In a bid to ensure optimal benefits to the sections of people targeted in various social sector schemes, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has underscored the need for spending at least one per cent of the administrative costs of the government on evaluation of such programmes to plug leakages.
In his keynote address at the two-day ‘International conference on Development Evaluation,’ hosted by the Commission here on Monday, Mr. Ahluwalia said: “With the increase in expenditure in the social sector schemes there is a need for better evaluation of the schemes to measure the benefits to the people. The evaluation should be used to make changes in the programmes to plug leakages.”
Mr. Ahluwalia noted that in view of the Planning Commission’s role in prioritising development programmes and evaluating them, it has announced plans for the creation of an ‘Independent Evaluation Office’ in November this year. The conference was organised to draw on international experiences of development evaluation and discuss lessons for India.
Highlighting an improvement over former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assessment that only 15 per cent of the government spending on social sector programmes was reaching the beneficiaries, Mr. Ahluwalia noted that in a study on ‘Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS),’ the commission found that 50 per cent of the funds were actually reaching the beneficiaries.
“It is a good improvement, but not enough. We have to ensure that the system works better and this conference, I believe, can be a learning experience for improving evaluation processes. We have representatives of different Ministries and State governments who can share their experiences in evaluation and learn from international best practices,” he said.
Mr. Ahluwalia laid emphasis on the importance of developing a comprehensive evaluation framework built on rational systems supported by planned expenditure, mechanisms and technicalities for enhancing the effectiveness of impact evaluation.
Challenges to overcome
Distinguished experts leading the evaluation divisions of various donor agencies — Vinod Thomas of the World Bank, Saraswathy Menon of the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), H.S. Rao of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Michael Andersen of the United Kingdom’s DFID (Department For International Development) — presented their views on the current challenges of evaluation. The panel discussion highlighted the challenges that need to be overcome in designing and implementing robust monitoring and evaluation systems as well as the opportunities for Indian stakeholders to assume a greater role in this regard.
The conference, the first of its kind to provide a platform for dialogue with stakeholders to exchange views and initiate discussions on development evaluation, was in keeping with the Commission’s commitment to bring about a positive transformation in public administration and public service delivery by developing rational evaluation systems for government development programmes.
Social sector schemes, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia
