1 Context, Complexity, and Contingency Understanding the Process of Refonning Public Service Delivery in India VIKRAM K. CHAND his book examines processes of change and reform in public service T delivery in a range of states, sectors, and time penods. Understand mg exactly how change talces place is a key ·objective of this work. What emerges from the seven studie:, ')f reform processes induded in this volume is a picture of considerable complexity, the importance of context, the role of leadership in fashioning a strategy that seizes opportunities for change, and the presence of unpredictability, uncertainty, and contingency. Reformers often groped their way step by step towards reform, not knowing at the outset how the enterprise would turn out. Experimentation, trial-and-error, and lea.ming from past experience played a crucial role in the process of effecting change. Reform in this sense was anything but the execution of a blue-print designed in advance and seamlessly implemented. Instead, the process of reform involved mastering 'the science of muddling through' or 'bricolage'-putting together different pieces of the puzzle in ways that advanced reform m a mostly incremental fash10n. 1 Serendipity, including the presence of key civil servants at a particular juncture in key departments along with an authorizing environment at the top, also played a key role. · Tinkering or small changes on the margin emerged as the most pow­ erful form of effecting reform; constant tinkering on the margin could eventually add up to major shifts over time, but in a wa}' that did not - ·~q - ., ) PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY IN INDIA trigger counter-reform pressures that might derail the process enttrely. 2 Couching reform strategies in the metaphors and language understood by elites and masses alike often helped push the process along in our studies. 3 The reforms studied here reveal an extraordinary creatiVity with which reformers juggled different factors often in an unstable environ­ ment, experimenting with different institutional forms as they searched for solutions that might work. What emerged was a quilt of changes uniquely stitched together rather than the mechanical application of 'best practices', a half-hearted attempt to straightjacket (or wish away) an inevitably unruly reform process. Goals also shifted over time: as one challenge was overcome, the calculus of opportunities and constraints facing reformers changed, leading to a refashioning of goals. Successful reforms emerged primarily out of a dynamic home-grown process rather than a strategy designed ex ante revolving around interna~ional models of change. 4 ldentifying the incentives reinforcing (or limiting) change was crucial for understanding reform processes as a whole.5 Many solutions to problems (some even regarded as 'best practices') have failed for want of a proper understand­ ing of the incentives facing local actors in particular settings.6 Intentions could thus diverge from outcomes. Reform solutions displayed consider­ able variety, which is another way to say that functions did not map into particular forms clearly or consistently.7 Although reform was mostly a messy process involving considerable uncertainly and luck, the results did approximate standard reform goals in terms of better public service delivery and faster growth. There was agreement on what the-results of reform should be but no standard path to get there.8 In the cases studied here, elements of complexity also included Centre-state dynamics, the nuances of particular states and sectors, and variations 1n state capacity. 9 A key finding emerging from these case studies is the role of ideas in the reform process: idea& of change could bubble to the surface from below; they could find their way into reform strategies through engagements with external actors, such as the Central government; and international ideas could work their way into the fabric of domestic reform debates through a process of transmutation involving the interaction of local reform movements and global networks over time. 10 EXPLAINING CASE SELECTION This volume examines change in several states, sectors, and issue areas; the choice of case studies was eclectic but all were major cases sharing the fact of change. We chose three states for special study: Bihar, West .... f - CONTEXT, COMPLEXITY, AND CONTING.ENCY Bengal, and Gujarat. The three states varied significantly m their growth trajectories. 11 Gujarat was among the fastest growing states with a buoy­ ant industrial sector: The state grew at an annual average of 8 per cent between 1994-5 and 1999- 2000 and 8.8 per cent between 2000-1 and 2007-8. West Bengal, a state long in industrial decline, but with a growing agricultural economy, performed reasonably well in the 1990s growing at an annual average of approximately 7.1 per cent between 1994-5 and 1999-2000. A significant deceleration of growth, however, occurred between 2000-1 and 2003-4 when the average annual rate of growth slowed down tQ 5.3 per cent, thus heightening pressures to boost employ­ ment through greater private investment, for example. West Bengal did better in the latter half of the decade with the annual average growth rate picking up to 7.6 per cent between 2004 5 and 2007-8. Overall, the state grew at an annual average of 6.4 per cent between 2000-1 and 2007-8. On the other hand, a combination of poor governance and low public investment severely .limited ""ctnnual average gross state domestic product (GSDP) growth in Bihar to only 4.7 per cent between 1994-5 and 1999-2000. This pattern of low growth persisted in the early 2000s with ~ihar growing at only 4.5 per cent between 2000-1 and 2003-4. However, a dramatic change occurred between 2004-5 and 2007-8 when the annual average grm.vt:h of GSDP increased to 11.3 per cent compared to 11.l per cent for Gujarat and far ahead of°West Bengal's 7.6 per cent for the same period. Bihar offers a model of a very poor state in eastern India that has suc­ cessfully pursued a range of reforms that have considerably improved the prospects for economic growth and poverty alleviation. West Bengal is an example of the use of incremental strategies to improve the func­ tioning of public sector enterprises and the power sector to promote economic growth in a state long dominated by the left. 12 Gujarat is an altogether different model relying on the efficient delivery of economic services to attract investment by a bureaucracy intent on pursuing con­ sistently high growth in a state known historically for its industrial base and commercial acumen. The shift in Bihar towards a new emphasis on delivering public services and fostering growth; the incrementalism of West Bengal; and the long-term developmentalist focus of Gujarat are all examples from which one can absorb lessons about how change happens on the ground. In terms of sectors, we focus on regulatibn in infrastructure as well as the delivery of urban services. Effective regulation is crucial to break investment barriers in sectors, such as telecommunications, ports, and . - ' ~- PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY IN IND1A power, to ensure a level playing field between incumbents and private investors, set objective rules of the game, separate policymakers from providers, and protect consumers from predatory behaviour. Reforming regulation in infrastructure is thus likely to have a major effect on India's overall development prospects. The reason for focusing on the urban sec­ tor is that it represents a laboratory of change. Transforming India's cities will make a crucial difference to the quality of life of many Indians who are likely to migrate to urban centres iJ.1. th~ future and foster an environ­ ment conducive to cechnological change, investment, and innovation in India's fast growing cities. In terms of issue areas, this volume focuses first on the question of how to balance greater autonomy with accountability to improve the delivery of public services through the use of executive agencies on the lines of New Zealand, the UK, Australia, and Japan. Second, it focuses on how India might absorb lessons for the effective implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, from countries such as Mexico, South Africa, and Canada. India has a long home-grown movement that succeeded in propelling the enactment of a pioneering right to information law that itself constitutes best practice; the chances, therefore, of adapting and extending from elsewhere successful practices relating to implementation are thus good. On the other hand, there are few local precedents of the executive agency model being successfully applied in India for a variety of reasons; attempts to restructure the delivery of public services along these lines are thus likely to be· more difficult. HOW DID CHANGE HAPPEN? Understanding Processes of Changes at the State Level The Importance ofLeadership The emergence of a leadership oriented towards development m Bihar resulted in a multi-pronged approach to reforming public services and faster economic growth. A major shift took place in Bihar in 2005 with the rise of a reform 3 coalition. t This shift was the product of long administrative neglect and social polarization that resulted in a virtual breakdown of the delivery of public services. Law and order collapsed while public spending ground to a halt. The breakdown of the state translated into almost non-existent public services, especially outside Patna, including non-functional schools and primary health clinics and dilapidated roads. In effect, reform ideas had become sufficiently popular with citizens that they chose to support _ \,f,f,- CONTEXT, COMPLEXITY, ANO CONTINGENCY a new alternative to resolvmg the state's problems. Bihar is clearly a case of change dnven by ideas from below and executed by a reform-onented leadership.