Impact evaluation and public sector programs in India: What can we do right now? - Elizabeth Mathew and Joanne Elizabeth Sprague
Author(s):Jay Chaudhuri
Membership:From Outlays to Outcomes

Abstract – This paper explores the existing gaps in the way CSS’ are evaluated for their impact in the Indian public sector. The authors identify an “ideal type” model for a public sector impact evaluation mechanism that would be both effective and feasible to implement. To illustrate how small, incremental changes could help the existing evaluation efforts to move closer to this ‘ideal type, they undertake a thought experiment with the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) scheme.  The authors conclude with a brief forecast of why such steps might be resisted, and provide recommendations of how to overcome resistance to enable near-term improvements to the current evaluation culture.

Improving Efficiency of Targeting and Expenditure in Social Sector: Case of Universal Education Program in India - Anit Mukherjee
Author(s):Jay Chaudhuri
Membership:From Outlays to Outcomes

The study analyses the increasing role of the Central government in social service delivery in India. The Universal Elementary Education program – known as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is one example. Funds are allocated to different States from a dedicated fund on the basis of the gap in infrastructure and human resources to meet the benchmarks of service delivery such as the distance criterion, ratio of pupils to teachers and the number of students per classroom. Schools receive grants for infrastructure as well as for running cost, maintenance and teaching aids as per norms and guidelines laid down by the Central government. As far as implementation is concerned, new institutional arrangements have been set up that partly bypass the sub-national government administration and seek to involve the local community. Our results indicate that (a) the fund flow bottlenecks lead to less than optimal utilization of school grants; and (b) the centralized norms lead to a system of grants that are tied to specific items whereas the requirement on the ground is better served by giving untied grants with de facto expenditure powers to the school authorities. The schools will be able to provide inputs in a more cost-effective manner if funds and decision-making authority was to be actually devolved to them. The problem stems from inefficiency in targeting of inputs rather than the quantum of funds allocated as per Central norms. The results are indicative of potential handicaps in a large class of public spending programs in the social sector which have a similar devolution structure as the SSA.

Improving Efficiency of Targeting and Expenditure in the Social Sector: Case of Universal Education Program in India - Anit Mukherjee
Author(s):Jay Chaudhuri
Membership:From Outlays to Outcomes

The study analyses the increasing role of the Central government in social service delivery in India. The Universal Elementary Education program – known as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is one example. Funds are allocated to different States from a dedicated fund on the basis of the gap in infrastructure and human resources to meet the benchmarks of service delivery such as the distance criterion, ratio of pupils to teachers and the number of students per classroom. Schools receive grants for infrastructure as well as for running cost, maintenance and teaching aids as per norms and guidelines laid down by the Central government. As far as implementation is concerned, new institutional arrangements have been set up that partly bypass the sub-national government administration and seek to involve the local community. Our results indicate that (a) the fund flow bottlenecks lead to less than optimal utilization of school grants; and (b) the centralized norms lead to a system of grants that are tied to specific items whereas the requirement on the ground is better served by giving untied grants with de facto expenditure powers to the school authorities. The schools will be able to provide inputs in a more cost-effective manner if funds and decision-making authority was to be actually devolved to them. The problem stems from inefficiency in targeting of inputs rather than the quantum of funds allocated as per Central norms. The results are indicative of potential handicaps in a large class of public spending programs in the social sector which have a similar devolution structure as the SSA. 

Inclusive Growth: A Survey of Literature
Author(s):Najim Dost
Membership:

This is a brief literature survey answering the following questions: What is Inclusive Growth? What are the indicators of Inclusive Growth? How has India fared against these indicators? What interventions are inclusive growth promoting?

India's Parliament as a Representative Institution
Author(s):Jessica Wallack
Membership:

This article looks at the institutional framework for parliamentary debate in India in comparative perspective. Participation in debate and policymaking is fundamental to representation, yet most of India's representatives have limited resources and opportunities to do so in comparison to members of parliament around the world. 

India's Solar Mission: More light needed
Author(s):Sujatha Byravan
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The government's focus on solar energy is driven by the need to demonstrate a commitment to renewable energy. But equity too is vital for the success of the National Solar Mission.

India’s Road to Intelligent Urbanism. Byravan.S. Opinion, The Indian Express, Oct. 29, 2007.
Author(s):Sujatha Byravan
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initiative publication test
Author(s):Shannon Spanhake
Membership:New project for Testing,Mobiles for Development,

test

Integrated Child Development Services
Author(s):Jay Chaudhuri
Membership:Scheme Briefs

ICDS is a comprehensive programme designed to ensure the holistic development of children. It is one of the largest childcare programmes in the world and has been in operation for more than three decades. This scheme brief examines the salient features of the scheme and the extent to which it has been effective in addressing still-widespread malnutrition among children in India.

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme integrates several aspects of early childhood development and provides supplementary nutrition, immunization, health check-ups, and referral services to children below six years of age as well as expecting and nursing mothers. Additionally, it offers non-formal pre-school education to children in the 3-6 age group, and health and nutrition education to women in the 15-45 age group.

Despite the scheme in operation since 1975, the scheme has not made significant inroads towards addressing malnutrition. There is significant inter-state variation across states. Furthermore structural issues of targeting, poor physical infrastructure, and insufficient delivery of materials to health centres.

Invited spaces, invited participation: Can invited spaces foster greater participation and accountability in service delivery? Yamini Aiyar
Author(s):Jay Chaudhuri
Membership:From Outlays to Outcomes

India boasts of a diverse and varied landscape of spaces where the government has opened itself up to invite citizen participation in directing and monitoring service delivery. Through decentralized reform, citizens have been invited to participate in planning and monitoring local government activity.  Despite this profusion and diversity of invitations, there are many open questions regarding how these spaces actually work in practice: Who participates and how? Does simply creating new spaces bring about meaningful participation? And, perhaps most crucially, can participation improve accountability for service delivery? This article contributes to the small but growing body of work that examines these questions. It draws on existing and new literature on participatory spaces to analyze the effectiveness and further, potential of these spaces to enhance accountability for service delivery. The specific analysis focuses on the experience with conducting social audits in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.