Diary of a Rural Manager!

Government agencies are under constant pressure to deliver better services with limited budgets, aging technology infrastructure, and rising citizen expectations. Yet many public organizations remain trapped in a cycle of managing complaints, processing backlogs, and resolving short-term operational issues rather than systematically improving how services are delivered. This is where Business Process Optimization (BPO) becomes critical. BPO is the structured approach of analyzing, redesigning, and improving business processes to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce costs, improve service quality, and deliver better outcomes for citizens. Unlike simple digitization, BPO focuses on fundamentally improving how work gets done before introducing technology. Why Public Sector BPO Matters? Public sector agencies often manage high-volume, citizen-facing services such as: Tax filing and administration, Passport issuance, Social benefit distribution, Permit and license approvals and Public grievance...

NITI Aayog on October 8 released a pioneering study, AI for Inclusive Societal Development .  The roadmap proposes a national mission "Digital ShramSetu" that leverages AI and frontier technologies to overcome systemic barriers faced by informal workers and  can be harnessed to transform the lives and livelihoods of India’s informal workers. The  five key components of roadmap: Develop a national blueprint Coordinate fragmented stakeholders Catalyse strategic partnerships Translate innovation into impact Provide policy and regulatory support Ecosystem  India has one of the largest informal economies in the world, with about 90% of the workforce employed under informal arrangements, contributing nearly half (around 45-50%) of the country's GDP having 490 million informal workers. The informal sector includes unregistered enterprises, self-employed workers, casual laborers, domestic workers, and informal service providers, often lacking social security benefits. India'...

Here is a blog post based on the learnings of  Digital Public Infrastructure(DPI) and Good(DPG) for Impact   with a special focus on India's digital ecosystem and global perspectives.  The digital transformation of societies and economies hinges increasingly on foundational systems that provide open, trusted, and interoperable digital infrastructures. Digital Public Goods (DPGs) and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) are emerging as critical enablers of inclusive growth, transparency, and innovation at scale. This blog dives deep into how these concepts are shaping India’s digital landscape and what lessons the world can learn from India’s pioneering efforts. The rapid growth of  Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs)  and digital platforms is driven by a convergence of policy shifts, technological evolution, and societal demands.  At the same time,  data-based governance  has become central to policymaking, with real-time analytics enabling targe...

India's agricultural transformation is being driven by digital innovation, inclusive finance, and structural reforms. Initiatives like the Digital Agriculture Mission and Agristack are expanding crop intelligence and enabling data-driven decision-making. Technology is being leveraged to increase yields without raising input costs, while AI tools are helping small and marginal farmers manage risks and improve profitability. AI can help in all stages of farming right from predictive analysis of weather/soil to irrigation management and crop health monitoring to dissemination of information and packaging and storage of commodities. MahaAgri‑AI Policy 2025–2029  a pproved by the Maharashtra Cabinet in June 2025 , is truly a game changer for the agricultural sector due to its bold, technology-driven vision and actionable roadmap.  It is India’s first dedicated artificial intelligence policy for agriculture, setting a benchmark for other states and the nation. This  is India’s...

Over ten years and countless reflections, the third part of "Why Government Schemes Fail?" explores why government schemes often fail at the grassroots level. The first and second of "Why Government Schemes Fail" can be accessed.  Government schemes are essential tools aimed at uplifting vulnerable populations and promoting inclusive growth. Yet many schemes fall short of their intended outcomes due to a complex mixture of design flaws, governance shortcomings, and operational inefficiencies. Good policy, like good literature, takes personal lived experience as its starting point.  Let me start with Scheme Design: The Blueprint for Success or Failure. Policy design is inseparable from governance outcomes. Schemes structured with complex rules, poor monitoring, unclear eligibility criteria, or ambiguous grievance mechanisms open doors to inefficiencies and corruption. Government schemes often lack transparency while in the design. Greater openness and participation...

In a feat of digital procurement, Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) witnessed a staggering Rs 1 lakh crore procurement in FY 23-24 through Government e-Marketplace (GeM). A commendable achievement. Now, that the good news is settled, we will be discussing insights on public procurement below: Given the enormous size and the stakeholders' vested interests, public procurement is entangled in unfair practices. This leads to an entry barrier and a cause for significant transactional costs arising from, for example, delays in payments and bribery required to get them released. One can read Insights into cartels, bid rigging, fr, ads and other corrupt practices: Collusions in Public Procurement (cag.gov.in) . Among the serious issues highlighted by private companies that work on government projects is receivables because the Indian government is an all-powerful entity with the ability to delay/deny payment. Pavithra Manivannan and Bhargavi Zaver who are the researchers at the C...

What is Public Policy ? Public policy focuses on the processes by which various types of policies and regulations that affect members of the public are created and enforced.  Public Policy deals with public goods delivery – political economy, taxation, law and order, good social and physical infrastructure, including better education and health facilities – and facilitate provision of private goods (cheaper power, flexible labour laws and other subsidies). The guiding principles for better public policy include building people’s ownership and participation in the governance and decisions affecting their lives. Regulation, Redistribution and Equity came to the forefront of policymaking. Resources be it human, natural or financial are limited in a country and a government must utilize them in the most productive manner can achieve the best possible growth. That is the essence of good governance. The first and foremost requirement of good governance is broadly distributed political ...

Theda Skocpol, Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard, notes that spending on education and family health care is especially likely to generate social and economic returns. Midday Meal (MDM) program is a school meal programme of the government of India designed to improve the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide. India's MDM program feeds 120 million children and employs 2 million women. It's an initiative that changes lives and provides human-capital investment in millions of children.  The poorest of the poor are defined as those who can eat only when they get work and who lack shelter, proper clothing, social respect, and means to send their children to school. They have no land, live on daily wages, and need to send school-age children to work in times of crisis. They send children to government schools as this is the only way to ensure one time meal to their wards and the best chance for children to break the cycle of poverty. MDM scheme has...

As per Prof Cornel West, Democracy always raises the fundamental question: What is the role of the most disadvantaged in the public interest? The catch in the valid question lies in the definition of the 'Disadvantage Class/Caste'. The definition of "Who are they" varies among politicians, academics, and policymakers. Any major program in any sector can't be effective without a robust information system. The road to social justice for all should be based on solid data for understanding ground realities. SECC data is out . This census takes caste into account for the first time in any such exercise since 1931. But the government is hiding OBC numbers. The previous government led by the Congress had also decided to conduct a caste-based census, but not to make the data public. The reasons for withholding this data can only be political.  Data on economic indicators, with special enumeration of SCs and STs, is done by the regular census as well. SECC was commi...

India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi's slogan "minimum government, maximum governance" is a serious goal. Its implementation on the grass root level will be tried and tested, and that is where most of the government’s schemes fail. There are myriads of difficulties faced by the government in properly designing and implementing of the public policy. Continuing from the previous article: ' Why Government Schemes Fail? ', I will examine same question from another angles. Design:  Let us start with the design of the government schemes. What works well in the coastal belt of Kerala is unlikely to work in the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh, or for that matter, hilly lands of Garhwal. Hence, one size fits all schemes must be carefully reviewed. There is a strong tendency for planners to go in for prestige and grand projects. Through this they can leave monuments to their activity, even if defunct. The visibility is major emphasis than actual proposed work. It ...

“By means of deep meditation and magical power it may be possible to sleep on fire, but it is impossible to sleep with an empty stomach in a situation of poverty.” - Thiruvalluvar (50 B.C.) New poverty line has been redrawn by Rangarajan Committee. It is Rs 32 for rural India and Rs 47 for urban India . The earlier poverty line figure was Rs 27 for rural India and Rs 33 for Urban India.  Columnist T N Ninan has given us glimpse on the approach taken for defining poverty line - "The Rangarajan committee, set up two years ago to take a fresh look at poverty issues, has according to a newspaper report recommended a radically new way of deciding who is officially poor. New in India, that is, because the approach that the committee has reportedly recommended is already in practice in the US and Europe: poverty is defined, not as an absolute level of income, but relative to the average levels of income. The US says all those whose income is 40 per cent or less than the average (median...

The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments ushered in the Panchayati Raj in India. Panchayati Raj Institution(PRI) is a three-tier system in the state with elected bodies at the village, block, and district levels. The rural mathematics of the vote in the Panchayat election has become highly political in nature due to the channeling of government scheme funds through the PRI. There are voices emerging on corruption at this basic level. Budget expenditure for Panchayat elections runs in lakhs for no other reason. Many gram pradhans are becoming powerful by grabbing resources meant for the welfare of the people whom they represent. In my opinion, PRI has embarked on one thing for sure, i.e., decentralized benefits of corruption. Looking on the positive side, infrastructure development and money are returning to the village economy through this arrangement. PRI has brought more of a sense of local governance to rural India. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolu...

All claims of the development by the government appear to be a hoax ...obviously! Because we always see huge margin of difference between announcement and implementation. Let us redefine government for our own understanding. It is a crucible of interest groups, rather than a black box of noble intentions. So, the responsibility of failure of schemes lies with various stakeholders in the development process. Growth can never be inorganic, and the system needs to learn before they grow. Now replace the system’ with a ‘welfare scheme’. Example: Gradual improvement (IRDP - SGSY - NRLM) is better approach for development. Not all schemes are so much lucky. They are renamed and often termed as ' old wine in new bottle '. Sometimes if any scheme is a completely prone to the corruption, we have hinged for its immense benefit to power holders. Bad schemes are like giving perpetual gifts that has made people into beggars rather than partners. India's government programmes are riddl...