Mr. Arpit Arora will present his Pre-synopsis as per the details below:

Date: 27th February 2025

Time: 1500 – 1600 hrs.

Venue: C-TARA Conference Room No.1

Topic: Mixed Repertoire of Coping by SLBs Facing Pressures and Constraints in COVID-19 Control Room

Guide: Prof. Subodh Wagle

RPC Members: Prof. N. C. Narayanan, Prof. Pankaj Sekhsaria

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic devastated societies worldwide, and India—the world's most populous country—was no exception. The pandemic put the country's already struggling healthcare system under immense stress, leading it to a highly vulnerable situation. The scale, fatality, and uncertainty associated with the pandemic posed serious challenges to the government's response at all levels.

In such a demanding and uncertain situation, the frontline workers, i.e., people dealing with the pandemic at the frontlines, played a critical role in mitigating the spread of the disease and treating the patients. These frontline workers are, in fact, the last but critical links of the bureaucracy or the public delivery system in the country. Michael Lipsky, in his seminal work on Street-Level Bureaucracy Theory, calls these frontline workers Street Level Bureaucrats (SLBs).

This dissertation, while focusing on the broad societal concern 'Functioning of Street-Level Bureaucrats (SLBs) in policy implementation, especially in a situation like COVID-19, wherein the crisis created acute work constraints,' investigates the social phenomenon of 'coping actions taken by the SLBs in response to the work constraints' they faced during their task completion. It focuses on gaining a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the two concepts instrumental to the street-level bureaucracy theory—Work Constraints and Coping Actions, and the relationship between them. The fieldwork for the study was conducted in the COVID-19 Control Room established by the Indore District Administration from May 2020 to September 2020. The research participants involved the SLBs working in the Home Isolation and Contact Tracing activities in the COVID-19 Control Room. The study identified twelve different types of SLBs across the two activities. The primary methods used for data collection were semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations. the data was analysed using a combination of conventional thematic analysis and display analysis techniques.

The 'Work Constraints' concept was defined as the factors that either limited or hindered the functioning of SLBs who were trying to execute their tasks according to the standard operating procedures (SOPs). The study of this concept presents five different categories of Work Constraints faced by the SLBs while completing their tasks. These include constraints due to Additional Tasks, High Demand for SLBs' Services, Inadequate Resources, Non-Compliance by patients, and Disruption in Work Schedule. Within the abovementioned five categories, sixteen sub-categories were identified.

The second concept—'Coping Actions'— was defined as the behavioural efforts that the SLBs employ in response to the various constraints faced by the SLBs in their work environment. The findings of this concept presents six different categories of Coping Actions. These include: Duty Dilution, Duty Evasion, Duty Compliance at Extra Costs, Support Seeking, Collective Actions, and Public Interest Stewarding. Within the above-mentioned six categories, fifteen different sub-categories were identified.

In this dissertation, Chapter 1 briefly introduces the study and its various components, and sets the context for this study. Chapter 2 presents the review of literature on the theoretical framework adopted for the study, specifically in the public health emergency and crisis situation. Chapter 3 describes the research design adopted for the study and its various components along with the field context for the study. Chapter 4 delineates and discusses the tasks performed by different SLBs and the prescribed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for these tasks. Chapter 5 covers the first crucial concept of the social phenomenon— Work Constraints. It discusses the various types of work constraints faced by the SLBs during their task completion. Chapter 6 discusses the second crucial concept— Coping Actions. It presents the different categories and sub-categories of coping actions opted by the SLBs to deal with the work constraints. Chapter 7 presents the contributions of the study to the existing academic literature. It covers the theoretical, sectoral and methodological contributions. This is followed by the conclusion of this study discussed in Chapter 8

Keywords: street-level bureaucracy; COVID-19; frontline workers; coping; work constraints; public health; crisis