In the past ten years, Canadians have witnessed a renaissance in the delivery of government services. New service organizations are cropping up across the country and accomplishing extraordinary things. Efforts are being made to consult citizens on how to improve and integrate services. Considerable resources are being invested in measuring and showcasing performance improvement. This book probes the central dimensions of service reform efforts from a variety of perspectives and answers some pressing questions: How can we make better decisions about service delivery? How should we measure service delivery performance? How should we engage users of government services? How can we create a service culture? How can we use the internet more effectively? Approaching service delivery as not merely technical but inherently political and controversial, the authors look beyond the rhetoric to see what has actually been achieved and what obstacles confront further improvements.

Is the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) still the most appropriate institution to govern twenty-first-century India? Should a cadre of generalists head organizations as complex and diverse as industrial units; museums and rural development boards? If it had to be replaced; what is the best alternative? Drawing on his experience of thirty-six years in the IAS; Bhaskar Ghose addresses these and other major questions regarding the role; relevance and effectiveness of India’s long-established but often controversial system of state administration in The Service of the State. Ghose argues forcefully that the IAS is still the best option and one moreover that substantially fulfils its functions—and fulfils them well. Though its once sterling reputation has been tarnished by allegations of corruption; political subservience and declining standards of efficiency; there are still sufficient numbers of dedicated public servants. These administrators; spanning diverse social backgrounds; seniorities and regional profiles; draw on established traditions of duty and of cooperation within the service to deliver—to the best of their ability and often in the face of considerable odds—the goods of development. This reflective and luminous memoir is not only a portrait of a lifetime’s service to the state; it is also a timely and persuasive argument for a system of governance that has had a critical impact on India since Independence.

Corrected print. Considers legislation to transfer U.S. Employment Service to DOL and to establish a Federal-state cooperative employment services program.