'Eight sizes fit all'

Okonomos

 Democracy has many virtues. But it has several flaws as well. One of these is the tendency of governments to seek credit for all manner of things in the hope of re-election.

 In several developing countries, where the competition amongst political parties to win power is severe, governments have acquired the right to provide many services to the poor. Such services normally comprise drinking water, sanitation, health and education but other things as well.

 Often, the reason given for this acquisitiveness is market failure, which is the fancy way of saying that if left to the private sector, the poor will not be provided any of these services at a low enough price.

 Ergo, the government must step in. While this sounds very noble, the experience of the last half-century shows that governments have, in fact, failed to provide these services to the poor. India is a stark case in point.

 So what should be done? The latest *World Development Report (WDR) of the World Bank focuses on the issue. Written by a team of experts from the world over, including Junaid Ahmed, who heads the Water and Sanitation Programme for India that provides advisory services to state governments, the report tries to suggest ways and means of overcoming the problems of supplying these essential services to the poor.