Study that Assesses Innovation in India’s Governance

In a recent study, published in the Economic Political Weekly, authors Dipti Gupta and others assessed the state of innovation in the Indian public administration, by analysing the 103 policies and initiatives by departments of central and state governments that secured the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration, between 2005–06 to 2016–17.

Though small, the sample it is believed by the authors, represents the current style of innovation within the Indian government. According to the study, as reported in The Mint newspaper on July 22, 2019, innovation in public administration is clearly now witnessed in India; however these innovations need to focus more on improving citizen satisfaction.

The study finds that innovations in the Indian administration predominantly relate to management (31%), technological (24%) and collaborative issues (20%) while relatively few innovations focus on governance and citizen-related issues, The Mint reported.

Further, the authors suggest that India eradicate poverty and strengthen its social infrastructure, and there needs to be more governance and rights-based innovations. They also stress upon the need for an online repository of all innovations in the public sector so that other departments can easily replicate successful innovations.

Like any organisation, departments or governments, innovation is the key for survival, to find cost-effective and impactful solutions. According to the authors, the lack of innovations on citizen and governance-related issues could be the result of India’s need to fix existing gaps in the delivery of public services. Unlike developed countries, developing countries, like India, have yet to establish smooth-running systems to deliver public services.