Context: It’s time for India to move from Weberian model of bureaucracy to a collaborative new public governance model.
Issues with traditional Weberian model of bureaucracy
Preferring generalist over specialist:
Specialists in government department remain subordinate to generalist officers based on the outdated justification of generalist providing a broader perspective.
E.g. Healthcare professionals who are specialists are made to work under generalist officers.
Stuck with the leadership of position over leadership of function:
Leadership of function is when a person has expert knowledge of particular responsibility in a particular situation, and the role of leader is to explain situation instead of issuing orders.
In the leadership of function, every official responds to the situation rather than relying on some dictation from someone occupying a particular position.
Bureaucracy became an end in itself rather than a means to an end: Rigid adherence to rules has resulted in rejection of innovation. E.g. COVID-19 aid getting stuck in cumbersome clearance processes.
Concerns with reforms: It is often promoted to bring in managerial techniques of private sector in order to seek improvements in governance. However this remains unviable -
This is because of existing social inequality and regional variations in development.
It renders the state a bystander with accountability being constantly shifted, especially during a crisis where private sector has also failed in public service delivery.
Way forward: New public governance is the future of governance.
Towards collaborative governance: Where public sector, private players and civil society, especially public service organisations (NGOs), work together for effective public service delivery.
No domination of public bureaucracy: As sole agency in policy formulation and implementation.
Institutionalise role of civil society: A network of social and private players to take responsibility in various aspects of governance with public bureaucracy steering the ship rather than rowing it.
Incorporate changes in behaviour of bureaucracy: Bring flexibility in hierarchy, relook generalist versus specialist debate, and openness to reforms like lateral entry and collaboration.
All major revolutions have come through the collaboration of public bureaucracy with outsiders.
E.g. Green Revolution (M.S. Swaminathan), White Revolution (Verghese Kurien), Aadhaar-enabled services (Nandan Nilekani) and the IT revolution (Sam Pitroda).