Basic Social Services for All?

Sen (2000) suggests that there are three arguments in favour of democratic political freedoms and civil rights: their direct importance for basic capabilities, including that of political and social participation; their instrumental role in enhancing the hearing the people get, including their claim to economic needs; and their constructive role in the conceptualisation of the needs. We suggest that the constructive role can be easily subverted by what we called the conspiracy of silence about issues, which are central to transforming the lives of the poor. The instrumental role of enhancing the hearing of people can also be effectively blunted if the hearing merely leads to populist rhetoric, and government spending plans to deliver services relevant to the poor, without actual delivery of quality services.