SUCCESSFUL MODELS ON SOCIAL SECTOR SERVICE DELIVERY

CONTEXT:

• NITI Aayog had published a resource book on Good Practices in Social Sector Service Delivery to codify, deconstruct and disseminate information on successful government interventions in the social sector, with the aim of facilitating knowledge sharing, adaptation and replication to localized contexts

A MODEL ON CHILD PROTECTION:

• Odisha’s school student helpline service, Sampark, has helped in timely and efficient redressal of complaints lodged by students related to education and schools under the Right to Education Act, 2009 (RTE).

• Rationale:
  • Prior to the deployment of the Sampark Helpline, avenues of redressal were limited with respect to increased cases of dropouts, cases of negligence and violation of rules or the non-availability of entitlements as per the mandate of the RTE Act.
  • Similarly, issues related to the needs of special and disadvantaged children, complaints of corporal punishment and incidents of sexual abuse of students needed redressal.
  • It was primarily due to the fact that no direct contact mechanism existed between the officials and citizens to address their complaints, that issues seldom reached higher authorities, and suitable action was rarely taken

• What is ‘Sampark’?
  • Sampark is a 12-hour student helpline, started by the Department of School and Mass Education in Odisha.
  • The helpline service was initiated to provide relief to the students in distress through timely action
  • The specific objectives of the helpline are:
    • To listen to the concerns of students, ensure a safe and child-friendly environment that is free from punishment and exploitation and to understand the perspective of students on the school education and management system.
    • The helpline has, therefore, provided a mechanism for the protection of students’ rights.
    • Besides, the helpline has also been sensitising parents, students and teachers about their rights and duties under the RTE Act

• Impact:
  • The helpline utilises existing resources to offer an effective state-level service for the protection of students’ rights.
  • The programme involves the participation of students, their parents and state level officers to address grievances on time, ensuring appropriate action.
  • After the installation of the helpline, significant improvement in the teacher-student relationship has been observed in schools
  • The helpline has managed to create a positive impact on students and parents by restoring their faith in the school education system

• Replicability and Sustainability:
  • By empowering students and providing them with accurate information while addressing their grievances, the Sampark school student helpline has proved to be a successful redressal mechanism.
  • This model can be replicated in all schools including private and government-run schools.

 

A MODEL ON EDUCATING MIGRANT CHILDREN

• Gujarat Government’s Migration Card initiative helps track inter-state and intra-state migration of school-going children

• Rationale:
  • The implementation of Right to Education Act has faced several roadblocks, including high dropout rates among students.
  • Migration for seasonal employment is one of the factors known to contribute to the dropout rate of children from schools.
  • Children of parents who seek employment opportunities away from their domicile – within the same state or in others – are often uprooted in the middle of the academic year. They also face trouble rejoining schools and drop out of schools altogether

• What is ‘Migration Card Initiative’?
  • The Migration Card initiative was introduced in Gujarat in 2001 to track students who were migrating along with their parents within the state or from other states.
  • The main objective was to avoid dropout and ensure the continued education of children during the period of migration.
  • Under the Migration Card Initiative, intra-state children are covered in seasonal hostels at their domiciles while inter-state-children are covered under Tent Special Training Programmes (Tent STPs) in temporary schools set up at the worksites of their parents.

• What is ‘Migration Monitoring Software’?
  • In 2009, the Migration Monitoring Software was introduced to overcome the limitations of ‘Migration Card initiative’ and streamline the process of tracking in real time.

• Replicability and Sustainability:
  • This initiative is especially relevant for those states that witness a high migration rate.
  • Administrative support and active participation of the implementing authorities, especially at cluster and block levels, are essential for replicating this initiative.
  • The role of parents, School Management Committees (SMC) members or even owners of work sites must also be given due thought in the introduction of such an initiative

 

A MODEL ON WASTE MANAGEMENT

• The Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation (TNPHC) has successfully constructed an off-grid sewage treatment plant (STP) to improve living conditions in the police housing colony in Avadi, a suburb of Chennai.

• Rationale:
  • The lack of sewage treatment facilities was a major concern for residents of the police quarters in Avadi as the area was not connected to the underground sewer system and had to dispose of its sewage through septic tanks.

• Implementation of ‘Avadi Sewage Treatment Plant’:
  • The STP was constructed with the objective of treating and reusing the sewage water generated in the Avadi police quarters.
  • Methodology of activated sludge control was chosen for deployment due to its simplicity and reliability. The method uses air and a biological floc composed of bacteria and protozoa to treat sewage

• Impact:
  • This sewage treatment plant has not only solved the problem of sewage disposal but also provided a pond of treated water for fishing, vegetable cultivation and recharging of groundwater.

• Replicability and Sustainability:
  • The construction of the STP in Avadi shows how off-grid or isolated systems for sewage treatment can effectively manage sewage in a way that converts waste into useful products and also recharges the environment.
  • Having already been replicated at several sites in Tamil Nadu, the model offers a proven strategy for responsible and productive sewage disposal.

 

A MODEL ON FOREST MANAGEMENT:

• Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) developed and implemented Forest Produce Tracking System (FPTS), a cutting edge web-based application, for tracking forest produce.

• Rationale:
  • Prior to the introduction of the FPTS, the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) used a manual system to manage and regulate the extraction of natural resources such as timber, minerals and firewood.
  • This manual system suffered from several shortcomings. It was very time consuming as multiple authorities, approvals and logistics were involved in the issuance of Transit Passes (TPs)
  • The system was made even more ineffective by the rampant corruption at the issuing stage, owing to discretionary powers being vested in multiple issuing authorities; printing of counterfeit TPs etc.

• Objectives of Forest Produce Tracking System:
  • The primary objectives of this initiative are to use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to reengineer the system of TP generation, making it efficient, transparent and simple for all stakeholders.
  • The initiative aims to enable comprehensive and scientific natural resource management by enabling real-time tracking of what is being extracted, from where, by whom and for what purpose, so that policy decisions are based on data, not assumptions.

• Replicability and Sustainability:
  • As the process is the same in all forest departments across the country, FPTS can be easily replicated with minimum customisation
  • There is effort toward further enhancing FPTS by adding mining sketches that demarcate and designate the mining area for each buyer. This will increase accountability and enable checks on illegal mining.

 

A MODEL ON WATER MANAGEMENT

• ‘Mazhapolima’ is a participatory climate change adaptation initiative which was launched by the Government of Kerala in Thrissur district

• Rationale:
  • Kerala has a unique water resources management problem. The state has a large number of perennial springs, streams, rivers and other water bodies and receives an average of 3,000 mm of rainfall in a year.
  • Paradoxically, the per capita availability of water in Kerala is substantially lower than the national average. This is a result of accelerated surface water runoff to sea, which leaves little water for consumption and causes cycles of water abundance and water poverty in the state.

• Objectives of ‘Mazhapolima’:
  • The project aims to alleviate the problem of water scarcity by harvesting rainwater from rooftops and feeding it into open dug wells, which traditionally form the water security mechanisms of the state
  • It improves the quality of water in open dug wells; reduce public spending on water tankers, and reduce saline intrusion into open dug wells along the coastal line.

• Replicability & Sustainability:
  • The technique used is simple to adopt and the financial implications much lower than providing tanker supply to drought-hit areas each year.
  • The conditions necessary for replication of the programme are good rainfall and a culture of open wells. Most of the coastal locations in India fulfill these conditions. Hence, Mazhapolima represents a low-cost, effective climate change adaptation strategy.

A MODEL ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION

• The ‘Panchayat Banks’ model of Jharkhand has provided rural citizens with improved access to a range of government schemes as well as financial services, allowing citizens to carry out basic financial transactions and also access benefits of government schemes such as pensions and MGNREGA payments

• Rationale:
  • The network of financial institutions in Jharkhand is weak with only 1,500 bank branches across the state, which is mostly concentrated in urban areas.
  • Residents of rural and far flung areas face several difficulties in carrying out financial transactions.
  • The problem becomes particularly acute when it comes to the disbursal of government benefits such as pensions, scholarships and MGNREGA wage payments. A large majority of these beneficiaries are residents of rural areas and they face difficulties in accessing their benefits.
  • The difficulties include the need to travel long distances, entailing monetary expenditures and loss of time. Sometimes multiple visits are required for the same transaction. This often results in diminishing savings, as account holders prefer to withdraw money in bulk when they have to travel long distances to carry out every financial transaction.

• Objective:
  • The primary objective of this initiative was to provide banking and financial services at the Panchayat level.
  • The ‘Pragya Kendra’ is a Gram Panchayat level centre, which is housed in the Panchayat office. These centres are spread extensively across Jharkhand. Citizens can visit the kendras to avail of e-Governance services such as applying for a birth certificate, death certificate etc.
  • Locally residing Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) build and operate these centres in return for a commission on each service provided.
  • The objective was to make the Pragya Kendras into Panchayat Banks as well and bring financial services to the Panchayat level.
  • The Kendras were selected for reasons of financial sustainability. They offer a bouquet of services, ensuring that the service provider has several sources of revenue
  • The government incurs no costs in establishing Panchayat Banks, as the costs are borne entirely by the VLEs (Village Level Entrepreneurs)

• Impact:
  • Improved access to financial services: The initiative has significantly improved access to financial services in the rural areas
  • Reduction in corruption and leakages: The usage of biometric authentication and the direct transfer of payments to beneficiary accounts have significantly reduced corruption and leakages
  • Increase in savings: Thrift and savings are becoming common as customers are now able to withdraw only as much as they need, since they can access the withdrawal services more easily
  • Increased efficiency of banks: Banks have become more efficient, as the reduced load on bank branches has enabled them to devote more time to core operations such as deposit mobilisation and credit operations
  • Livelihood generation: The Panchayat Bank model has become a source of livelihood and provides entrepreneurial opportunities to community members

• Replicability and sustainability:
  • One of the main strengths of the Panchayat Bank model is its sustainability, which is both financial and social in nature
  • As far as replicability of the model is concerned, this requires certain preconditions such as willingness and support from banks, integration of various stakeholder’s IT systems and regular supply of electricity and internet connectivity

A MODEL ON FOOD SECURITY AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

• The practical challenges of implementing the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Arunachal Pradesh led to the conceptualisation of the ‘Arun ePDS’ initiative to improve delivery through process re-engineering and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

• Rationale:
  • The Justice Wadhwa’s Report raised a number of issues in PDS, including
    • Problems in accurate targeting and segmentation of APL / BPL beneficiaries.
    • Pilferage of PDS commodities, including pilferage at every node of supply chain
    • Wastage of food grain and the issue of inaccessibility of foodgrains for many people in the country.
    • Problems of bogus ration cards.
  • Arunachal Pradesh’s unique set of problems impinge on the implementation of the public distribution system in the state.
  • Most significantly, many regions in the hill state are hard to access. Further, the state does not have a civil supplies corporation to manage the movement of foodgrains from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns to Fair Price Shops (FPS).
  • The FCI does not have its own godowns in the state either.

• Objectives of ‘Arun ePDS’:
  • The prime objective of the initiative is to improve the PDS in Arunachal Pradesh; arrest issuance of bogus ration cards; and to create a mechanism to achieve accuracy in projecting requirements.
  • It aims to facilitate citizen-centric functioning and rapid grievance redressal, have centralised reporting and monitoring, create efficient allocation of commodities, and track supply chain from FCI godowns to FPS.
  • The ePDS system operates on a novel, non-replicable coupon system
  • 12 coupons are issued (one for each month) to the beneficiaries at the time of issuance/renewal of ration cards
  • These have to be submitted to the Fair Price Shops by the beneficiary, one for each month, at the time of purchasing his/her ration quota
  • Fair Price Shops owners, in turn, will submit the collected coupons to the ePDS counter (DFCS office) to get allocation for the next month
  • The system will automatically generate monthly sub-allocation order on the basis of the coupons submitted by the Fair Price Shop dealer
  • Grievance redressal is an integral part of the system and the toll free number 1967 has been provided to people to list out their grievances and register complaints. As the entire process is digitized, actions taken to address grievances could be tracked.

• Replicability and Sustainability:
  • This system ranks high on sustainability as it does not require heavy additional resources. With small additional inputs, the system can be put in place in any state that wants to streamline its PDS.

CONCLUSION:

• In the current context of demand-led development and the strong emphasis on good governance through transparency and accountability, the role of the State in social service delivery is undergoing a profound transformation.
• With several noteworthy improvisations and innovations being made in aid of this positive transformation, accurate and sustained information exchange on the same can be of immense support to action for social service delivery across the country.
• Successful initiatives can be replicated to further good governance and the overall goals of human well-being.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. Enumerate any three successful models in social sector service delivery. How far proper dissemination of experiences learned from such good practices helps in improving the effectiveness of government interventions in social sector?