State of Governance

SKOCH Group

6 years ago

From Manifesto to Outcomes
Privacy, Entitlements and Democracy
Federalism and Evolving Governance

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A catchphrase ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’ fired the imagination of Indian voters in the 2014 general elections. Narendra Modi rose to power on the promise of a clean, transparent and efficient government. With less than a year to go until the next General Elections, it is time to do an outcome-based evaluation of the State of Governance and present a report card of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’. While there are several initiatives on to do an input and target achievement-based assessments, we believe that the barometer of good governance can only be ‘outcomes’. An important aspect of good governance is the simplification of procedures and processes in the government so as to make the entire system transparent, faster and efficient. To this end, the Government removed around 1,500 obsolete rules and laws in the last four years. According to the Prime Minister, an efficient public service delivery system and better targeting of subsidies through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) have led to savings of over Rs.1.40 lakh crore to the exchequer. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) has resulted in a massive change in the indirect tax system. States are no longer required to knock the doors of the erstwhile Planning Commission to get approval for their development works. However, the situation is not as simplistic as it may seem. There are concerns that the new system is impinging the fiscal autonomy of the states. The GST regime has eliminated any possibility of state specific taxation. The 15th Finance Commission’s latest recommendations on grants and revenue sharing have led to a different Centre-State equation. This is expected to evolve into a new federal structure and polity. Every government, be it at the centre, states or local bodies, makes promises on development. ‘Achhe din’ (good days) is among the most widely used political positioning in recent years that seems to have delivered. Yet, there is a need to examine the actual development that has taken or taking place. There is also the issue of which yardstick to apply for measuring development? Input and target achievement-based yardsticks give only partial answers and have to be necessarily read in conjunction with outcome reports that can serve as the correct barometer of measuring citizen satisfaction.

This will be the only comprehensive all encompassing deliberation on outcome-based State of Governance before the 2019 General Election and polls in several crucial states including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. State of Governance report showing rankings and standing of states, districts and municipalities will be released during the Summit for the year 2017 and shortly thereafter, for 2018. Report will also focus on achievements and outcomes of important central government schemes. The uniqueness of the SKOCH reports is that these focus on outcomes and microlevel impact and development. For instance, while research reports of the government and of other agencies on the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) talked about the number of accounts opened and loan disbursements under the scheme, the SKOCH report on the scheme remains the maiden report in the country, which not only highlights the extent of employment generation under the scheme but also sustainability of the jobs created. Similarly, SKOCH report on the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) highlighted the outcomes in the form of savings, capital formation and enhanced economic activity. A baseline ranking of 115 most backward districts under ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts programme’ by NITI Aayog is primarily focusing on ‘inputs’. There is a need to look into the ‘outcomes’ as well. The 52nd SKOCH Summit on the State of Governance will delve on the key governance and development promises and outcomes of the government at the centre and the states. The debate on data privacy, especially in view of its impact on elections and democratic processes, is going to be more intense in the coming days. These issues will top the agenda of the 52nd Edition of the SKOCH Summit on the State of Governance. All this makes the upcoming SKOCH Summit a must attend confluence for all stakeholders – political leadership, policymakers, bureaucrats, think tanks, corporate leaders, bankers, economists, civil society, and media.