Understanding the Role of Participation in Public Service Delivery: Evidences from Rural West Bengal, India

Abstract

The present study, using household level data of East Midnapore district of West Bengal, India, examines the role of people’s participation in public service delivery. It considers four dimensions of participation namely attending meetings, raising voice, lodging complaints, and making contributions. The study confirms the role of participation in public service delivery. Apart from participation, households’ socioeconomic and political positions also exert significant impacts. There is, however, likelihood of “elite capture” and “clientelism” in the delivery of public services. Effective service delivery presupposes that while attending meetings, people must raise their voice and make contributions.

Keywords:

• clientelism
• elite capture
• service delivery
• participation

Notes

¹ A body consisting of all electorates under a gram panchayat (village level local self-government), which meets to guide and advice gram panchayat in all matters related to local development and allocation of public resources. Persons registered in the electoral roll pertaining to the area of the concerned gram panchayat are the members of a gram sabha.

² An assembly of all the voters of a polling station and is the forum to make gram panchayat directly accountable to all its voters.

³ Institute for local self-government in rural areas.

⁴ Cornwall (2004) defines the concept of “space” as two distinct arenas of participation namely “invited space” and “popular space.” An invited space is provided by the government and often used for deliberation or communication and at times, it takes the shape of regularized institutions. Popular space, on the other hand, is an arena in which people come together at their own will, be it as a protest against government policies or the interventions of foreign powers or to produce their own services or for solidarity and manual aid.