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RC Passage
Direction for the questions 20 to 24: The passage below is accompanied by a set of five questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
Will a day come when Indiaâs poor can access government services as easily as drawing cash from an ATM? No country in the world has made accessing education or health or policing dispute resolution as easy as an ATM, because the nature of these activities requires individuals to use their discretion in a positive way. Technology can certainly facilitate this in a variety of ways if it is seen as one part of an overall approach, but the evidence so far in education, for instance, is that just adding computers alone doesnât make education any better.
The dangerous illusion of technology is that it can create stronger, top down accountability of service providers in implementation-intensive services within existing public sector organisations. One notion is that electronic management information systems (EMIS) keep better track of inputs and those aspects of personnel that are âEMIS visibleâ can lead to better services. A recent study examined attempts to increase attendance of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs) at clinics in Rajasthan, which involved high-tech time clocks to monitor attendance. The studyâs title says it all: Band-Aids on a Corpse... e-governance can be just as bad as any other governance when the real issue is people and their motivation.
For services to improve, the people providing the services have to want to do a better job with the skills they have. A study of medical care in Delhi found that even though providers, in the public sector had much better skills than private sector providers their provision of care in actual practice was much worse.
In implementation-intensive services the key to success is face-to-face interactions between a teacher, a nurse, a policeman, an extension agent and a citizen. This relationship is about power. Amartya Senâs report on education in West Bengal had a supremely telling anecdote in which the villagers forced the teacher to attend school, but then, when the parents went off to work, the teacher did not teach, but forced the children to massage his feet. As long as the system empowers providers over citizens, technology is irrelevant.
The answer to successfully providing basic services is to create systems that provide both autonomy and accountability. In basic education for instance, the answer to poor teaching is not controlling teachers more. The key is to hire teachers who want to teach and let them teach, expressing their professionalism and vocation as a teacher through autonomy in the classroom. This autonomy has to be matched with accountability for resultsânot just narrowly measured through test scores, but broadly for the quality of the education they provide.
A recent study in Uttar Pradesh showed that if, somehow, all civil service teachers could be replaced with contract teachers, the state could save a billion dollars a year in revenue and double student learning. Just the additional autonomy and accountability of contracts through local groupsâeven without complementary system changes in information and empowermentâled to that much improvement. The first step to being part of the solution is to create performance information accessible to those outside of the government.
Full RC Video Analysis
RC Line-wise Explanation
Paragraph 1
"Will a day come when Indiaâs poor can access government services as easily as drawing cash from an ATM?"
Explanation: The question is raised whether there will ever be a time when Indiaâs poor can access government services as easily as they can withdraw cash from an ATM.
"No country in the world has made accessing education or health or policing dispute resolution as easy as an ATM, because the nature of these activities requires individuals to use their discretion in a positive way."
Explanation: No country has made services like education, health, or dispute resolution as easy to access as withdrawing cash from an ATM because these services require individuals to exercise judgment and discretion.
"Technology can certainly facilitate this in a variety of ways if it is seen as one part of an overall approach, but the evidence so far in education, for instance, is that just adding computers alone doesnât make education any better."
Explanation: Technology can help facilitate access to services if it is part of a larger strategy, but evidence from education shows that simply adding technology, like computers, does not improve educational outcomes on its own.
Paragraph 2
"The dangerous illusion of technology is that it can create stronger, top down accountability of service providers in implementation-intensive services within existing public sector organisations."
Explanation: The misconception about technology is that it can create better accountability of service providers through top-down control in public sector organizations that deal with complex service delivery.
"One notion is that electronic management information systems (EMIS) keep better track of inputs and those aspects of personnel that are âEMIS visibleâ can lead to better services."
Explanation: One idea is that electronic management systems (EMIS) can track inputs and aspects of personnel performance, leading to improved services.
"A recent study examined attempts to increase attendance of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs) at clinics in Rajasthan, which involved high-tech time clocks to monitor attendance."
Explanation: A study looked at efforts to improve attendance of Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) at clinics in Rajasthan by using high-tech time clocks to monitor attendance.
"The studyâs title says it all: Band-Aids on a Corpse... e-governance can be just as bad as any other governance when the real issue is people and their motivation."
Explanation: The study concluded that simply using technology like time clocks is ineffective, highlighting that e-governance can be just as ineffective as traditional methods when the real issue is the motivation of the people involved.
Paragraph 3
"For services to improve, the people providing the services have to want to do a better job with the skills they have."
Explanation: To improve services, those providing them must be motivated to do a better job with the skills they possess.
"A study of medical care in Delhi found that even though providers, in the public sector had much better skills than private sector providers their provision of care in actual practice was much worse."
Explanation: A study in Delhi found that public sector medical providers had better skills than those in the private sector, but their actual care was much worse.
Paragraph 4
"In implementation-intensive services the key to success is face-to-face interactions between a teacher, a nurse, a policeman, an extension agent and a citizen."
Explanation: The key to success in services that require significant implementation (like teaching, healthcare, policing) is the direct, face-to-face interaction between service providers and citizens.
"This relationship is about power."
Explanation: These interactions are influenced by the power dynamics between the service provider and the citizen.
"Amartya Senâs report on education in West Bengal had a supremely telling anecdote in which the villagers forced the teacher to attend school, but then, when the parents went off to work, the teacher did not teach, but forced the children to massage his feet."
Explanation: Amartya Senâs report shared a story where villagers made a teacher attend school, but once the parents left for work, the teacher refused to teach and instead had the children massage his feet.
"As long as the system empowers providers over citizens, technology is irrelevant."
Explanation: As long as the system gives more power to the service providers than to the citizens, technology will not be effective in improving services.
Paragraph 5
"The answer to successfully providing basic services is to create systems that provide both autonomy and accountability."
Explanation: To provide effective services, systems must balance giving service providers both autonomy and accountability.
"In basic education for instance, the answer to poor teaching is not controlling teachers more."
Explanation: In education, the solution to poor teaching is not to impose more control on teachers.
"The key is to hire teachers who want to teach and let them teach, expressing their professionalism and vocation as a teacher through autonomy in the classroom."
Explanation: The key is to hire teachers who are motivated to teach and allow them the autonomy to express their professionalism and vocation in the classroom.
"This autonomy has to be matched with accountability for resultsânot just narrowly measured through test scores, but broadly for the quality of the education they provide."
Explanation: This autonomy must be paired with accountability for results, which should be measured not just through test scores, but by the overall quality of education.
Paragraph 6
"A recent study in Uttar Pradesh showed that if, somehow, all civil service teachers could be replaced with contract teachers, the state could save a billion dollars a year in revenue and double student learning."
Explanation: A recent study in Uttar Pradesh found that replacing civil service teachers with contract teachers could save the state a billion dollars annually and significantly improve student learning outcomes.
"Just the additional autonomy and accountability of contracts through local groupsâeven without complementary system changes in information and empowermentâled to that much improvement."
Explanation: The study found that simply giving contract teachers more autonomy and accountability, without other changes, resulted in substantial improvements.
"The first step to being part of the solution is to create performance information accessible to those outside of the government."
Explanation: The first step in solving these issues is to make performance information available to people outside of the government.
RC Paragraph Explanation
Paragraph 1 Summary
While technology can help facilitate access to services, the real challenge lies in improving the quality of services, as simply adding technology, like computers, does not guarantee better outcomes, especially in education.
Paragraph 2 Summary
The illusion that technology can create better accountability through tools like electronic management systems is flawed, as it ignores the real issue of motivating service providers, as demonstrated by a study on nurse attendance in Rajasthan.
Paragraph 3 Summary
For services to improve, those providing them must be motivated and skilled, as seen in a study in Delhi where public sector medical providers, despite having better skills, performed worse than private sector providers.
Paragraph 4 Summary
The key to success in implementation-intensive services is face-to-face interactions, and when service providers have more power than citizens, technology alone cannot improve the system, as exemplified by the story from Amartya Senâs report.
Paragraph 5 Summary
Effective service delivery requires balancing autonomy and accountability for service providers. In education, for example, the solution to poor teaching is hiring motivated teachers and giving them the autonomy to teach, while holding them accountable for their results.
Paragraph 6 Summary
A study in Uttar Pradesh showed that replacing civil service teachers with contract teachers, giving them more autonomy and accountability, could lead to significant savings and improvements in student learning, and the first step to improvement is making performance data accessible to the public.
RC Quick Table Summary
| Paragraph Number | Main Idea |
|---|---|
| Paragraph 1 | Technology can facilitate access to services but doesnât guarantee improvements, especially in education. |
| Paragraph 2 | Technology alone cannot improve accountability in service delivery; motivation of service providers is key. |
| Paragraph 3 | Service providers must be motivated to improve services, as shown in the example of public vs. private sector medical care. |
| Paragraph 4 | Success in services requires face-to-face interactions, and when service providers have more power than citizens, technology is ineffective. |
| Paragraph 5 | Effective service delivery requires both autonomy and accountability for service providers, particularly in education. |
| Paragraph 6 | A study showed that replacing civil service teachers with contract teachers increased autonomy, accountability, and student learning, highlighting the importance of accessible performance data. |
RC Questions
Ques 20. The main purpose of the passage is to:
Ques 21. In the context of the passage, we can infer that the title âBand Aids on a Corpseâ (in paragraph 2) suggests that:
Ques 22. The author questions the use of monitoring systems in services that involve face-to-face interaction between service providers and clients because such systems:
Ques 23. According to the author, service delivery in Indian education can be improved in all of the following ways EXCEPT through:
Ques 24. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passageâs main argument?
