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Sushasan Vol. 02, Issue 12, May, 2017
Vision –“Equal opportunity to all through Good Governance geared to improve the quality of lives of our people."
Newsletter of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance & Policy Analysis
Akhilesh ArgalDirector
From the Editor’s
Dear Readers,
Madhya Pradesh was the first Indian state to legislate a Public Service Guarantee Act named “Madhya Pradesh Lok Sevon Ke Pradan Ki Guarantee Adhiniyam” in August, 2010. This has been followed by enactments in the states of Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Assam, Gujarat, West Bengal, and Goa. The Institute has taken up a study to compare the different service guarantee Acts in terms of number of services and departments covered, penalty and timelines for delivery of services etc. The methodology followed in this study is desk based research. A brief of the study is in this month's Newsletter.
India being one of the most disaster prone countries and agriculture being the source of livelihood of the majority of its people, crop insurance occupies an important place. The Institute took up a study to understand and assess various crop insurance schemes and risk management approaches in India and other countries and propose a suitable strategy
for India. A brief of the major findings and recommendations is in the Newsletter.
Quality is one of the important cornerstones of any organization. It is not an isolated activity but made up of several components at various levels. Looking at the way public services are growing world over, it is essential that leaders should have an eye on quality. There is an interesting reading on "Quality" in this month's Newsletter by Shri M. M. Upadhyay, Principal Advisor, Centre for Social Sector Development of the Institute.
It is always better to refresh our knowledge and keeping this in mind, an in-house training programme was conducted during April 2017 in the Institute on research methodology and data analysis to familiarize the core staff with contemporary tools and techniques. Dr. Anitha Govindaraj, Deputy Advisor, coordinated the training programme. The details of the programme can be seen in the Newsletter.
Your comments on the Newsletter will be greatly appreciated.
Institute News
Project Roundup
An in-house training programme was conducted
during April 2017 in the Institute so as to refresh the
knowledge of the core staff members in research
methodology and data analysis and also to familiarize
them with contemporary tools and techniques. The
training was provided by a few core staff members
possessing the necessary expertise and experience in
the area, with Dr. Anitha Govindaraj, Deputy Advisor
coordinating the same. Attended by all the core staff
members of the Institute, the lecture contents were
carefully designed as per their requirements and
keeping in view the kind of research being done at
AIGGPA. The training started with introduction to
In-house Training Programme on Research Methodology and Data Analysis
research methods by Dr. Mangala Gowri and then Dr.
Anitha Govindaraj, Smt. Ritu Maheswari, Dr. Indrani
Barpujari, Shri. Gaurav Khare and Shri. Gaurav
Agrawal gave a series of lectures on various important
topics such as descriptive statistics, hypothesis
testing, correlation, and regression, graphical
representation of data, citations and references. The
pedagogy included practical training on how to apply
various statistical tests using MS-Excel. The training
has been found relevant by the core staff members in
enhancing their capabilities and felt that the
knowledge acquired will be useful in their future
research projects.
India being one of the most disaster prone countries
and agriculture being the source of livelihood of the
majority of its people, crop insurance occupies an
important place. Hence, an attempt has been made to
understand and assess various crop insurance
schemes and risk management approaches in India,
Madhya Pradesh (MP) and other countries and
propose a suitable strategy for India. The study has
been coordinated by Dr. Anitha Govindaraj of the
Institute.
The specific objectives of the study are:
l To do a situation analysis for understanding the
challenges faced in implementing the recent crop
insurance models such as MNAIS (Modified
National Agricultural Insurance Scheme), WBCIS
(Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme) and
PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana) at the
state and national level.
l To study the economics of the latest crop
insurance schemes vis-a-vis the disaster aids to
farmers in MP.
l To study the weather risk mitigating strategies for
agriculture followed in other countries such as
Brazil, USA, China, Mexico and Africa.
Crop Insurance Models and Relief Measures in India and Madhya Pradesh
l To suggest an appropriate agriculture weather
risk management strategy that can be adopted in
India.
The study is based on both primary and secondary
data collected from various sources. Various
stakeholders such as the AIC (Agriculture Insurance
Corporation), banks, private insurance agencies and
Department of Agriculture were consulted to
understand the issues in implementation of the crop
insurance programs. To explore the perception of the
farmers regarding crop insurance, 200 farmers from 4
districts in MP were interviewed.
Major Findings
The performance of the major crop insurance
schemes-NAIS, MNAIS, WBCIS and PBFBY at the
national level and state level were studied. It was
observed that penetration rate of all the schemes was
low and for NAIS, the claim premium ratio was more
than 300 percent costing the government heavily. The
performance of MP in terms of the number of farmers
insured and area brought under insurance cover was
better under NAIS as compared to other states.
WBCIS has performed well only in Rajasthan and
Bihar. MNAIS has been implemented by few states
alone. PMFBY launched during Kharif, 2016 has
covered 366.64 lakh farmers accounting to 26.5 %
penetration in India and bringing 388 lakh hectares
under insurance cover which is 15 percent more than
the previous year. The sum insured under PBFBY has
also increased by 104 percent. The coverage of non-
loanee farmers has also increased by 6 times.
The performance of crop insurance (NAIS) in MP is
better and is showing an increasing trend in
penetration rates. There is no correlation among the
penetration rates and drought vulnerability in
districts. Ujjain, Dewas, Sehore, Vidhisha, Rajgarh
and Mandsour are districts, which occupy the major
share of the insured area in the state while the
penetration rates are extremely poor in the eastern
and northern belt of MP. In MP, farmers are mostly
affected by drought/flood during Kharif and hail
stones /frost in Rabi season. Most of the surveyed
farmers in MP were oblivious of the details of the crop
insurance schemes. The awareness levels have
improved for PMFBY. Majority of the farmers are not
very much interested in crop insurance due to issues
such as improper loss assessments, inadequate and
delayed claim payments, and poor response from the
banks. Farmers are more aware about the relief
payments and prefer relief to crop insurance.
The most common insurance product in the
international market is the Multi Peril Crop Insurance
(MPCI), which covers multiple risks and is the largest
insurance product in terms of the premium collected
in USA. Most of the countries subsidize the crop
insurance program heavily and especially in USA,
where it is claimed to be successful and covers around
80 percent of the cropped area, MPCI is subsidized to
the extent of 70-80 percent by the government. In
China also, crop insurance is becoming popular only
after the government has increased public funding by
70 percent in 2007. Only in few countries such as
Germany, Australia and New Zealand, crop insurance
products are a purely private business without any
government interference. In Kenya, Kilimo Salamo – a
mobile based insurance product is successfully
providing coverage against losses and operates purely
in the private sector.
Recommendations
The effective implementation of PMFBY requires
timely redressal of common complaints such as
inadequate sum assured and claim payments, non-
representative CCEs (Crop Cutting Experiments),
error in yield & loss assessments, delayed payments
etc. Government needs to concentrate more on
regulatory roles and infrastructure development
while, private insurance service providers should be
encouraged in executing PMFBY and improving the
insurance product. Weather Index based insurance
needs to be promoted by improving the density of
weather stations, as it is cost effective as compared to
area based insurance products. Mobile based
insurance product (Kilimo Salamo type) needs to be
pilot tested in India as mobile phones have more
penetration in rural aeas.
To protect farmers from losses due to weather risk, we
need to build an appropriate comprehensive risk
mitigation strategy rather than just focusing on one
strategy of crop insurance as a silver bullet to address
the weather risk problem of farmers. Apart from crop
insurance programs, government needs to focus on
other strategies such as developing resistant
varieties, encouraging farmers to cultivate risk
resistant crop varieties through policy measures such
as variable interest rates for crop loans, variable
premium rates and favorable MSPs (Minimum
Support Prices) for risk resistant crops. Rather than
just relying on the banks for selling insurance
products, other outlets and micro-insurance agents
need to be deployed in rural areas.
The disaster relief payments tend to have a negative
impact on the penetration of the insurance products
as farmers prefer relief to insurance because it is
available free of cost. Once the crop insurance is
standardized with the help of technology,
government needs to replace relief payments with
crop insurance using USA- NAP (Non Insured Crop
Disaster Assistance Programme) type model.
Government needs to focus seriously on creation of
awareness among farmers regarding the various
aspects of crop insurance. Farmers are more prone to
price risk apart from weather risk and, hence, in the
long term, we should move towards crop revenue
insurance. Thus, a more committed and
comprehensive approach towards weather risk
management is needed to protect farmers from huge
losses in farming.
Institute News
Project Roundup
An in-house training programme was conducted
during April 2017 in the Institute so as to refresh the
knowledge of the core staff members in research
methodology and data analysis and also to familiarize
them with contemporary tools and techniques. The
training was provided by a few core staff members
possessing the necessary expertise and experience in
the area, with Dr. Anitha Govindaraj, Deputy Advisor
coordinating the same. Attended by all the core staff
members of the Institute, the lecture contents were
carefully designed as per their requirements and
keeping in view the kind of research being done at
AIGGPA. The training started with introduction to
In-house Training Programme on Research Methodology and Data Analysis
research methods by Dr. Mangala Gowri and then Dr.
Anitha Govindaraj, Smt. Ritu Maheswari, Dr. Indrani
Barpujari, Shri. Gaurav Khare and Shri. Gaurav
Agrawal gave a series of lectures on various important
topics such as descriptive statistics, hypothesis
testing, correlation, and regression, graphical
representation of data, citations and references. The
pedagogy included practical training on how to apply
various statistical tests using MS-Excel. The training
has been found relevant by the core staff members in
enhancing their capabilities and felt that the
knowledge acquired will be useful in their future
research projects.
India being one of the most disaster prone countries
and agriculture being the source of livelihood of the
majority of its people, crop insurance occupies an
important place. Hence, an attempt has been made to
understand and assess various crop insurance
schemes and risk management approaches in India,
Madhya Pradesh (MP) and other countries and
propose a suitable strategy for India. The study has
been coordinated by Dr. Anitha Govindaraj of the
Institute.
The specific objectives of the study are:
l To do a situation analysis for understanding the
challenges faced in implementing the recent crop
insurance models such as MNAIS (Modified
National Agricultural Insurance Scheme), WBCIS
(Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme) and
PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana) at the
state and national level.
l To study the economics of the latest crop
insurance schemes vis-a-vis the disaster aids to
farmers in MP.
l To study the weather risk mitigating strategies for
agriculture followed in other countries such as
Brazil, USA, China, Mexico and Africa.
Crop Insurance Models and Relief Measures in India and Madhya Pradesh
l To suggest an appropriate agriculture weather
risk management strategy that can be adopted in
India.
The study is based on both primary and secondary
data collected from various sources. Various
stakeholders such as the AIC (Agriculture Insurance
Corporation), banks, private insurance agencies and
Department of Agriculture were consulted to
understand the issues in implementation of the crop
insurance programs. To explore the perception of the
farmers regarding crop insurance, 200 farmers from 4
districts in MP were interviewed.
Major Findings
The performance of the major crop insurance
schemes-NAIS, MNAIS, WBCIS and PBFBY at the
national level and state level were studied. It was
observed that penetration rate of all the schemes was
low and for NAIS, the claim premium ratio was more
than 300 percent costing the government heavily. The
performance of MP in terms of the number of farmers
insured and area brought under insurance cover was
better under NAIS as compared to other states.
WBCIS has performed well only in Rajasthan and
Bihar. MNAIS has been implemented by few states
alone. PMFBY launched during Kharif, 2016 has
covered 366.64 lakh farmers accounting to 26.5 %
penetration in India and bringing 388 lakh hectares
under insurance cover which is 15 percent more than
the previous year. The sum insured under PBFBY has
also increased by 104 percent. The coverage of non-
loanee farmers has also increased by 6 times.
The performance of crop insurance (NAIS) in MP is
better and is showing an increasing trend in
penetration rates. There is no correlation among the
penetration rates and drought vulnerability in
districts. Ujjain, Dewas, Sehore, Vidhisha, Rajgarh
and Mandsour are districts, which occupy the major
share of the insured area in the state while the
penetration rates are extremely poor in the eastern
and northern belt of MP. In MP, farmers are mostly
affected by drought/flood during Kharif and hail
stones /frost in Rabi season. Most of the surveyed
farmers in MP were oblivious of the details of the crop
insurance schemes. The awareness levels have
improved for PMFBY. Majority of the farmers are not
very much interested in crop insurance due to issues
such as improper loss assessments, inadequate and
delayed claim payments, and poor response from the
banks. Farmers are more aware about the relief
payments and prefer relief to crop insurance.
The most common insurance product in the
international market is the Multi Peril Crop Insurance
(MPCI), which covers multiple risks and is the largest
insurance product in terms of the premium collected
in USA. Most of the countries subsidize the crop
insurance program heavily and especially in USA,
where it is claimed to be successful and covers around
80 percent of the cropped area, MPCI is subsidized to
the extent of 70-80 percent by the government. In
China also, crop insurance is becoming popular only
after the government has increased public funding by
70 percent in 2007. Only in few countries such as
Germany, Australia and New Zealand, crop insurance
products are a purely private business without any
government interference. In Kenya, Kilimo Salamo – a
mobile based insurance product is successfully
providing coverage against losses and operates purely
in the private sector.
Recommendations
The effective implementation of PMFBY requires
timely redressal of common complaints such as
inadequate sum assured and claim payments, non-
representative CCEs (Crop Cutting Experiments),
error in yield & loss assessments, delayed payments
etc. Government needs to concentrate more on
regulatory roles and infrastructure development
while, private insurance service providers should be
encouraged in executing PMFBY and improving the
insurance product. Weather Index based insurance
needs to be promoted by improving the density of
weather stations, as it is cost effective as compared to
area based insurance products. Mobile based
insurance product (Kilimo Salamo type) needs to be
pilot tested in India as mobile phones have more
penetration in rural aeas.
To protect farmers from losses due to weather risk, we
need to build an appropriate comprehensive risk
mitigation strategy rather than just focusing on one
strategy of crop insurance as a silver bullet to address
the weather risk problem of farmers. Apart from crop
insurance programs, government needs to focus on
other strategies such as developing resistant
varieties, encouraging farmers to cultivate risk
resistant crop varieties through policy measures such
as variable interest rates for crop loans, variable
premium rates and favorable MSPs (Minimum
Support Prices) for risk resistant crops. Rather than
just relying on the banks for selling insurance
products, other outlets and micro-insurance agents
need to be deployed in rural areas.
The disaster relief payments tend to have a negative
impact on the penetration of the insurance products
as farmers prefer relief to insurance because it is
available free of cost. Once the crop insurance is
standardized with the help of technology,
government needs to replace relief payments with
crop insurance using USA- NAP (Non Insured Crop
Disaster Assistance Programme) type model.
Government needs to focus seriously on creation of
awareness among farmers regarding the various
aspects of crop insurance. Farmers are more prone to
price risk apart from weather risk and, hence, in the
long term, we should move towards crop revenue
insurance. Thus, a more committed and
comprehensive approach towards weather risk
management is needed to protect farmers from huge
losses in farming.
The Right to Service Act is a key administrative reform
initiative, built on the idea of the Citizen Charter.
While the Citizen Charters define the quality of public
services, the Act takes it a step further by making a
citizen’s right to public service within the stipulated
time-frame legally binding, failing which the
concerned officials can be penalized.
Madhya Pradesh (MP) was the first Indian state to
legislate a Public Service Guarantee Act named
“Madhya Pradesh Lok Sevon Ke Pradan Ki Guarantee
Adhiniyam” in August, 2010. This has been followed
by enactments of Right to Service Acts in the states of
Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh,
Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and
Kashmir, Odisha, Assam, Gujarat, West Bengal, and
Goa. In MP, the Department of Public Service
Management was created to give impetus to the
implementation of the “Madhya Pradesh Lok Sewaon
Ke Pradan Ki Guarantee Adhiniyam”.
The Institute has taken up a study to compare the
different services guarantee acts in terms of number
Study on Right to Service Acts of Select Indian States
of services and departments covered, penalty and
timelines for delivery of services etc. The
methodology followed in this study is desk based
research. Fourteen states- Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan,
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi,
Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Odisha were
chosen for the study.
The study has been conducted by Shri Amitabh
Shrivastava, Deputy Advisor, Centre for Knowledge
Management.
The common provisions of the Right to Service Act like
notifying services with timelines, designated officers
for delivering services, provision of penalty and two
appeals etc. are almost similar across different states
in India.
Number of notified services and departments of
states
There is significant difference in number of services
notified under the various Acts. Madhya Pradesh
state is at the 10th rank among 18 states taken up for
the study.
Timelines of some notified services across different states
There is significant difference in timelines in different states for the same service, as is evident from the following
table:
The Right to Service Act is a key administrative reform
initiative, built on the idea of the Citizen Charter.
While the Citizen Charters define the quality of public
services, the Act takes it a step further by making a
citizen’s right to public service within the stipulated
time-frame legally binding, failing which the
concerned officials can be penalized.
Madhya Pradesh (MP) was the first Indian state to
legislate a Public Service Guarantee Act named
“Madhya Pradesh Lok Sevon Ke Pradan Ki Guarantee
Adhiniyam” in August, 2010. This has been followed
by enactments of Right to Service Acts in the states of
Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh,
Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and
Kashmir, Odisha, Assam, Gujarat, West Bengal, and
Goa. In MP, the Department of Public Service
Management was created to give impetus to the
implementation of the “Madhya Pradesh Lok Sewaon
Ke Pradan Ki Guarantee Adhiniyam”.
The Institute has taken up a study to compare the
different services guarantee acts in terms of number
Study on Right to Service Acts of Select Indian States
of services and departments covered, penalty and
timelines for delivery of services etc. The
methodology followed in this study is desk based
research. Fourteen states- Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan,
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi,
Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Odisha were
chosen for the study.
The study has been conducted by Shri Amitabh
Shrivastava, Deputy Advisor, Centre for Knowledge
Management.
The common provisions of the Right to Service Act like
notifying services with timelines, designated officers
for delivering services, provision of penalty and two
appeals etc. are almost similar across different states
in India.
Number of notified services and departments of
states
There is significant difference in number of services
notified under the various Acts. Madhya Pradesh
state is at the 10th rank among 18 states taken up for
the study.
Timelines of some notified services across different states
There is significant difference in timelines in different states for the same service, as is evident from the following
table:
Thus, there is clear scope for reducing the timeline of various notified services in MP. AIGGPA has suggested
reduction in timeline in the following services:
The state government is trying to increase the
number of services under the Act in a phased manner.
On the basis of the study, the Institute has
recommended 78 new services, (covered in other
states) on priority basis, for inclusion under the Act.
Though MP was the first state to enact the Right to
Service Act in the country, the study shows that some
of the states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi,
Punjab, Odisha have taken the lead in bring more and
more services under the Act. Karnataka has brought
all the important citizen services under the Act.
While delivering citizen services, one may keep in
mind the famous statement of Mahatma Gandhi (In a
speech in South Africa in 1890)-
"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.
He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption of our work; he is the purpose of it.
He is not an outsider of our business; he is part of it.
We are not doing him a favour by serving him.
He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so”
References: 1. UNDP Report on National Consultation on Strengthening
Delivery and Accountability Frameworks for Public Services, 8-9 December 2011, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
2. Report of Centre for Organization Development, Hyderabad.3. Accountability Initiative, Centre for Policy Research, Dharam
Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.4. Official website of various State Governments.
Viewpoint
Quality - Let out Work Speak about It
Quality is one of the important cornerstones of any
organization. It is not an isolated activity but made up
of several components at various levels. Looking at
the way public services are growing world over, it is
essential that leaders should have an eye on quality.
To give it a permanent basis, some organizations have
developed manuals or hand books to constantly assist
and guide its employees.
Quality can be defined as anything that enhances a
product or service from the point of view of the
customers or users or the community at large. Public
administrators generally have to deal with issues that
are relevant to the community at large. To illustrate
the point, there can be:
1. guide to quality improvement for medical
services system;
2. quality manual for construction of rural roads;
3. manual for quality improvement in school
education.
These manuals can help in monitoring and improving
quality in various systems. Quality improvement is a
continuous process in all areas of public
administration and none can ever say that you had
enough of it.
Components of quality and what is expected out of
particular services need to be defined for each
department. These manuals provide a useful guide
for quality improvement within the organization. This
also encourages the leaders to integrate continuous
quality improvement practices into its operation so
that over a period of time, these become part of the
normal routine. These manuals are very important
documents and should be developed by professionals
in consultation with persons who would be using
these.
While the specific activities may differ depending
upon the nature of the organization- local, regional or
state-wise, the developmental stages can be:-
1. developing an awareness and appreciation that
quality improvement is a worth-while endeavor;
2. expanding workforce knowledge and capabilities
in quality improvement practices;
3. integrating quality processes into daily
operations.
Quality interventions are a leadership activity, so
these have to begin from the top. Some of the key
action areas and their major components are:-
a. developing long-term and short-term objectives
for performance of output quality standards;
b. identifying ways to achieve those objectives;
c. measuring the effectiveness in achieving them;
d. process management, with emphasis on
maintenance of high quality services;
e. satisfaction of user and other stake holders.
Just as a blue print is needed to build a house, one
should have a blue print of how the organisation or
system will look once the quality inputs are made part
of the planning and operations. Apart from lowering
the cost and improving the quality of operations
working to meet the needs of the people they serve,
quality is something that the leaders have to drive
from the front. It should run through the entire fabric
of the organization. Quality is maintained and
improved when leaders, managers and workforce
understand and commit to users' satisfaction through
continuous quality improvement. It follows a cyclical
process of plan, do, check and act.
Any plan to implement a policy to improve quality is
done by putting the plan into action in a pilot phase
and check if the plan works. Finally, the objective is
either to stabilize the improvement that has occurred
or to determine what went wrong, if gains as planned
for did not materialize. It is a continuous cycle. Once
one round is completed, it becomes the baseline for
the next round. It is a never ending process.
Thus, there is clear scope for reducing the timeline of various notified services in MP. AIGGPA has suggested
reduction in timeline in the following services:
The state government is trying to increase the
number of services under the Act in a phased manner.
On the basis of the study, the Institute has
recommended 78 new services, (covered in other
states) on priority basis, for inclusion under the Act.
Though MP was the first state to enact the Right to
Service Act in the country, the study shows that some
of the states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi,
Punjab, Odisha have taken the lead in bring more and
more services under the Act. Karnataka has brought
all the important citizen services under the Act.
While delivering citizen services, one may keep in
mind the famous statement of Mahatma Gandhi (In a
speech in South Africa in 1890)-
"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.
He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption of our work; he is the purpose of it.
He is not an outsider of our business; he is part of it.
We are not doing him a favour by serving him.
He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so”
References: 1. UNDP Report on National Consultation on Strengthening
Delivery and Accountability Frameworks for Public Services, 8-9 December 2011, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
2. Report of Centre for Organization Development, Hyderabad.3. Accountability Initiative, Centre for Policy Research, Dharam
Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.4. Official website of various State Governments.
Viewpoint
Quality - Let out Work Speak about It
Quality is one of the important cornerstones of any
organization. It is not an isolated activity but made up
of several components at various levels. Looking at
the way public services are growing world over, it is
essential that leaders should have an eye on quality.
To give it a permanent basis, some organizations have
developed manuals or hand books to constantly assist
and guide its employees.
Quality can be defined as anything that enhances a
product or service from the point of view of the
customers or users or the community at large. Public
administrators generally have to deal with issues that
are relevant to the community at large. To illustrate
the point, there can be:
1. guide to quality improvement for medical
services system;
2. quality manual for construction of rural roads;
3. manual for quality improvement in school
education.
These manuals can help in monitoring and improving
quality in various systems. Quality improvement is a
continuous process in all areas of public
administration and none can ever say that you had
enough of it.
Components of quality and what is expected out of
particular services need to be defined for each
department. These manuals provide a useful guide
for quality improvement within the organization. This
also encourages the leaders to integrate continuous
quality improvement practices into its operation so
that over a period of time, these become part of the
normal routine. These manuals are very important
documents and should be developed by professionals
in consultation with persons who would be using
these.
While the specific activities may differ depending
upon the nature of the organization- local, regional or
state-wise, the developmental stages can be:-
1. developing an awareness and appreciation that
quality improvement is a worth-while endeavor;
2. expanding workforce knowledge and capabilities
in quality improvement practices;
3. integrating quality processes into daily
operations.
Quality interventions are a leadership activity, so
these have to begin from the top. Some of the key
action areas and their major components are:-
a. developing long-term and short-term objectives
for performance of output quality standards;
b. identifying ways to achieve those objectives;
c. measuring the effectiveness in achieving them;
d. process management, with emphasis on
maintenance of high quality services;
e. satisfaction of user and other stake holders.
Just as a blue print is needed to build a house, one
should have a blue print of how the organisation or
system will look once the quality inputs are made part
of the planning and operations. Apart from lowering
the cost and improving the quality of operations
working to meet the needs of the people they serve,
quality is something that the leaders have to drive
from the front. It should run through the entire fabric
of the organization. Quality is maintained and
improved when leaders, managers and workforce
understand and commit to users' satisfaction through
continuous quality improvement. It follows a cyclical
process of plan, do, check and act.
Any plan to implement a policy to improve quality is
done by putting the plan into action in a pilot phase
and check if the plan works. Finally, the objective is
either to stabilize the improvement that has occurred
or to determine what went wrong, if gains as planned
for did not materialize. It is a continuous cycle. Once
one round is completed, it becomes the baseline for
the next round. It is a never ending process.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance & Policy Analysis(ISO 9001:2008)
(An autonomous institution of Government of Madhya Pradesh)
Sushasan Bhavan, Bhadbhada Square, T.T. Nagar,Bhopal (M.P.)-462003Tel : +91-755-2777316, 2777317, 2777308, 2770765, 2770695, 2770538, 2770761, Fax : +91-755-2777316
Web: www.aiggpa.mp.gov.in Email: aiggpa@mp.gov.in
Editorial BoardEditor: Akhilesh Argal
Associate Editor : Dr. Indrani Barpujari Production & Commerce Manager : Amitabh Shrivastava
The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.
- M.K. Gandhi
Published By
In the public sector and in the bureaucracy,
particularly the secretariat part of it, quality is not an
aspect much talked about. It is presumed that every
employee knows that he has to give quality results. It
is not necessary that the employees have the same
perception about quality as the organization has. On
the job training on quality can be very useful in filling
this gap. It does not develop in isolation and it is
essential that the office team is sensitized about what
aspects of quality we are talking about and what end
results it is going to give to the end users and the
organization as a whole. Specific short training can be
very useful in bridging this gap.
M.M. UpadhyayPrincipal Advisor
Centre for Social Sector Development
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