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Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given 
Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .
Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?
  • a)
    If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.
  • b)
    If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.
  • c)
    Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.
  • d)
    If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.
Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer?
Most Upvoted Answer
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day ...
The author has argued in the passage and proposed some ways to increase productivity and to make the systems more effective. Option C which states "Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results." will undermine the author's main argument because if empowerment of the service providers leads to rigged performance results, the whole purpose will be defeated.
Option A supports the passage's main idea.
Option B is irrelevant.
Option D does not talk about the effect of implementing absolute surveillance on the performance of service providers.
Hence, option C is the correct answer.
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Community Answer
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day ...
Explanation:

Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results:
- The passage argues that the key to improving services is creating systems that provide both autonomy and accountability.
- It emphasizes that empowerment of service providers should be balanced with accountability for results.
- If it were proven that empowerment leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results, it would undermine the main argument of the passage.
- This is because the passage suggests that autonomy should be matched with accountability to ensure that service providers are motivated to do a better job with the skills they have.
- If empowerment leads to complacency and manipulation of performance results, then the system would fail to achieve the desired outcomes of better services.
- Therefore, this scenario would challenge the effectiveness of the approach proposed in the passage.
This option directly contradicts the main argument of the passage, which advocates for autonomy and accountability as the key factors in improving service delivery.
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Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer?
Question Description
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? for CAT 2024 is part of CAT preparation. The Question and answers have been prepared according to the CAT exam syllabus. Information about Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? covers all topics & solutions for CAT 2024 Exam. Find important definitions, questions, meanings, examples, exercises and tests below for Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer?.
Solutions for Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? in English & in Hindi are available as part of our courses for CAT. Download more important topics, notes, lectures and mock test series for CAT Exam by signing up for free.
Here you can find the meaning of Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? defined & explained in the simplest way possible. Besides giving the explanation of Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer?, a detailed solution for Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? has been provided alongside types of Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? theory, EduRev gives you an ample number of questions to practice Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given Will a day come when India’s 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 or 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 doesn’t 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 ‘EMIS visible’ 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 study’s 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 Sen’s . . . 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 results—not 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 groups—even without complementary system changes in information and empowerment—led 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. . . .Q. Which of the following, IF TRUE, would undermine the passage’s main argument?a) If it were proven that increase in autonomy of service providers leads to an exponential increase in their work ethic and sense of responsibility.b) If it were proven that service providers in the private sector have better skills than those in the public sector.c) Empowerment of service providers leads to increased complacency and rigged performance results.d) If absolute instead of moderate technological surveillance is exercised over the performance of service providers.Correct answer is option 'C'. Can you explain this answer? tests, examples and also practice CAT tests.
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