.e. front-line public sector
workers). Based on an extensive literature review, the paper outlines the implications of the exercise of agency by street-level bureaucrats in everyday settings. It also looks at the challenges this agency
engenders: loss of accountability and divergence from stated policy goals. The paper underlines the need for future research on institutional structures and organisational cultures around street-level
bureaucracy. It suggests possible lines of enquiry to steer the debate in new, and hopefully productive, directions.
... In the other South Indian states, according to her, food policy became an instrument of political clientelism. Aiyar and Walton (2014) highlighted a combination of regional political economy and judicial activism in explaining improvements in delivery under PDS in Chhattisgarh, a state that ranks poorly on most other parameters. They pointed out that state level reforms had been implemented prior to the Supreme Court ruling (Aiyar and Walton 2014). ...
After establishing the historical antecedents of the MGNREGA and the PDS, this paper briefly reviews the politico-economic context of the emergence of these two initiatives in India. This includes the political and civil society imperatives that shaped the design and implementation of the schemes. Based on secondary data, the paper then examines the performance of the two programmes over time and across sub-national regions. The paper offers some explanations for the trends observed and sub-national variations. Explanations are based on both existing literature and interviews with key informants in the bureaucracy, political elites and civil society activists in New Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
... Public works, food transfers, cash transfers, health insurance and pensions are some of the common safety net programmes that are implemented in either universal, targeted, or conditional modes. Over the last two decades, India has developed a rights-based development architecture to public welfare (Aiyar and Walton 2015). Prominent legislation passed by the Indian parliament includes the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA), Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA), Right to Education Act 2009 (RTE), and the National Food Security Act 2013 (NFSA). ...
India's rural employment act (MGNREGA), the world's largest public works programme, is designed to guarantee wage employment as a statutory right. It is viewed by many as a drain on the public exchequer, as wages are paid but durable assets are not created. Can this safety net be restructured to double up as a ladder of opportunity for the poor without altering its entitlement-based framework? This article shows that implementing four sets of interventions-policy for household livelihood assets, convergence approaches, pro-poor participatory planning, and strengthening accountability, can accelerate the creation of livelihood assets in the lands of the poor. ARTICLE HISTORY
... For example, social audits create a new institutional space where citizens can interact directly with the state. As they get used over time, they enter the institutional repertoire in people's minds, and the practice of participating in these spaces becomes an accepted part of civic life (Aiyar and Walton 2014 (and ultimately state building). Legitimacy is often defined as a willingness to defer to authority, and trustworthiness is defined as one's belief that a given actor will carry out a certain action. ...
Abstract:
Analyzes experiences designing and implementing social accountability (SA) in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCSs), starting from the acknowledgment that lack of accountability remains a key element of fragility and exploring whether and how SA can support stronger accountability and stronger state-society relationships. FCSs differ more than other categories of states, yet they share some similarities regarding the “macro” contextual factors influencing SA effectiveness, including (1) weak state-society relations, (2) divided political society and constraints to state action; (3) intra-society conflicts and constraints to citizen action; and (4) the importance of local engagement. Civic mobilization can prove a more daunting task, with the need to identify mobilizers able to transcend identity lines proving critical. Civil society organizations (CSOs), tribal organizations, and media institutions often serve such a role for SA interventions, but in FCS contexts it remains essential to analyze social networks carefully to identify legitimate mobilizers above and beyond their technical capacities.
Existing evidence strongly supports the thesis that sociodemographic variables, such as ethnicity, various forms of identity affiliation (religion, caste, and language), social norms, and level of education, tend to influence citizens’ ability to gain access to public services in developing societies. This article explores the extent to which ethnicity, social identities, and level of education influence access to public services in the Sri Lankan context, taking the plantation community as a case in point. The article finds that though there are constitutional mandates ensuring citizenry rights and entitlements to public services, sociodemographic factors considerably limit those rights for deprived communities. Based on the evidence, it is argued that improving the quality of governance and access to education for marginalized communities tends to reduce the discrimination suffered by these communities and to hold public institutions accountable. Thus, this study seeks to contribute to the existing literature on good governance and the delivery of public services to marginalized communities through focusing on the importance of sociodemographic conditions.
Public policies designed to advance governance reform without the corresponding legal frameworks that secure democratic values can exacerbate the power imbalance between the government and the policies’ targets. This article discusses India’s post-liberalization changes through the governance paradigms of New Public Management and technocracy. Using the case of Direct Benefits Transfer reform, it traces the emergence of technocracy as a governance paradigm. It discusses the implications of technocracy’s complementarity with contemporary populism for the restructuring of social citizenship. It makes a case for a neo-Weberian transformation through a renewed commitment to a legal approach to public administration in order to reinforce the public’s faith in the role of the administrative state as an instrument of emancipation and social progress.
Points for practitioners
Public administration, especially in non-Western contexts, is characterized by the prioritization of managerial innovations in government over the establishment of legal frameworks. In that context, this article illustrates two central points for practitioners: • The powers of delegated legislation should be exercised transparently and by establishing a clear relationship to the formally stated policy objectives. • The operations of the administrative state should be structured in order to advance the goals of both distributive and procedural justice.
This paper will ask the following questions: how efficient has been the program in bringing accountability in the execution of schemes? It will also endeavour to identify the success/failure of the measure in factors such as 'failure to enrol' and 'failure to acquire', indicative of the overall success in relation to different demographic and regional variants. It has become mandatory to have the Aadhaar for many vulnerable groups for accessing welfare programs, for instance, in the state of Rajasthan, the midday meal scheme for school children is now given to only those who have enrolled for Aadhaar. The paper will also look into whether such technological measures tend to 'over institutionalize' the scheme leading to exclusion of marginal communities and hence increasing tokenism, ritualism etc. There are cases encountered during the research wherein citizens had to pay for getting their credentials corrected from Aadhaar database. The paper is hence expected to shed light on the future trajectories the program might take, and it will also attempt to conclude some constructive suggestions for the program.
Since its publication in 2006 as Fifty Key Thinkers on Development, this invaluable reference has established itself as the leading biographical handbook in its field, providing a concise and accessible introduction to the lives and key contributions of development thinkers from across the ideological and disciplinary spectrum. This substantially expanded and fully updated second edition in the relaunched series without the numerical constraint includes an additional 24 essays, filling in many gaps in the original selection, greatly improving the gender balance and diversifiying coverage to reflect the evolving landscape of development in theory, policy and practice.
It presents a unique guide to the lives, ideas and practices of leading contributors to the contested terrain of development studies and development policy and practice. Its thoughtful essays reflect the diversity of development in theory, policy and practice across time, space, discipines and communities of practice. Accordingly, it challenges Westerncentrism Orientalism and the like, while also demonstrating the enduring appeal of ‘development’ in different guises. David Simon has assembled a highly authoritative team of contributors from different backgrounds, regional settings and disciplines to reflect on the lives and contributions of leading authorities on development from around the world. These include:
• Modernisers like Kindleberger, Perroux and Rostow
• Dependencistas such as Frank, Furtado, Cardoso and Amin
• Progressives and critical modernists like Hirschman, Prebisch, Helleiner Sen, Streeten and Wang
• Political leaders enunciating radical alternative visions of development, such as Mao, Nkrumah and Nyerere
• Progenitors of religiously or spiritually inspired development, such as Gandhi, Ariyaratne and Vivekananda
• Development-environment thinkers like Agarwal, Blaikie, Brookfield, Ostrom and Sachs
• International institution builders like Singer, Hammarsköld, Kaul and Ul Haq
• Anti- and post-development thinkers and activists like Escobar, Ghosh, Quijano and Roy
Key Thinkers on Development is therefore the essential handbook on the world’s most influential development thinkers and an invaluable guide for students of development and sustainability, policymakers and practitioners seeking an accessible overview of this diverse field and its leading voices.
The public sector institutions which are responsible for monitoring government performance are not normally open to citizen participation. Yet there is widespread dissatisfaction with the capacities of states to exercise self-restraining functions effectively, and a growing interest amongst citizens to inform, monitor, or participate directly in the workings of these oversight institutions. This paper examines two citizen-initiated efforts in India to engage with public sector oversight functions. In one case, citizens attempted to engage with administrative accountability institutions (monitoring efficiency and quality in the food subsidy system), and in the second, citizens challenged official auditing systems in local government by producing parallel accounts of local spending which contradicted official versions. Both cases involved citizens breaking away from the ‘vertical’ channels of accountability traditionally open to civil society (lobbying, voting), and insinuating themselves to previously closed ‘horizontal’ accountability functions (the state's internal procedures for administrative review or financial auditing). We argue that for such ‘hybrid’ forms of accountability to be effective, it is important that citizens be given legal standing within institutions of public sector oversight, a continuous presence within the oversight agency's work, structured access to official documentary information, including spending records, and the right to issue dissenting perspectives directly to legislative bodies.