Asking the right question.

Over the past one year, the one question that has constantly come up during every field trip I have taken, across the country is -why does there exist such a big gap between what is envisaged through a scheme and its implementation  at the local level? Everywhere I have gone, be it a women empowerment scheme or a scheme to strengthen the Panchayat institutions, locally the schemes are manipulated in such a perverse manner that one is forced to question the effectiveness of the scheme. From mid-level government employees to the top bosses, how could neither of them predict these perversions? Questions like doesn't the district collector know? surely the commissioner knows? were met by blatant 'No's. Either the buck was passed on to the hierarchical  nature of  the government machinery or I usually got  sniggered at for even asking such a question. " Where does the collector have the time madam? the trouble is that there is a lack of communication between us and the man on top," said some of them or in certain cases it was the more fatalistic, " they know everything madam but they don't want the system to change."

I would be lieing if I said that in the initial few occasions I did not agree with these replies. While on field, when one spends most of the time with a mid-level government employee (who is usually over 55-years-old) one is bound to develop biases. I too felt dearly for the poor man stuck on field and like most middle class cribs blamed the lack of understanding of sociological factors to a lack of will on the part of our civil servants. 

 Now here I would like to break certain major misconceptions about our civil servants. They are by far the most hardworking individuals in a state machinery. Each one of them easily puts in 12-14 hours of work and is giving absolutely no credit for it. In fact most of them remain unidentifiable pawns of the state machinery only brought to light when they have erred or their morality is questioned ( thanks to the media). They  without doubt are picked from among the cream of Indian citizenry and at a commissioner or principal secretary level, when they have put in that many years of service, it goes without saying - they sure as hell know what the ground realities are. Then why do the policies or schemes falter at the grass root level.

As I mused over this question for months, a chance mention of a book in a history course I was taking online finally threw some light on this question. James.C.Scott's - Seeing like the State is the best introductory guide to statecraft that I have come across.

To answer this question, first we need to understand, what the motive of a state is? Does the state have a motive? Isn't it all about the welfare of the citizens? If it is welfare, where does the state get the funds?

So the first step towards solving this puzzle is identifying the motive of the state.