December 2021 - Page 8 of 67

Understanding Informal Models of Septic Tank Emptying Services: Case Studies from Four Cities in India

Posted on December 21, 2021January 11, 2022 by cprindia

FULL VIDEO OF CORP SEMINAR

Watch the full video (above) of the recent CORP seminar discussing the private septic tank emptying sector in India through case studies, in-depth ethnographic work and projections of business models.

Tarun Sharma discusses the market for private septic tank emptying services in the three cities of Dehradun, Jaipur and Bhubaneshwar, while Marie-Helene Zerah and Sweta Xess discuss the findings of a deep-dive ethnographic study of these operators in the peri-urban settlement of Aya Nagar (near the Delhi-Gurgaon boder). Finally, Anindita Mukherjee and Prashant Arya present the results of a projection exercise showing the progressive impact that regularisation and formalisation would have on the operations of these enterprises.

The presentation and the subsequent discussion dwelt on the need, and potential consequences of, regularising an informal sector with broad public health implications, the role of manual scavenging in such enterprises and the hidden costs of labor, and the need to understand the fundamental role that caste and community identities play in this particular kind of work.

Marie – Hélène Zérah is a Research Fellow at CESSMA (Centre d’études en sciences sociales sur les mondes africains, américains et asiatiques) / IRD (Institute of Research for Sustainable Development) deputed to the Centre for Policy Research.

Sweta Celine Xess is a Research Associate with the Centre for Policy Research.

Tarun Sharma is Director and Co-founder of Nagrika, a social enterprise focused on the issues of small and mid-sized cities.

Anindita Mukherjee is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Research working in the project, Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI): Sanitation.

Prashant Arya is a Research Assistant with the Centre for Policy Research.

The question and answer session that followed the seminar can be accessed here.

Understanding homelessness in Delhi through the voice of the homeless

Posted on December 21, 2021January 11, 2022 by cprindia

WORKING PAPER FROM CPR’S NEW PROJECT UNDERSTANDING METROPOLITAN HOMELESSNESS BY ASHWIN PARULKAR
URBAN ECONOMY RIGHTS

This working paper from CPR’s and TISS’s (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) Understanding Metropolitan Homelessness project tells stories of six migrant homeless men from Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland who live, for various durations, in shelters along the western bank of the Yamuna river in North Delhi, locally referred to as ‘Yamuna Pushta’. Through tracing their journeys from villages and towns to Delhi’s streets, the paper explores how these men became homeless and how they survive homelessness in Delhi.

This project, which is funded by ICSSR (Indian Council of Social Science Research) and is being conducted by CPR and TISS, is led by Partha Mukhopadhyay and Ashwin Parulkar at CPR, and Tarique Mohammed at TISS. A key objective of the project in general, and this paper in particular, is to better understand the structural causes of homelessness (e.g. poverty, unemployment) and how these are interlinked – through capturing the lived experiences of the homeless in their voice. This research aims to inform successful policy and implementation responses to address the current ineffectiveness of outreach efforts to homeless people in Delhi, despite interventions by the Supreme Court and support schemes designed by the government.

The six stories in the paper uncover conditions, and combinations, of extreme poverty and physical abuse experienced by these men in their native places before they left home. It traces how they secure jobs, and survive, in daily wage, informal economies without housing, as well as access social services like shelter, health and drug de-addiction programs to endure the streets of Delhi.

According to a 2010 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) survey, 87% of nearly 55,955 homeless adults worked jobs in the informal economy, entailing ‘the most rigorous activities which are essential for movement and building in the city.’ This paper describes in detail the varied experiences these six men have in such jobs that they find through contractors in informal labour ‘markets’ (mandis); as cooks and servers in small eateries (dhabas), and as wedding catering party workers.

Through their trajectories, Parulkar also explores differences between working homeless men who return home to support families and those who have no ties with their native places and live on the streets indefinitely. For a sense of how these men became homeless and the work conditions they experience while homeless, listen to audio samples of interviews (above) conducted during field research.

The full working paper can be accessed here.

Understanding India’s bureaucracy through the IAS officer

Posted on December 21, 2021January 11, 2022 by cprindia

BLOGS BY T R RAGHUNANDAN OF THE ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVE
POLITICS BUREAUCRACY

Accountability Initiative at CPR deconstructs the Indian bureaucracy through the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer in a series of blogs by T R Raghunandan, a former bureaucrat himself, (referred to as Raghu here on) summarised below:

In the blog Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Additional Crown, Raghu breaks down the hierarchy of the Indian bureaucracy, explaining the various designations at different levels, and what these mean in terms of the power wielded.

In the next blog, taking off from the introductory one, Raghu details the Bureaucratic Review Process, unpacking the elaborate appraisal system, which is designed to ensure that the best talent reaches the top.

The third blog, How Commonplace is ‘Outstanding’?, explains how the gradation of officers during the review process is carried out; the hurdles in it; and the common use of ‘outstanding’ for 90 percent of the officers, reflective of the bureaucracy’s avoidance of confrontation in its internal dealings.

In the following two blogs, A Digression into Ethical Dilemmas and Ambition, Ethical Dilemmas and the Bureaucracy, Raghu shares his views on the ethical factors, which are likely to render ineffective a peer based confidential appraisal system–part of a new set of changes introduced.

In the last two blogs on this topic, The Loneliness Of The Ethical and How Honest Is Honest?, Raghu shares examples of the ‘loneliness of those who take an ethical stand, in the face of large numbers of those who do not’, and explains why a ‘shared understanding of what integrity is’, and a ‘culture of acceptance of honest criticism up the hierarchy’ (both currently lacking) are pre-requisites for a system of 360 degree appraisal to work as intended.

Understanding India’s Energy Transition in Global Context

Posted on December 21, 2021January 24, 2022 by cprindia

FULL VIDEO OF PANEL DISCUSSION AS PART OF CPR DIALOGUES

ENERGY RESEARCH

Watch the full video of the panel discussion on ‘Understanding India’s Energy Transition in Global Context’, organised as part of CPR Dialogues, featuring Michael Grubb, Navroz K Dubash, Radhika Khosla, Ashok Sreenivas, chaired by Ajay Mathur.

India faces three substantial challenges in the coming decades with enormous implications for its future energy demand. First, India has yet to provide clean cooking energy to 800 million people, and electricity access to 200 million people; failure to achieve this will dramatically reduce the human development possibilities for vast numbers of Indians. Second, India has to create jobs at pace with our shifting demography, which cannot happen without more and better power – electricity demand is likely to at least double in the next fifteen years at a time when clean energy is rising up the national and global political agenda. Third, the quality and form of India’s urban transition has enormous implications for energy needs. Managing these simultaneous pressures poses a severe challenge because India has to transform to the energy sector of the 21st century even as we grapple with 20th century problems of waste, theft and unreliability.

Moreover, India’s energy transition is taking place within a larger global energy context, which will shape available supply options. Globally, the steep fall in price of renewable energy technologies has sparked a conversation about how, not when, economies will transition to a predominantly renewable energy future. However, the transition costs and challenges are potentially substantial and hotly disputed. Moreover, global oil and gas economics and politics have been cast into uncertain territory with the development of shale oil and gas technologies. And not least, the imperative of addressing climate change in the face of ever more dire warnings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change hangs like a shadow over global energy futures, and in particular puts pressure on an expansion of coal-based energy.

Historically, India has viewed pressures to mitigate climate change, in particular, as a threat to development. And indeed, India’s energy needs remain substantial, and any pressures to absolutely limit energy use or increase the costs of energy will have negative social and economic effects. At the same time, India is grappling with many other challenges that could also be solved by judicious shifts toward energy efficiency and cleaner energy: energy security due to import dependence in oil could be mitigated by renewable powered electric cars; congested cities could be cleared by energy-saving public transport; and air pollution could be mitigated through energy efficiency and renewable energy. The question before India, therefore, is whether India can productively leverage global energy trends through a judicious mix of demand and supply approaches even while meeting its own energy needs? Or do these trends pose a challenge to India as the country expands energy use in service of development?
From one perspective, rapid global change provides an opportunity: India has yet to lock into technologies and institutional paths that were designed for coal, oil and centralized power, and can build an energy and electricity system better suited for the 21st century. From the other, negotiating a complex technology and institutional transition, while dealing with the overhang of 20th century energy problems of low access and weak and inefficient systems, seems only to be a challenge.

This panel explored to what extent India’s energy transition, in the context of a global energy transition, provides opportunities versus throws up challenges, and what India can do to effectively negotiate this transition.

Ajay Mathur is Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

Michael Grubb is Professor of Energy & Climate Change, Bartlett School Environment, Energy & Resources, Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London.

Navroz K Dubash is a Professor at CPR.

Radhika Khosla is Research Director, Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Oxford and Visiting Fellow, CPR.

Ashok Sreenivas is Senior Fellow at Prayas (Energy Group).

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here.

Key takeaways about the Dialogues by Michael Grubb can be accessed here.

Watch all other sessions of the Dialogues below:

Understanding Economic Processes in Small Towns

Posted on December 21, 2021July 7, 2022 by cprindia

PART 4 OF A SERIES OF INTERPRETATIONS DRAWING ON A NEW BOOK ON SMALL TOWNS

URBAN ECONOMY

In this interview, Eric Denis, Director of Research at Géographie-cités lab, CNRS, Paris, discusses some of the varied processes characterising small town economics.

What kind of economic processes do we see emerging in small towns?

We can summarise the multiple and complex economic processes playing out in small towns into four broad types. Locally, these four ideal-types are interlaced with each other:

Small towns are incorporated into metropolitan and large cities,
Small towns are entrepreneurial, resilient and innovative localities,
Small towns are ordinary market towns,
Small towns are large villages that expand and grow including a work-force moving away from the farm sector.

What are the main characteristics of small towns under the influence of metropolitan expansion?

There are a number of places that are growing due to the diffusion and re-localisation of economic activities in the peripheries of large cities – both of these activities are in a phase of rapid expansion.

Diffusion: A heterogeneous amalgam of investments in infrastructure, real estate, commercial ventures, industrial parks and educational institutions surround small towns, which, in turn, become central places, i.e., nodes and sites of agglomeration and not just for accessing markets and services. In this case, the agency of local actors is limited. The urban transformation depends of such localities depends on their attractiveness seen in terms of:

Accessibility and location (new roads, mass transportation, etc.),
Cost of land,
Local tolerance to pollution,
Availability of a labour force and its willingness to accept the offered working conditions, often characterised by low wages, daily contracts and a weak level of unionisation.

Often, the weakness of the local government in enforcement, with its limited capability, becomes an added advantage in terms of attractiveness.

Over time, however, the physical planning of metropolitan regions, megaprojects, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and real estate promoters’ appetite for new land opportunities can be destabilising factors for existing flourishing clusters of activities that depend on intensive workforce, inherited knowledge and local capital (such as the Kartarpur furniture industry in the periphery of Ludhiana, discussed in chapter 18 by Rémi de Bercegol and Shankare Gowda).

For example, India, which recently opened its doors to Foreign Direct Investment, has limited availability of large tracts of lands within large cities. Here, much of the globalisation related investment is occurring in peri-urban areas. This is where megaprojects such as SEZs materialise. Hence, often banal and polluting activities are de-concentrated from the city centre to these peripheral small towns alongside industrial development parks.

Re-localisation: Daily commuters constitute the second component of vibrant small towns around large cities. Their circular migration (i.e., not a permanent movement to the city but periodically going back and forth from a place of residence, which can be for short periods of time, or even daily commuting) towards jobs within the city transforms the small towns bringing in new households, mostly young people, who cannot find affordable housing in the core city. They stimulate a diversification of local economies and alter the local political equilibrium. The youth of small towns, notably those who have access to technical colleges, are also more engaged in commuting. This daily circulation tends to adjust itself as major firms relocate their factories and offices to peripheral parks, thus ensuring that circular migration comes full circle as people from the core city start commuting to the periphery.

What are the conditions of emergence, expansion and adaptation to change of entrepreneurial and innovative towns?

Outside the direct influence of metro cities, there are many vibrant small towns. This is due to a strong and often fast growing network of entrepreneurs and skilled workers who contribute to the development of industrial clusters. They are able to expand their market, adapt to change, and innovate.

Small and medium towns prove to be interesting locations to set up and develop productive activities, particularly in response to the immense demand constituted by the vast majority of Indian families that do not belong to the middle and upper urban class. In these locations, entrepreneurs innovate to create low cost products that respond to the specificities of the non-metropolitan environment with solid and rustic equipment that is easy to operate and repair using local skills. It is an environment of jugaad, by which we mean doing more with less. Such innovative products, notably vehicles adapted to bad roads and difficult weathers, are not just limited to the Indian customer base as some small companies even manage to export to other emerging low cost markets such as Africa (see Chapter 19 by Yann Philippe Tastevin for rig drilling trucks in South India).

Apart from industrial activities, these towns also provide locations for the establishment of technical colleges, which recruit beyond their local geography. Often, some of these towns do not grow in an isolated manner but belong to a group of small towns, co-specialising in a sector. This is also the case for more traditional activities, such as textile or leather industries, that are similarly integrating into the global value chain and up-scaling.

Besides the vibrant small towns, what constitutes the majority of small towns where most of the non-metropolitan urban citizens live?

These are of two broad types, as indicated earlier.

First, ordinary mandi or market towns. These cater to the needs of the rural areas in their hinterland constitute a large proportion of small towns. Many of these towns have historically been market towns or administrative centres. Depending on their administrative functions (whether they are home to a block office or a police station, etc.), and the dynamism of local agriculture (such as the nature of production and volume of cash crops), they can be more or less dynamic.

Second, emergent census towns. With a decline in farm employment, people have to generate incomes with access to minimal resources. This is how mandi towns as well as large villages, become more diverse. More of the labour force opens petty shops, becomes daily workers in the construction sector or at brick kilns – either locally or in other towns through seasonal migrations. In turn, their remittances stimulate the morphing of their place of origin.

This morphing, which occurs in villages gives rise to growth in the number of census towns, as the workforce shifts away from non-farm work. In this case, the local economy tends to move away from agricultural activities as in the settlements above. However, here, there is no previous history of urban-like activity such as administration or regional markets. As such, the emergence of these census towns is not supported by the presence of a local elite related to the presence of a market, educational or administrative functions, but markets do emerge.

These emerging urban areas, smaller than the towns referred to above, consolidate and diversify because there is a need for their population to create new activities and access resources through self-employment and mobility. These settlements, therefore, also often serve as local transport hubs assisted by improved rural roads and a growing access to vehicle finance from formal banks.

Is this typology airtight or do some small towns straddle these different ideal-types?

None of the types of small towns described above exists in a pure configuration. Each one is the product of multiple influences carried by an increasingly diverse population, which is often well connected with distant places.

The multiplication of small towns and the urban transformation of villages constitute the material expression of the current socio-economic transition in India that is characterised by important reduction of jobs in the farm sector and poor creation of employment in the industrial sector, associated with a limited level of residential migration towards large cities. Many of these emerging small urban centres are places where people struggle daily to access resources but prefer to stay in a known environment where local values of solidarity support them.

The other pieces in the series can be accessed below:

Towards ‘Cooperative’ Social Policy Financing in India

Posted on December 21, 2021January 11, 2022 by cprindia

AS PART OF ‘POLICY CHALLENGES – 2019-2024: THE BIG POLICY QUESTIONS FOR THE NEW GOVERNMENT AND POSSIBLE PATHWAYS’
CPR BUREAUCRACY SOCIAL SECTOR SCHEMES

By Avani Kapur

A unique feature in India’s federal architecture is the pivotal role played by the Union government in financing and monitoring social welfare programmes, and in ensuring that all states have adequate resources and are held accountable for meeting social policy goals. During 2000-2018, the Government of India (GoI) spent over Rs 14 lakh crores on social services.1 A significant proportion of this expenditure is met through Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) – a specific purpose transfer from the Union to states, usually in the form of schemes.

While the practice of using specific purpose transfers dates to the pre-Independence era, over time, CSSs have emerged as the primary vehicle through which the GoI finances and directs state expenditure towards national priorities. Their dominance can be seen in their sheer numbers and the quantum of money flowing through them. During the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2011), there were 147 scheme specific transfers accounting for over 40% of total central transfers to states.2 This increased signifcantly in the 12th Plan period. Of the total Rs 8.61 lakh crore transferred by the Union government to states between 2012 and 2015, Rs 5.88 lakh crore (68%) was released as assistance under CSSs.3

The importance of CSSs as a fiscal instrument lies in the fact that they are the primary source of non-wage, uncommitted funds available to states. With a majority of states’ own resources tied to wages, pensions and other committed liabilities (sometimes over 80-90%4), CSSs were designed as a top-up to augment state expenditure, allowing them to address infrastructure and human development deficits.

In principle, the rationale for CSSs is sound and in keeping with first principles: fiscal equalization to ensure that minimum standards of public services are provided to all citizens. Over time, however, the design and proliferation of CSSs have undermined this very rationale. Richer states with better administrative capacities have been able to capture a larger share of CSS funds, resulting in a significant misallocation of resources. Analysis by the Economic Survey 2016-17 of the six top CSSs – Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Mid-Day Meal (MDM), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) – found that under no scheme did the poorest district receive even 40% of the total resources. In fact, for the MDM and SBM, the share was under 25%.5 Other studies of the SSA and National Health Mission (NHM) found similar results – that is, states with poorer health indicators did not necessarily get larger per capita transfers.6

Moreover, the centralized nature of CSSs often makes them an inefficient tool to address state-specific needs and has undermined the autonomy of states to undertake expenditure decisions based on their local needs.

Recognizing these limitations, numerous attempts have been made to restructure schemes and restore them to their rightful place – the states. The last major impetus came with the adoption of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, which increased state governments’ share in tax devolution by 10 percentage points. The resultant decrease in the fiscal space available with the GoI reiterated the need to significantly decrease and restructure CSSs. This led to the constitution of a committee of chief ministers under the aegis of the NITI Aayog. The committee made several recommendations including scheme rationalization, determination of a transparent criterion for interstate allocation, and greater flexibility in and creation of an institutional mechanism for Centre-state negotiation.

The changes that followed were minimal. While schemes were reordered under ‘umbrella’ programmes, within each umbrella programme, sub-schemes continued as before. As per the Union Budget 2016-17, even after the creation of 28 umbrella programmes, there were 950 Central Sector and CSS sub-schemes accounting for about 5% of the GDP and 9% of the total GoI expenditure.7 Three years later, in the interim budget for 2019-20, Central Sector Schemes constituted 12% of GoI expenditure, up from 9% in 2016-17; CSSs accounted for another 9%.8

More importantly, there was no real change in the design or implementation of the schemes. Meetings for the planning of of education and health programmes continued as before, and the notification to allocate 25% as flexible, discretionary funds was not reflected in many of the scheme planning documents. Instead, the disbandment of the Planning Commission has resulted in an institutional vacuum with respect to planning. CSSs now fall under the domain of central ministries, leading to further centralization of social policy financing.

A call for rationalizing CSSs, however, has again gained momentum. The GoI recently committed to evaluating all CSSs before fresh appraisals are made and making scheme approval coterminus with the Finance Commission cycle. Accordingly, the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) under the NITI Aayog has invited proposals to evaluate 28 umbrella CSSs under 10 sectors. Real change in social sector financing, however, will only be visible if the current design of CSSs is completely overhauled, in addition to scheme rationalization being carried out.

Before I offer some indicative steps on how this can be achieved, it is useful to highlight some of the main inefficiencies in the current design of CSSs. Broadly, these can be classified into four interrelated areas: planning failures, implementation failures, fiscal inefficiencies and administrative red tape. Each of these is described below.

Planning Design Failures

Budgets for CSSs are determined based on incremental plans prepared by the respective state governments and approved by a committee at the central level. This has given individual ministries significant discretion in determining scheme design and approving state-specific plans and budgets. There is often an inherent tension between central government priorities and states’ perceived needs. However, since the Centre controls the purse strings, central priorities dominate. To illustrate: in 2010, the Bihar chief minister had launched several state entitlement schemes for education, such as cycles, uniforms, etc. In its SSA budget, thus, the state proposed a low allocation for entitlement. However, the GoI’s own prioritization of entitlements meant that despite no demand, Bihar’s entitlement budget under SSA was enhanced by over 200%. In another example, in 2013–14, one state government wanted to use the SSA budget to provide vehicles for block-level officials to improve school-level monitoring. The approval board at the Centre, however, denied this request as purchase of vehicles was not permitted under SSA rules.9

Implementation Failures

CSSs are typically designed by the central government but implementation rests with the state and local governments. Most CSSs come with rigid guidelines for execution which privilege a top-down, ‘one size fits all’ model with fixed norms and unit costs. For the NHM, for instance, the guidelines lay down fixed population norms to set up health facilities. These, however, underestimate requirements in states such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh which have a population density lower than the national average.

More importantly, even granular implementation details such as hiring processes, training modules and schedules, communication strategies, etc. are laid down by the Centre. Consequently, states and local governments have very little flexibility in adapting implementation based on their specific jurisdiction. The problem is even more acute at the point of service delivery. In education, for instance, if a school wants to spend more money on buying teaching material rather than painting walls, the norms simply don’t allow it. Similarly, a survey conducted by Accountability Initiative in 2013 found that the pressure to meet RTE infrastructure requirements resulted in money for boundary walls being sent to all schools in Himachal Pradesh even though construction couldn’t be undertaken due to land unavailability.10

Fiscal Inefficiencies

Most CSSs are designed as a cost-sharing programme between the Union and the states. With the division of CSSs into ‘core’, ‘core of the core’ and ‘optional’, states are expected to contribute 50-60% of the total approved budgets from their own plan funds.11

Within a scheme, however, the matching ratio is uniform across states irrespective of their fiscal capability. Release of funds by the GoI is contingent on states releasing their own share and meeting other conditionalities such as the submission of Utilisation Certificates (UCs). This has three important consequences with respect to distribution of resources. First, the uniform fund-sharing ratio often makes it difficult for the low-income states to put in their requisite share. As subsequent fund release is contingent on states submitting their share, this has an effect on the total quantum of money received by fiscally weaker states. Thus, while Karnataka may perform better than Bihar on most development indicators, it may also be able to avail of the CSS grant by making its matching contribution, while Bihar may find it difficult to put in its share. Second, the presence of conditionalities for fund release means that there is a considerable difference between the approved allocation and actual grants. In 2016-17, for instance, only 85% of total NHM approved budgets were released. These differences are amplified at the state level. Thus, while Bihar (one of the poorest states) received 79%, Gujarat and Haryana (fiscally stronger states) received over 100%.12 This creates uncertainty in implementing schemes and invariably states with greater shortfall in services levels suffer the most. Finally, the fixed fund-sharing ratios also creates perverse incentives for states which may not need the additional CSS fund to try and get it.

Layered Bureaucracy and Administrative Red Tape

Finally, detailed and rigid guidelines, complex paperwork and numerous conditionalities for fund release under CSSs have also created considerable administrative red tape, resulting in inefficiencies in approvals and fund flows. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that for some CSSs, the central government has set up parallel institutional structures responsible for CSS implementation in states, thereby creating a new stakeholder in the implementation process. Under the SSA and NHM, for instance, scheme planning and implementation rests with autonomous bodies known as State Implementation Societies.13 The multiplicity of roles means that even simple tasks require approval and technical sanctions from different authorities. A study of the NHM in Uttar Pradesh conducted by Accountability Initiative found that it took a minimum of 22 desks through which the file had to pass for the release of funds from Treasury to the State Health Society (SHS). Other studies have found that the figures for Bihar and Maharashtra stood at 32 desks and 25 desks, respectively.14 Possibly as a consequence, release of funds from the SHS to the Treasury took as long as five months in Maharashtra and over three months in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.15 Delays at one level have a knock-on effect and often funds reach the last mile in the last quarter of the financial year.

Five-step Process in Reforming the CSS Design

These challenges highlight the need to move away from past reform efforts (which have focused on minor tweaks in CSSs) towards the first principles of the rationale behind specific purpose transfers. This will require a five-step process.

Moving from a Schematic to a Sectoral Approach

The first step is to limit the number of schemes. One way of doing this is to link finances to ‘national goals’. The committee of CMs on restructuring CSSs laid out nine key areas as part of the National Development Agenda for Vision 2022. It recommended that instead of the previous government’s strategy of bundling schemes under 22 umbrella programmes, funds could be released specifically for priority areas rather than multiple sub-schemes. This would give states the flexibility to plan activities within each priority area as per their own development needs. Steps in this direction have already been taken. The recently launched Samagra Shiksha – an overarching programme for school education extending from pre-school to class 12 – merged three previously independent CSSs. In theory the scheme allows states to prioritize interventions and sectors as per their need. Preliminary analysis of the scheme budget shows that indeed states are making decisions in keeping with their specific needs (albeit still guided by the GoI). Thus, while Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – which continue to lag behind in elementary education – allocated over 80% of their Samagra Shiksha budget for elementary education, states such as Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have focused on secondary education, allocating over 40% to the same. Similar steps should be taken in other sectors.16

Moving towards Block Grants

Having identified priority areas, the next step would be to ensure states have enough resources to fund these areas. Instead of allocations being linked to detailed and cumbersome planning and budgeting processes with restrictive, centralized guidelines, block grants could be given to states. This would allow for prioritization of different inputs and secure greater ownership by state governments. An example of this can already be seen in the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), a CSS established in 2007 to rejuvenate falling agricultural growth rates. Unlike most other CSSs, RKVY offers the flexibility to a state to choose activities under the scheme that most suit its requirements. Projects are prepared by the departments concerned and then scrutinized by a committee under the the state government’s Agricultural Production Commissioner. Most importantly, approval of the project is not done by the GoI but by the State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC), chaired by the Chief Secretary and with representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and NITI Aayog as members.

Ensuring Equitable Interstate Distribution

Third, interstate distribution of the normative block grant portion of funding amongst states can be based on a formula that takes into account aspects like population, area and proportion of difficult areas, along with sector-specific needs. Differential cost-sharing norms that take note of the shortfall in service levels could further assist in ensuring that the distribution of funds fulfils the criteria of need and equality. Moreover, the formulaic nature of the grants will ensure predictability of fund flows and allow for better planning.

Reforming the Public Finance Management System

The fourth step is streamlining inefficiencies in the approval and fund flow process. This can be done by building a just-in-time Expenditure Information Network (EIN) which brings all expenditure units under one system. The first step in this process was undertaken in 2017, when the GoI mandated all CSS expenditure to be routed through the Public Finance Management System (PFMS). The system envisages each implementation unit to be under one system, thereby allowing the Centre and states to monitor funds at different levels. The problem, however, is that the system still functions as a push system, with funds being routed through multiple levels requiring approvals at every stage. By moving towards a pull system, each implementing unit could have the ability to automatically withdraw funds as needed. A defined resource envelope and appropriate access codes would ensure that funds are not misused.

Augmenting Capacity of the Evaluation Office

Finally, instead of focusing on monitoring the nuts and bolts of implementation, the GoI must build its capacity to develop a credible database on monitoring outcome indicators on a real-time basis. Currently, an inherent weakness in the CSS design is its focus on inputs. This creates perverse incentives for the entire administrative machinery to focus on ensuring adequate inputs, or at best, meeting output targets. Here, the DMEO’s role could be expanded by investing in systems to generate regular, credible and granular data on various outcome indicators and to conduct concurrent evaluations of key programmes. Over time, performance on outcomes could be linked to additional financial incentives available to states.

Other pieces as part of CPR’s policy document, ‘Policy Challenges – 2019-2024’ can be accessed below:

The Future is Federal: Why Indian Foreign Policy Needs to Leverage its Border States by Nimmi Kurian
Rethinking India’s Approach to International and Domestic Climate Policy by Navroz K Dubash and Lavanya Rajamani
India’s Foreign Policy in an Uncertain World by Shyam Saran
Need for a Comprehensive National Security Strategy by Shyam Saran
A Clarion Call for Just Jobs: Addressing the Nation’s Employment Crisis by Sabina Dewan
Time for Disruptive Foreign and National Security Policies by Bharat Karnad
Multiply Urban ‘Growth Engines’, Encourage Migration to Reboot Economy by Mukta Naik
Schooling is not Learning by Yamini Aiyar
Clearing Our Air of Pollution: A Road Map for the Next Five Years by Santosh Harish, Shibani Ghosh and Navroz K Dubash
Protecting Water while Providing Water to All: Need for Enabling Legislations by Philippe Cullet
Interstate River Water Governance: Shift focus from conflict resolution to enabling cooperation by Srinivas Chokkakula
Managing India-China Relations in a Changing Neighbourhood by Zorawar Daulet Singh
Beyond Poles and Wires: How to Keep the Electrons Flowing? by Ashwini K Swain and Navroz K Dubash
Regulatory Reforms to Address Environmental Non-Compliance by Manju Menon and Kanchi Kohli
The Numbers Game: Suggestions for Improving School Education Data by Kiran Bhatty
Safe and Dignified Sanitation Work: India’s Foremost Sanitation Challenge by Arkaja Singh and Shubhagato Dasgupta
Safeguarding the Fragile Ecology of the Himalayas by Shyam Saran
Female Labour Force Participation: Asking Better Questions by Neelanjan Sircar
Understanding Land Conflict in India and Suggestions for Reform by Namita Wahi
1 ‘Reserve Bank of India Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy’, Public Finance Statistics, https://dbie.rbi.org.in/BOE/OpenDocument/1608101727/OpenDocument/opendoc…
2 B.K Chaturvedi, ‘Report of the Committee on Restructuring of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS)’ (New Delhi: Planning Commission, Government of India, 2011).
3 NITI Aayog, ‘Report of the Sub Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalisation of Centrally
Sponsored Schemes’ (New Delhi: NITI Aayog, 2015), http://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/ﬁles/ Final20Report20of20the20Sub-Group20submitter20to%20PM.pdf.
4 See, for instance, Y. Aiyar and A. Kapur, ‘The Centralization Vs Decentralization Tug of War and the Emerging Narrative of Fiscal Federalism for Social Policy in India’, Journal of Regional and Federal Studies 29(2) (2018): 187-217.
5 Ministry of Finance, ‘Universal Basic Income: A Conversation With and Within the Mahatma’, Economic Survey 2016-17, Chapter 9, https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/es2016-17/echapter.pdf.
6 M.G. Rao, ‘Central Transfers to States in India: Rewarding Performance While Ensuring Equity’ (New Delhi: NITI Aayog, 2017).
7 Ministry of Finance, ‘Universal Basic Income’.
8 Rathin Roy, ‘Changing Fiscal Dynamics’, Seminar Magazine 717 (2019)
9 Aiyar, et al. ‘Rules versus Responsiveness: Towards Building an Outcome-Focussed Approach to Governing Elementary Education Finances in India’, Accountability Initiative Working Paper (New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research, 2015).
10 Accountability Initiative, ‘District Report Cards, 2014’ (New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research, 2014).
11 For the North East and Himalayan states the Centre usually provides 90%.
12 Accountability Initiative, ‘National Health Mission, 2017-18’, Budget Briefs (New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research, 2018).
13 In NHM it is known as State Health Society.
14 See, for instance, M. Choudhury and R.K Mohanty, ‘Utilisation, Fund Flows and Public Financial Management under the National Health Mission’, NIPFP Working Paper Series (New Delhi: National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, 2018), https://www.nipfp.org.in/media/medialibrary/2018/05/WP_2018_227.pdf.
15 Accountability Initiative, ‘National Health Mission’.
16 Accountability Initiative, ‘Interim Budget 2019-20’, Samagrah Shiksha Budget Briefs (New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research, 2019).

Tribunal Ruling on South China Sea Dispute and China’s Response

Posted on December 21, 2021January 11, 2022 by cprindia

CPR FACULTY ANALYSE
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

As an international tribunal in The Hague rejected China’s claim to sovereignty over most of South China Sea, ruling instead in favour of the Philippines, and China refused to abide by the decision, CPR faculty comment on it:

In an interview to Rajya Sabha TV (above), Shyam Saran unpacks the various aspects of China’s claims over the waters of the South China Sea; deconstructs the tribunal ruling and its impact; and contextualises China’s response geopolitically.
G Parthasarathy in an interview on NDTV analyses China’s dismissal of the tribunal decision rejecting its claims to the South China Sea and how this is likely to lead to increased tensions internationally, including commenting on how India should respond.
In China’s Challenge to the Law of the Sea, Brahma Chellaney writes that China’s refusal to accept the decision of the tribunal is indicative of its ‘incremental approach to shaping the region according to its interests’ through ‘confounding, bullying and bribing adversaries’.

Two Years of Modi Government

Posted on December 21, 2021January 11, 2022 by cprindia

FULL VIDEOS OF PANEL DISCUSSION FEATURING PRATAP BHANU MEHTA

POLITICS

Ideas for India organised a panel discussion featuring Pratap Bhanu Mehta from CPR, Pranab Bardhan from the University of California, and Mihir Sharma from Bloomberg View/ORF, moderated by Ideas for India editor Parikshit Ghosh. The discussion spanned a range of topics (videos hyperlinked below):

The complete transcript of the panel discussion is available at the Ideas for India website.

Tripta Chandola shares her research on everyday experiences of slum dwellers

Posted on December 21, 2021January 11, 2022 by cprindia

LISTEN TO FULL TALK AND DISCUSSION
URBAN GOVERNANCE URBAN SERVICES

Listen to guest speaker Tripta Chandola’s full talk (above) about using the methodology of listening to study the everyday experiences and encounters of slum dwellers in relation to the space they inhabit, and how this shapes their sense of self and identity. While her research situates the position of the slums within the broader urban ecology affected by economic liberalisation, political movements, and evolving cultural practices, it also intends to highlight the sub-cultural practices of slum-dwellers negotiating their own space and self amid these transformations.

To listen to the lively discussion that followed, tune in to the Q&A session here.

This is the 65th in a series of urban workshops organised by the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), New Delhi, and Centre for Policy Research.

Truth and Politics in Our Times

Posted on December 21, 2021January 11, 2022 by cprindia

FULL VIDEO OF LECTURE BY PRATAP BHANU MEHTA
POLITICS

Watch the full video (above) of the BG Verghese Memorial Lecture 2017 by Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Truth and Politics in Our Times, delivered at the Chameli Devi Jain Award Ceremony at India International Centre, New Delhi.