ABSTRACT
India’s social development journey has been different across different States, even though the ancestry of the Indian civil service influenced all of them. Regulation of schools and medical services came on the agenda of the colonial masters, alongside the core responsibility of maintaining public order and revenue collection, to facilitate the workforce requirements of the empire. An administrative machinery created primarily for the needs of the colonial masters for public order and revenue was tasked with some of these quasi-development/regulatory responsibilities in health and education. A primarily regulatory administration became the torch-bearer of development functions with no, or only part, preparedness in many States. The health sector was no different, grappling with a shortage of doctors, nurses and paramedics. With guidance and support at the highest level, the entire local, state and national governments were mobilized to deliver the seven services to the eligible in a time-bound manner.
