Making governance smarter in Andhra Pradesh may look outlandish for a government that swears by smart and Real Time Governance. But a noted economist, Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus, a think-tank and the Tata Trust have joined hands to come up with a proposal to “make it more smarter”.
“Called Andhra Pradesh Priorities Project, it is based on the principle of time-tested cost-benefit analysis of policy decisions and quantifying how every rupee spent translates into benefits to the people,” Dr. Lomborg told The Hindu in a chat . The project is aimed at providing the government and relevant stakeholders a systematic process to help prioritise “the most effective development solutions through this cost-benefit research across a comprehensive development agenda for the State”.
He said going by Andhra Pradesh’s annual budget of ₹1,56,999 crore, “which is a lot of money we need to look at not just making things better but dramatically improve and this could be done through this prioritisation process beginning with cost-benefit analysis and drawing a menu. Look at the possibility even if we change or tweak one per cent or ₹1,600 crore of this budget spending it has the potential of doing something good to the extent of ₹40,000 crore over a period of time”.
Dr. Lomborg said the project was to work with stake holders across the State to identify, analyse, rank and disseminate the best solutions in the 19 key sectors that includes agriculture and food security, digitisation and innovation, economy, business and industry, education, employment and skill development, energy, environment and climate change, governance and institutions, communicable and non-communicable diseases, nutrition, poverty, urbanisation and migration etc.
After wide-ranging consultations, 700-odd interventions and solutions were identified which were shortlisted to 70 and considered for a detailed cost-benefit analysis. The detailed reports will be out in the next few months. Renowned economists from India and abroad are involved in the project. He presented an overview of the project to IAS officers the other day.
