This presentation talks about what is governance and how has the meaning of Governance changed with the advent of economic reforms of 1990s. The boundary between public and private has become blurred. There has been an increase in the role of Civil Society and Private players , this has led to several public-private-partnerships.

1. Governance as Networks
- Ayushi Rai
-Trina Das
- Sujata Bahot

2. What is Governance?
• Governance is concerned with a network of relationships
between three actors-: the State, Market and Civil Society.*
• The word governance became a part of public discourse in
India only after the economic reforms of 1991.
• Today, the word governance is heavily relied upon to
explain developmental outcomes.*
• There is a web of different meanings of governance. But the
baseline agreement is that the governance refers to the
development of governing styles in which boundaries
between and within the public and private are blurred.
• The political institutions no longer exercise a monopoly
over the orchestration of governance.

3. Shift in the concept of governance*
• The core idea of governance lays stress on network
relationships among the three actors-: the state, the market
and the civil society, in steering the society.
• The monopoly of political institutions to provide services is
diluted and this place has been overtaken by the private
sector and the civil society.
• Attracting private investment for promoting economic
development and thus raising the rate of economic growth
became the single most important dimension of public
policy.
• A new style of governance was sought to encourage and
facilitate the achievement of this aim.

4. “Enabling State”
• Enabling state whose role is to create conditions in which
private investment can take place.
• The traditional government forms became problematic and
administrative reforms were aimed at relaxing government
decision-making processes such that business enterprises
can be set up.
• Forging partnership with the other two actors became a
measure of good governance and facilitated the increased
role of market and civil society in the prime activity of the
government.

5. Policy Network
• Rhodes says “Policy networks are sets of formal
institutional and informal linkages between
governmental and other actors structured around
shared, if endlessly negotiated, beliefs and interest in
public policy making and implementation.”
• These actors are interdependent and policy emerges from
the interactions between them.
• Policy networks are also strategic alliances forged around
common agendas of mutual advantage through collective
action.

6. At Formal Level-:
• Policy Networks have emerged as public institutions
wherein interactions between government, business, and
civil society takes place.
• These interactions lead to policy outputs.
• Government institute advisory bodies and various kinds of
councils wherein representatives of the government and the
other actors- business and civil society- are members.*

7. At Informal level-:
• Governance implies the opening up of government activities
to non-governmental actors.
• Governance is no longer hierarchical in nature specifically
in decision making.
• The three actors- State, Market and Civil Society, interact
more frequently in public domain and attempt to formulate
public policies together.
• This type of policy network is a fundamental change
towards a more open government that is willing to listen
and become one among three participants in policy making.

8. Operational Networks
• Operational networks are implementation tools which
deliver public goods and services, a task that one single
actor cannot do.
• Government has adopted the mode of seeking cooperation
of one or the other actor in implementing programs of
public interest. These are known as “PPP” i.e. Public
private-partnership.
• PPP is being promoted all over the world as a strategy of
governance in delivering goods and services in many
sectors.

9. Public-Private-Partnership
• PPP aims at more effective problem solving mechanisms.
• They promise to increase the responsiveness of policies and
create accountability by including other actors (market and
civil society) in decision making.
• The partnership also provides opportunities to the partners
to learn from each other.
• Shared understandings are, argued by Pingle, vital for
economic decision making.
• It helps overcoming the bureaucratic resistance and prevent
the state from falling prey to social and political interests.
• The eleventh five year plan emphasizes the strategy of PPP
for locating these resources and justifies it.

10. Critique of PPP
• Critics believe that these partnerships can signify the
strategy of the state to evade responsibility.
• Networks carry the risk of weakening the traditional
accountability mechanisms by shifting policy decisions to
the realm of partnerships that can circumvent parliamentary
control.
• If partnership emphasize cost reduction or profit
maximization at the price of significant quality
compromises, vulnerable population, may not be able to
respond appropriately.

11. Governance in the New Policy
• The government sought an alliance with big business to
pursue this goal of implementing PPP projects.
• Many policies were initiated that withdrew the controlling
and regulating role of the state and then establish
institutional structures that provided a formal forum wherein
big business could participate in policymaking.
• This became explicit when the Government of India
appointed a three-member Investment Commission in 2004
to enhance and facilitate investment in India.

12. 1- Institutional arrangements for networks
2- Response of Industry Association to
Government Overtures
3- Partnerships as Implementing Agencies

13. • This section talks about roping in corporate sector in
the process of policymaking along with the
government.
• What are the formal institutions that synchronize the
government and in corporate sector in policymaking ?
1. Federation of Indian Chamber of commerce and
Industry
2. Confederation of Indian Industry
3. Council of Trade and Industry
4. Council of Ministry of Commerce and Industry

14. National Advisory Council (NAC)
• It was formed to network civil society at a policy level. It comprised of
distinguished professional from diverse fields of economic activities.
• It incorporated several NGOs ,social action and advocacy groups.
• Chairperson was Sonia Gandhi.
• Ministry of human resource development convened a round table to
discuss policy issues regarding education. In this Analjit Singh of max
health care would prepare a concept note on vocational education.
• Sectoral departments have created their own partnership with non
governmental actors, these communities have been recognized as ‘
policy communities’, such networks help the department set its agendas
and seek stability in policies.
• The key policy communities are in areas of health, law and order,
tobacco and transport.

15. Strengthening of policy networks
• Measures are being adopted to ensure an effective
relationship between the bureaucracy and the private
sector.
• Example: senior civil servants are being permitted to go
for deputation work in large corporate houses and
MNC’s in order to promote ‘public interest’.
• Similarly individuals who have held senior policy
positions in the private sector have been included at the
policymaking level of the government. For instance :
Arun Maira who worked with Tata Motors and Aurthur
D Little was a senior advisor with the Boston
Consulting Group in India.

16. • According to National Election Watch report
around 300 MPs in parliament are millionaires,
and guess what 138 belong to the congress party!
• MP like Vijya Mallaya who has business interest
liquor and aviation business is a member of the
Consultative Committee for ministry of civil
avation.
• Similarly Rahul Bajaj a leading industrialist of the
country is a member of several committees in
India like the committee of labor and Consultative
Committee for Ministry of Finance 2007.

17. Response of Industry Association to
Government Overtures
• FICCI is the rallying point of free enterprise in India.
Objectives
• To conduct applied research in the fields of economics,
public policy, business and management.
• To facilitate policy formulation at the national and sub-
national levels through consultative mechanisms.
• To ensure that industry opinion and corporate India’s
perspectives find a reflection in the consensus on
developmental issues.
• FICCI maintains the lead as a proactive lead solution
provider through research, interactions at the highest
political level and global networking.

18. • The government provides its support to the joint
business council formed by FICCI with Indian
trading partners. Its termed as ‘track two
diplomacy’.
• To open up business opportunities with Indian
businessmen with oversea investors, technology
suppliers, and multi and bilateral funding agencies.
• CII ( Confederation of Indian Industry)
• Objective : The Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII) catalyzes change by working closely with
government with policy issues enhancing
efficiency, competitiveness and expanding business
opportunities for industries through a range of
specialized services and global linkages.

19. • CII has severed as an instrumental body to carry out
some political objectives of the PMs example :
• Dr Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister
recommended CII to popularize his ideas about
economic reform to the opposition in parliament.
• Tarun Das the Secretrary General described
‘development as a partnership process between
government and CII as the junior partner of the
government’.
• CII has established several committees and task
forces to examine issues in specific sectors and raise
them in government interaction.
• Example the national Committee on health care.

20. • CII also formed the University Industry Council
wherein universities and industries come to a
single platform to discuss issues and take
corrective measures in areas of human resource
development.
• Therefore gone are the days where the roles and
responsibilities are entrusted only with the
government. Thanks to economic liberalization!
• Thus a constructive networking is enabled.

21. Partnerships as Implementing Agencies
• The concept of partnership is applied at a level of providing
good and services also which earlier was the responsibility
of the state only.
• PPP is an important tool for the same.
• Its argued that massive investment is only possible with the
help of private sector only.
• According to the government of India website 139 PPP
projects have been initiated.
• Why PPP ?
1. Deficiency of government resources
2.Efficent institutional delivery
3. Adoption of latest technology
4.To draw in more international funding

22. • The key initiative of the government to promote PPP is the Viability Gap Funding
Scheme.
• Involves giving funds to the infrastructure projects that are economically justifiable
but to commercially viable.
• India Infrastructure Finance company was set up to play a catalytic role in the
infrastructure sector by covering long term debts for financing infrastructure
projects.
• Various financial and legal services have been constructed by the government at the
centre and the state level to facilitate the implementation of the PPPs.
• The CAG of India has undertaken the task of issuing guidelines and auditing
infrastructure projects in PPP mode. This is done to verify the value of public
money.
• Quality of work and the level of private profit are important testable features of the
PPP projects. Example Committee of public undertakings , questioned the system of
collection of toll taxes in the Delhi Gurgaon highway , and regulate the profits being
accrued to the private investors.

23. PPP in Social sector
In country like India, where performance of the social sector has
been dismal over the years, the challenges face by Policy makers are
different as compare to other sectors:
• Creating physical capital that can provide health & education
services equitably.
• Reaching the poor and those who are deprived of these services

24. Health Sector
Two scenario of health services in India
1st : low government investment with quality of health services provided by the
implementers to the poor being of a very low quality
2nd : Super specialty hospitals financed by private sector are growing to serve
the rich class and urban elite.
Moreover,
Ministry of health & family welfare has underlined the fact that present
health care system is pro-rich.
- poor can’t get adequate health services but when they seek these services
from private sector, they face further impoverishment due to the high
expenditure.

25. • As a solution government begun to explore the possibility of PPP in
health sector where in private sector provides massive investment
for the required infrastructure (hospital, beds, doctors, nurses,
equipments, staff etc.) while the government provide infrastructure
like land or building.
Pattern of the partnership:
• 1- Contracting (with “for the profit” private sector)
• 2-NGOs (primary services)
• 3- Private practitioners
In addition there were cases when the government has provided land
at subsidized rate or reduced import duties on technical equipments
to corporate hospital as a partnership venture.

26. • The purpose of the partnership is to provide free services to the poor &
deprived, however monitoring these partnerships remain biggest challenge
• As there is no accountability mechanism that places responsibility for
particular decision therefore many cases were seen in such types of
collaboration in which poor were been ill-treated, and charged money or
denied services
In response of these complaints many state governments made provisions for
the transparent partnership.
Problems pointed out in PPP in health sector by Baru and Nundi:
• Ill- preparedness of the manger of the government to properly designed the
partnership
• Monitor the performance, & provide and enabling environment for the
execution of the project
• Accountability and effectiveness

27. Education Sector
• Using PPP mode the government is able to give quality services by
using the expertise of the private sector.
• HRD ministry announced that the PPP would be the basis of
educational expansion in the country over next two years.
• It will strengthen the human resource base.
• FICCI has been holding summits in higher education from 2004.
• In the 2008 summit titled ‘Leveraging Partnership in India in
Education Sector’ here the need for PPPs in higher education is
highlighted.

28. • It identified various partnerships and recommended
collaborations with foreign universities for research and student
exchanges.
• Another reason is fulfilling the commitment of raising literacy
level.
• The Centre for Civil Society launched a School choice campaign
in 2007 , arguing that what the poor need today is not just ‘ The
right to Education , but the Right to Education of Choice’.
• A voucher system was called for to provide choice to the
students.
• India is in a experimental stage. The forms that partnerships can
take at primary and secondary levels of education are diverse.
• Private players can chip in higher education , opening up
partnerships with foreign universities.
• The PPP in education is necessary because of the inefficiency in
the delivery system by the government.

29. Issues and challenges
•The advent of governance in in government is taking place within the broad
framework of neo liberalism in which the role of state is being recast.
•Many responsibilities that were exclusively undertaken by the state are now
being given to the other two actors while some are being undertaken in
partnership mode.
•Neo-liberal framework demands increasing privatization of the provisioning of
goods and services, leaving the “core” functions with the state.
•The clear demarcation of “core” functions is still fuzzy as many of them are
either being privatized or being undertaken in partnership.

30. • State is seen as a problem in this transformation and there is consistent
demands on the part of liberalizers that the state should become an enabling
state, a facilitator and not hindrance to the promotion of market.
• Network governance relies on political and social processes at work in the
society, which may not necessarily be conducive to the production of public
purpose on all occasions.
• Jessop , Sorenson and Torfing have also argued that governance network can
fail. They say that “There has been much talk about state failure and
market failure, but we should also analyse the conditions for governance
network failure .Network governance relies on precarious social and
political processes and there are many things that can go wrong and
prevent the production of public purpose”.

31. • The issue of the capacity of the state to negotiate and bargain in these
network arises. Both political as well as bureaucratic leadership has been
comfortable in taking personal advantages and benefits that the liberalization
policies have offered. Thus the capacity to negotiate is weakened.
• With the blurring of boundaries between the public and the private interests,
public servants may not feel the urge to carry the burden of pursuing public
interest alone. This shows that the partnership are not equal and can allow
certain private interests to dominate.
• It is important for the government institutions to have the capacity and
capability to deliver high performance. If this does not happen their ability
to negotiate with other actors will weaken.

32. • After independence there has been a gradual decline in the effectiveness of
institutions of accountability. It is left to the civil society to raise issues
connected with financial probity and administrative responsibility.
• With the advent of a dense web of institutions of governance the new
institutions of partnerships with the corporate and voluntary sectors multiply.
So it becomes important to strengthen state’s capacity to negotiate and
bargain for public interest.
• If the new partnerships institutions are being kept out of the ambit of the
government's hierarchy, it becomes difficult to hold them accountable.
• All the problems face by our country like corruption are mainly caused by
the faltering efforts at bureaucratic or institutional reform. E.g. Little
attention is paid to CAG’s report. Same is the case with CVC and CBI.

33. Conclusion
• Partnerships constitute an integral part of not only the governance
framework but also the neo-liberal paradigm.
• Thus we can say the partnerships have come to stay. They can neither be
completely rejected nor can they be completely accepted.
• It is important to bring their functioning into public domain for ensuring
transparency and accountability.
• Policy makers and practitioners who formulate a partnership programme
focused on the nuts and bolts of the scheme, must also give profound
consideration to its socio-political environment and the pitfalls that may lie
in the wait there.

34. Thank You ! 