Prologue -- A poverty free India -- building systems for outcomes -- The historical legacy -- The diversity of geographies -- High growth, ease of doing business, and well-being -- Improving ease of living of the poor -- Why incomes matter -- Women's well -- being and livelihoods -- Women, work and empowerment -- Vulnerable social groups, inclusive policies and programmes -- Policy and programme formulation in basic education -- Revisiting skills for full employment -- Higher education reforms -- Policy and programme formulation in health -- Making quality health for all a reality -- Poshan, people and panchayats -- Improving governance of programmes -- Community connect and gpdps -- Human resource reforms -- Poverty free gram panchayats -- Challenges in urban governance for the poor -- Why we need a PM's human development council -- Global warming, local churning -- waste to wealth as way forward -- A poverty free India -- An India for all in a post COVID world.

"The Last Mile explores the gaps and dichotomy between drafted policies and their implementation and the last mile challenges which often make public services inaccessible to the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. It provides an in-depth overview of the dynamics between communities, research and consultation and the implementation of policies for development. Rich in empirical data and case studies from different government programmes and reports, this book examines the implementation of government service programmes for poverty reduction, women's empowerment, income generation for the poor, among others, from a people's perspective. It highlights the need for policies and institutions to align their methods to community needs. Offering guidelines for redesigning as well as solutions to counter challenges related to lack of trust and effective communication, human resource management, capacity development, redressal mechanisms, and facilitating the last mile connection, the author delineates effective ways for integrating new technologies in policy implementation. The book also addresses legacy issues in institutions and re-orienting policy for better governance, transparency and building trust. Part of the 'Public Policy in India' series, this book, by a senior practitioner, will be an essential resource for students and researchers of development studies, sociology, public policy and governance, economics and South Asian studies. This book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license"-- Provided by publisher.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.