In a democracy , there are many entitled services for the citizens in a country . In India , the general perception of the common man is that it is free and therefore not  up to the standard desired . This perception is the root cause for poor services by health care organizations , civil supplies  agencies , government schools and a host of other citizen services where public interface is total .

Entitlement also goes with responsibility so that the entitled persons do not misuse the entitlements .  One common example is the sale of ration items  bought at concessional rates to some one at  near market rates to make a quick buck . This defeats the very purpose of ration system . Recently there was a media report on bogus ration cards in Hyderabad . This is as serious as distributing counterfeit currency .

The government should first ensure that high quality citizen services are available to all free of cost where entitled  and  also take action to educate the public on their responsibilities to follow the rules and report any shortcomings in its delivery for preventive and corrective actions . Such awareness education should happen even at school level so that it becomes an  “all hands ” effort .


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *