In our systems of governance there are many areas that need immediate overhauling, and where no minor changes can make any difference. The reason that we face problems in many of our routine services is that our systems work on quick fixes and stop gap arrangements. This has given rise to multiple problems. A cursory look at our governance would tell us that from the formation of policies to the execution of detail on ground there is a lack of coordination, and also an absence of continuity. We have seen how many development initiatives that could have benefitted people, could not be completed because they were not followed to finish. Similarity there are many social welfare schemes that were rolled out with great expectations. But after some time we could see that the benefits are not reaching the target groups. The reason is that the concerned departments do not take up the matters related to the execution of these schemes in a professional manner. Now take a department like education. How many times we have heard of radical changes being done in the functioning of the department.
But finally things remain the same and we move on. Same is the fate of all other sectors of governance. The question that arises is that why we can’t deliver in an efficient way. Why things are left half way. Why policies don’t turn into practices. And why there is no system of evaluating this absence of efficiency. In the developed part of the world things are laid out to the last detail, and then followed till end. Why it can’t be done here. One of the reasons that can be assigned to this failure is the rot of acting tentative. We take decisions without doing sufficient thinking. We involve human resource on ad hoc basis. We pass buck when it comes to responsibility. All this cumulatively leads to the failure of policies, schemes and the apparatus of governance. Unless there is a radical shift from this attitude, any expectations of change are misplaced.