Improving Public Service Delivery in India: Akshay Mangla’s Fresh Take on 'Making Bureaucracy Work'

Even after 75 years of its independence, the lack of quality public services in India cannot simply be attributed to a shortage of resources. Since the economic liberalization, India has witnessed a remarkable surge in growth. Our leaders proudly proclaim our status as the world’s 'fastest-growing economy.' Yet, as Dreze and Sen aptly put it, this growth has resulted in "islands of California in a sea of sub-Saharan Africa." While social divisions and clientelistic politics are frequently cited as the causes of inequality, bureaucratic norms remain the least understood and discussed factor. Social divisions are a staple of academic debate, and the practice of distributing targeted goods for votes is a common talk of the town, but the role of bureaucracy often goes unnoticed. Akshay Mangla’s recent book, Making Bureaucracy Work: Norms, Education, and Public Service Delivery in Rural India, offers valuable insights into this overlooked aspect, shedding light on how bureaucratic norms shape public service delivery in India.

India inherited a Weberian-style bureaucracy, which was initially designed to serve the colonial administration's interests, with an emphasis on maintaining law and order. Max Weber’s analysis of European modernization highlighted the shift from traditional, patrimonial systems of governance to more rational-legal forms based on hierarchical, rule-bound, and meritocratic principles. In this largely legalistic framework, bureaucracies were characterized by strict adherence to formal procedures, vertical communication, and a clear organizational structure.

With the advent of democracy and greater democratic accountability in India, there was a significant increase in the allocation of resources toward sectors like health, education, and other public welfare programs. However, the implementation of these programs has often been lacking. As Myron Weiner noted in 1962, "The central problem of planning is increasingly that of implementation… between the high ideals of New Delhi and the cynicism in the mofussil town." Weiner highlighted the striking deficiencies in law enforcement and the gap between the rhetoric of rights enshrined in India’s Constitution and the reality of service delivery in rural areas. Despite the promises of democracy, India’s states have struggled to acquire the bureaucratic capabilities necessary for effectively executing sectoral programs. Akshay Mangla’s book delves into this quotidian bureaucracy, the body responsible for implementing public policy and interacting with citizens.

While legalistic bureaucracy represents one end of the spectrum, deliberative bureaucracy occupies the other. Inspired by John Dewey's 'pragmatic political philosophy,' the deliberative approach encourages a more expansive interpretation of policy and emphasizes participatory dynamics. It fosters communication across both vertical and horizontal channels, making it well-suited for addressing complex, evolving tasks that require broader collaboration. In contrast, legalistic bureaucracy excels in codifiable, rule-based tasks that demand strict adherence to procedure and hierarchical communication. Mangla, in his exploration of these two bureaucratic cultures, cautions that the reality lies on a continuum. In India, both legalistic and deliberative bureaucratic approaches coexist at various subnational levels.

Each year, learning poverty in India is starkly revealed through PRATHAM’s Annual Status of Education Report. The findings often stir academics and policy analysts, who scrutinize the data, critique education policies, and propose various remedies for the ailing education system. In Making Bureaucracy Work, Akshay Mangla offers a new perspective, examining the substantial disparities in educational outcomes across Indian states through the lens of bureaucratic norms—the tacit rules that govern the behavior and orientations of state officials and shape their interactions with citizens. Through his extensive fieldwork in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, Mangla explores how these bureaucratic norms influence primary education. The findings are enlightening.

Mangla traces the origins of deliberative democracy in Himachal Pradesh, exploring the historical context of state formation and the collaborative relationship between political leadership and bureaucracy. Himachal Pradesh saw a unique synergy and cordial relations between the two. Both political leaders and bureaucrats had to jointly lobby for funds from the central government, fostering a cooperative dynamic that emphasized deliberation and mutual engagement. The result was an integrative planning process, where policies aimed at reducing educational inequalities were developed with an eye toward inclusion. As a result, disadvantaged children were effectively integrated with their more privileged peers. Mangla highlights several innovative policy implementations that emerged, such as the creation of mobile schools for nomadic children and the establishment of Mother-Teacher Associations. These associations empowered local communities to monitor and address issues like teacher absenteeism, significantly improving educational outcomes.

This case serves as a brilliant example of social coproduction in public service delivery—where citizens, local communities, and state institutions collaborate to create more effective, context-sensitive solutions. It demonstrates how deliberative bureaucratic norms can foster not just administrative efficiency, but also social innovation, leading to tangible improvements in services like education.

Uttarakhand, despite sharing similar geography and social characteristics with Himachal Pradesh, presents a contrasting case in terms of its bureaucratic approach. While Himachal Pradesh benefited from a more deliberative bureaucracy, Uttarakhand’s bureaucracy remained predominantly legalistic. This legalistic approach, combined with an active civil society, led to what Mangla describes as induced privatization in the education sector, where private players increasingly filled the gaps left by the state. One notable example of this was the state’s Teacher Rationalization Policy, which aimed to ensure a balanced distribution of teachers across both remote and accessible areas. However, Mangla argues that its rigid, rule-bound implementation had counterproductive effects on the quality of education.

Similarly, the findings from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar yield significant insights. Uttar Pradesh’s predominantly legalistic bureaucracy, for instance, can be traced to its strong colonial heritage, where the primary focus was law and order, and rules served as the first line of defence against patronage-based politics. Mangla’s fieldwork reveals that this rule-bound, legalistic approach, while effective for maintaining order, left the bureaucracy ill-equipped to handle the complex tasks required for improving primary education. This, in turn, helps explain the state’s underperformance in this crucial sector.

While countries like Argentina and the United States are cutting down on bureaucracy in an attempt to increase 'effectiveness,' and New Public Management (NPM) has become the prevailing paradigm—with bureaucracy often labelled as 'lazy, inefficient, incompetent, wasteful, inflexible, unaccountable, and inhumane'—Akshay Mangla’s work offers a refreshing perspective on public service implementation. Mangla offers meaningful viewpoints on the persistent disparities in public service delivery within the existing legal framework. He encourages administrators to shift their focus towards deliberative bureaucratic norms, which emphasize collaboration, community involvement, and adaptive problem-solving.

Lant Pritchett described India as a "flailing state," where its highly capable head is not reliably connected to the arms and legs of implementation. Mangla’s deliberative bureaucratic framework offers a new path forward for those in power, enabling them to effectively connect the brain with the limbs. This connection will allow bureaucrats to fulfill the inclusive developmental agenda by promoting more effective and equitable service delivery, particularly in sectors such as education, health, and infrastructure.

You can buy the book here - https://amzn.in/d/4NSY0Bn