Reforming the State: Government Initiatives and People's Movements

Abstract

India's economic reforms of the early nineties were concerned chiefly with macro-economic management and liberalization. Broader reforms of the functioning of the state began to receive attention only at a later stage and that too only on a modest scale. This paper examines the recent developments in reforming the state in India. Both government initiatives for reform and citizen movements for better governance are presented and assessed. Legislation on the 'right to information' and introduction of citizen's charters are examples of government initiatives. Among civil society movements are initiatives that demanded access to information from the state, greater transparency in the electoral processes and enhanced accountability for public services. The paper also examines potentials and constraints in these initiatives and movements, and summarizes the lessons to be learned from them.