Nerve Endings Firing Away

I was glad to see the latest move by the Orissa state government to privatize select munical services like garbage collection, sweeping and cleaning of roads, and billing and solid waste disposal. I am a firm believer in privatizing government functions; especially the ones that can be efficiently done by the private sector. Couple of years back, I presented a paper at the Southeastern Conference of Public Administration, Savannah on public agency website effectiveness. I had already noticed a growing trend of outsourcing of government functions and the other presentations at the conference only helped reinforce that view. The reforms had not restricted itself to bigger cities but had also trickled down to smaller communities with good results. New Public Management theory argues in favor of privatization but of course, tempered with Public Service. Gaurav rightly observes that although the government specifies the service charges, it is nevertheless a start for local government reform.