Showing content of: T.R. Raghunandan

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Blog

The 'Inevitable' Corruption of the Amorally Honest

In November last year, I blogged about the travails of a few determined people.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Lesson To Remember For Officer Trainees

Every year, I get a chance to interact with officer trainees who have joined the higher bureaucracy and are under training in the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academ.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Publication

PAISA for Panchayats Study for the State of Kerala

The PAISA for Panchayats research project extends Accountability Initiative’s PAISA methodology to track fund flows and implementations processes at the Panchayat level. This study attempts to bridg.....

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Blog

How to have a Proactive Lokayukta

I concluded my last blog by asserting that greater outreach is p.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Are Anti-Corruption Commissions Effective?

I had ended last week’s blog by saying that in India, we nee.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Karnataka Lokayukta and the Dilution of Accountability

A few weeks back, a contentious issue hit the headlines in Bengaluru. The state government withdrew nearly all its police officers, of the rank of Superintendents an.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Capacity Building: Training or Organisational Development in Panchayats?

A dawning realisation from my recent and continuing engagement with the recasting of the National.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Investing in Champion Local Governments: A Case Study of Bangladesh

Over a decade back, when making my first forays into international consultancy, I was lucky to listen to a remarkable idea which was then in its infancy and had just been rolled out. Two motivated ind.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Conundrum on Capacity Development of India's Local Government Elected Representatives

Have capacity development programmes for local government elected representatives and officials improved over the years? Before answering that question, three preliminary questions need to be answe.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

India's Capability Building Framework and the Reshaping of Panchayat-level Training

Last week, I tuned into a meeting convened to discuss the preparation of a new National Capability Building Framework (NCBF) for Panchayats. It was a good opportunit.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Professional Welfarism or Corporate Capture? A Perspective on CSR and Local Governments

Of late, there is a forward popular on WhatsApp groups. It is the story of a Panchayat where everything is run, on the face of it, ideally. Not only are roads well buil.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How the Evolution of 'Data Consciousness' is Proving to be Slow and Painful

In my previous blog, I recounted how the Karnataka government had begun the process of.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Modifying Government Structures for Fiscal Transparency in Karnataka: A Case Study

Continuing from my previous blog on how governments might actually foster fisc.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Small Significant Steps Toward Fiscal Transparency in Kerala and Karnataka

In my previous blog, I had rued that even when the government makes changes.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The False Dawn of IT-enabled Governance Services

Every now and then, across India’s currently dormant urban civil society, there is a buzz that something good is about to happen soon. I was part of one such awakenin.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Parastatals and Understanding India’s Governance Executive

During some of its training programmes, the Accountability Initiative team begins classes by explaining the structure of India’s governments – the executive facet of it – as distinguished from t.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Teaching About the Government and Bureaucracy in India

I like teaching, though I am not trained for it. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed teaching in diverse classrooms, ranging from bureaucrats, to interns working in the government, and even other teache.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Perspective: The Demise of the Line Department?

‘Why don’t you come over to Kerala House for dinner, Raghunandan?’ I recognised that gravelly voice instantly. Of my many mentors, I fondly remember Mr. V. Ramachandran, the former Chief S.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Rules for 'Institutional Euthanasia'

This blog is part of a series unpacking the ‘PAISA for Municipalities' research which analysed urban local b.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Accountability and Curbing Institutional Fragmentation in Urban Areas

This blog is part of a series unpacking the ‘PAISA for Municipalities' research which analysed urban local b.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Citizen and Expenditure Tracking in Urban Areas: Learnings from Tumakuru

This blog is part of a series unpacking the 'PAISA for Municipalities' research which analysed urban local bo.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Tumakuru Case Study: Who Else Spends Money in a City Corporation Area?

This blog is part of a series unpacking the 'PAISA for Municipalities' research which analysed urban local bo.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Lessons from Tumakuru: Where does a City Corporation Spend its Money?

This blog is part of a series unpacking the 'PAISA for Municipalities' research which analysed urban local bo.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Tracking Core Expenditure of the Tumakuru City Corporation in Karnataka

This blog is part of a series unpacking the 'PAISA for Municipalities' research which analysed urban local bo.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Collecting Government Data: A Sinking Feeling in Tumakuru, Karnataka

This blog is part of a series unpacking the ‘PAISA for Municipalities‘ research which analysed urban local.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Dismal Picture of Fiscal Fragmentation in Tumakuru, Karnataka

This blog is part of a series unpacking the ‘PAISA for Municipalities‘ research which analysed urban local.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Tumakuru Case Study: How is Money Allocated for Urban Area Expenditure?

This blog is part of a series unpacking the 'PAISA for Municipalities' research which analysed urban local bod.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

What Municipalities Do: Findings from a Study in Tumakuru Smart City, Karnataka

This blog is part of a series unpacking the ‘PAISA for Municipalities‘ research which analysed urban local.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

What Municipalities Do: A Framework for Research

This blog is part of a series unpacking the 'PAISA for Municipalities' research which analysed urban local bod.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Urban Challenge after a Panchayats Study in Karnataka

This blog is part of a series unpacking the 'PAISA for Municipalities' research which analysed urban local bod.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Sleuthing Urban Local Body Finances

India is fast urbanising; there is no need to use statistics to prove that, they are plentiful and available in granular detail. A Census is due this year, and when the statistics are available, we wi.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

RaghuByte's Two Hundredth Blog: More Perspectives on Free Expression

Once again, more than a fortnight passes; an aeon in the unfolding scenario on how we look at the freedom of expression. I ended .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Publication

PAISA for Municipalities

This study aims to understand the nature and compute the size of the local public sector in the Smart City of Tumakuru, in Karnataka State. It makes use of our flagship methodology Planning, Allocatio.....

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Blog

The Policy Conundrum of Regulating Free Speech: Can Social Media Platforms Do the Job?

I ended my last blog five weeks back with asking whether, sho.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How Does One Control Hate Speech and Fake News, without Curbing the Freedom of Expression?

The question of controlling fake news and hate speech without disrupting freedom of expression bears repetition, but that does not get us any closer to the answers......

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Freedom of Expression Conundrum

As we go to press, the Kerala Governor, on the advice of the state government has signed an ordinance withdrawing the controversial amendment of the Kerala Police Act by the introduction of a new sect.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How States Drag their Feet on Citizens’ Participation in Urban Governance: A Case Study

In my last blog, I had observed that while the structures for participation in public.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Progress Made in Rural Citizens Participation in Governance

Across the country, a curious pattern emerges when one looks at how legal and process reforms have progressed, with respect to institutionalising the participation of urban citizens in governance. The.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Paradox of Citizens’ Participation in Urban Governance

This blog is part of a series that explores the idea of citizen's participation in urban governance through the Cubbon Park Case Study. Part .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Swaraj and Urban Governance: Remembering Gandhi

‘India lives in its villages,’ said Gandhi.  And from that observation, as well as many others where he envisioned a futu.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How to Confuse Citizens and Escape Accountability: The Cubbon Park Case Study

This blog is part of a series that explores the conceptual underpinnings of decentralisation, and citizen participation. The first part can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Citizens’ Participation in Urban Governance: A Dead End?

This blog is part of a series that explores the conceptual underpinnings of decentralisation. The first part can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Does the Decentralisation of Administration Work?

This blog is part of a series that explores the conceptual underpinnings of decentralisation. The fir.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Decentralisation and Corruption

This blog is part of a series that explores the conceptual underpinnings of decentralisation. The first part can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Is Decentralisation Relevant for the Future?

In a powerful and elegant paper written in the mid-nineties, titled, bluntly, ‘The Dangers of Decentralisation’, Remy Prud’homme made a strong case to be conserva.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Dangers of Decentralisation

Sometimes, the struggle to argue against something that one has stood by for a long time, is a painful one. And so has it been for me, ever since a colleague asked me t.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Whither, Local Governments, in the Pandemic?

I had written a few weeks back that the lockdowns ordered.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Op Eds

Responding to COVID-19 at the Grassroots

Kerala and Karnataka have shown how democratic decentralisation has worked in their favour. .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Panchayati Raj Day in India; a Time for Introspection

Today, April 24, is celebrated in India as Panchayati Raj Day. It was on this day in 1993 that the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, which mandated rural and urban local governments, came into.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Will the Coronavirus Health Emergency Revive Democratic Decentralisation?

Years back, while fighting skeptics in the government (both my former colleagues and ministers) on my agenda of devolution of powers and responsibilities to local governments, I once asked my Minister.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

What India's Crime Statistics on Violence Against Women Reveal

This blog is part of a series on crimes against women, and current legal and administrative safeguards. The first blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Larger Picture on Crimes Against Women

This blog is part of a series on crimes against women, and current legal and administrative safeguards. The first blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Facing the Facts on Crime Against Women in India

This blog is part of a series on crimes against women, and current legal and administrative safeguards. Rape. That one horrendous word has filled our consciousness and blanked.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Testimony to Integrity in Procurement at Shivasamudram

This blog is part of a series. The first blog can be found here. The Shivasamudram p.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Op Eds

Throttled at the Grass Roots

Local governments remain hamstrung and ineffective — mere agents to do the bidding of higher level governments .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

What it Took to Construct India's First Hydroelectric Power Station

Last week, I described the procurement process for the construction of the first hydroe.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Case Study of Government Procurement from 100 Years Ago

Years ago, on the eve of the centenary of the first hydroelectric power station built in India, at Shivasamudram in Karnataka, my wife Aditi and I investigated the procedures followed by the g.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Corruption in Government Procurement

Apart from the corruption in government transactions with the general public in the delivery of services, corruption in government procurement happens to be the most important form of corruption in th.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Scaling the Mountain of Grand Corruption in the Healthcare Sector

This blog is part of a series. The first blog can be found here. In this, my final blog on ta.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Strategies for Eliminating Corruption in the Healthcare Sector

This blog is part of a series. The first blog can be found here. There are both generic and s.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Tackling Corruption in the Health Sector

This blog is part of a series. The first blog can be found here. In my .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Types of Corruption in the Health Sector

As with most other sectors, corruption in the health sector can be classified into two categories, petty corruption and grand corruption. In addition, there could be another category, namely, the wide.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Grey Area of Professional Corruption

In my blog of 14 June, I referred to the phenomenon of private sector corruption and listed four c.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Crackdown on Corruption?

This month, the Union Government of India compulsorily retired nearly 30 officers of the Indian Revenue Service, on charges ranging from corruption to sexual harassment. The media termed this as a cra.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Increasing Problem of Private Sector Corruption

The suggestions I mentioned in my last blog on how to reduce corruption in the Registration Depar.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Case Study on Reducing Over-the-Counter Corruption

In my last blog, I wrote about Klitgaard’s formula, C=M+D-A, in which the pathway to eliminate corruption.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How to Control Over-the-Counter Corruption

One of the best known simple remedies for corruption has been provided by Robert Klitgaard, an academic and researcher who familiarised himself with how corruption operates in a variety of environment.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Corruption, Hardly ‘Petty’

The daily experiences of corruption that people suffer in their transactions with the government, is often termed ‘Petty’ corruption. It is anything but that. While each bribe, in relative terms m.....

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Blog

A Taxonomy of Corruption

Like diseases and pathogens, it is essential that various types of corruption are identified and classified, based on their characteristics. The analogy with medical care goes further, because differe.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Where do we Stand on Corruption?

As voting begins for a fractious and keenly contested election to the next Lok Sabha, the three ‘C’s that dog India’s political and social milieu, Caste, Communalism and Corruption, again take c.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Simplifying Spatial Planning

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The emerging, wider paradigm of local spatial planning

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A spatial approach to local planning

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Safeguards Needed in the Face of Inevitable Urbanisation

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Kerala Floods: Predicted Result of Accumulated Follies

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Kerala’s Habitation Patterns and Vulnerability to Disasters

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Deforestation in Kerala, the colonial legacy and afterward

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How Kerala was made vulnerable to Natural Disasters

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The first .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Kerala Floods: Disaster resilience and an uncertain future

This blog is part of a series on policy decisions, the causes and consquences of the Kerala floods. The second blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Op Eds

Pull, not push, to open up spending

In the run-up to every budget season, public debate on social sector schemes inevitably turns to the question of the paltry sums allocated. True to script, the question of allocations and potential bu.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Attitudes that block e-Governance

This blog is part of a series on the rollout and progress of e-Governance in India.  Any d.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

'GRASP'ing the Zilla Parishad

This blog is part of a series on the rollout and progress of e-Governance in India.  If on.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

An application that did not go up in smoke – e-Governance and the Tobacco Board

This blog is part of a series on the rollout and progress of e-Governance in India.  My fo.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Spreading of Spreadsheets

This blog is part of a series on the rollout and progress of e-Governance in India.  I fell in love.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

MISRA – and the era of cute acronyms

This blog is part of a series on the rollout and progress of e-Governance in India.  Final.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Whither, e-Governance?

This blog is part of a series on the rollout and progress of e-Governance in India.  Last week, the Government of Karnataka announced that it would make th.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

#2: Whither, e-Governance?

This blog is part of a series on the rollout and progress of e-Governance in India.  I had concluded my .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A bureaucrat’s endeavours bear fruit

This blog is part of a series on leadership in the Indian bureaucracy and is based on the experiences of senior bureaucrats. The previous blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Key to Success in the IAS

This blog is part of a series on leadership in the Indian bureaucracy and is based on the experiences of senior bureaucrats. The previous blog can be found .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A social sector crusader

The break in blogging was because I was confused. My last two blogs were about my colleague in the IAS, .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

An eye for detail

This blog is a continuation of 'Why the Bureaucracy Clicks, and Doesn't' posted last week. You can find it .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Why the Bureaucracy clicks, and doesn’t

A six week drought on the blogging front was not without its compensations; I wandered and connected with people and friends. One of the interesting conversations that I had was on social media gro.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Crafting a Meaningful Measure for Corruption: Some Suggestions

My last three blogs have been a critique of a recent study undertaken in India, which attempted to me.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Useful Measure of Corruption; how it could be designed

If a mere ranking of States on a scale of corruption doesn’t mean anything, what is the solution to the problem of measuring corruption? A check on some of the approaches adopted worldwide, revea.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Measuring People’s Thoughts, or Corrupt Transactions?

I ended my last blog by observing that questionnaires on corruption related surveys are often cut and paste jobs from earlier surveys, w.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Corruption Survey – a Critical Analysis

Recently, the newspapers extensively covered the survey undertaken by the Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi on the prevalence of corruption in India. The Study, titled .....

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Blog

Perceptions and Incidence of Corruption – a Critical Analysis

The Corruption Study 2017 has covered both the perceptions of corruption that citizen.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Rural Housing Wars in Karnataka; the Empire Strikes Back and Gets Shot Down

This is the third part of the Raghu Bytes series on 'Avoiding Accountability'. .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Frontal Assault Turns to Stealth: MLAs Sneak Back

This is the fourth part of the Raghu Bytes series on 'Avoiding Accountability'. .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Law, Technology and Tensions

This is the fifth part of the Raghu Bytes series on 'Avoiding Accountability'. .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Saturation and Collaborative Construction; a Way Out of the Conundrum

This is the sixth part of the Raghu Bytes series on 'Avoiding Accountability'. .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Handbook for Passing on the Blame

The essence of what the government does boils down to two things, in a financial sense, it collects taxes and delivers a basket of services. In today’s day and age, these tasks are no longer usur.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Public Housing Sector - A Case Study of Karnataka

Public Housing is a government service that garners a lot of attention, for several reasons. It is of course, an essential service and hugely important from the perspective of th.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Beneficiary Selection for Housing Programmes

This is the second part of the Raghu Bytes series on 'Avoiding Accountability'. .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Collective Responsibility – or Dilution of Accountability?

In my last blog of 2016, I had asked the question whether there could be a middle path between the imperative of maintaining absolute confidentiality and collective decision making. I had used the.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Making High Policy in Secret

In my last blog, I has asked how policies were actually made in the government. The answer is, they are made confidentially. Or at least, all efforts are made to keep matters con.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Information and Anger

Several research institutions and think tanks in India track expenditure. They tell us that budgets were laid down for this and that, they speak of estimates and revised estimates, they speak of expen.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

False News and Anger

In last week’s blog, I wrote about the challenges of converting information to content that can make people angry, because anger is a great motivator; a call to action. However, there is a flip s.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Incubating and Selling Policy – A Case Study of Demonetisation

Over the last month, the demonetisation saga has been holding centre stage in India. On 8 November, the Prime Minister announced the decision of the government to declare that from that midnight on.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How Open is Open Data?

Even as I was reflecting upon the question as to whether data, when put into the hands of people, would actually lead to greater accountability, I got the opportunity to participate in a workshop on o.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Data, Taxation, Expenditure

Even as I write this blog series on government data transparency, a huge battle rages on the utility or otherwise of the Indian union government’s demonetisation exercise. Without going into the mer.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How Honest is Honest?

Before one sets in place a system of 360 degree appraisal and expects it to work effectively, two pre-requisites have to be in place. First, there must be a shared understanding of what integrity i.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Public Financial Accountability – Who Cares?

I found myself commuting into the city of Bangalore couple of weeks back on a Sunday. It was to join a human chain that would link their hands over a distance of a few kilometres. I had strong feel.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Loneliness of the Ethical

I had ended my blog a fortnight back with a reflection on how difficult it is to maintain an ethical position, when the incentive structures within a society militate against ethical behaviour. The.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Digression into Ethical Dilemmas

Returning from an annual vacation, I was immediately informed that my blog had to resume forthwith. Apparently, the current blog series on confidential reports had generated much interest, and my a.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Ambition, Ethical Dilemmas and the Bureaucracy

One of the reasons why I think that peer reviews and 360 degree appraisals won’t work, is nothing more than my cynicism. The performance appraisal system has undergone several changes over the ye.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Deciding the Wheat from the Chaff – The Bureaucratic Review Process

Because there is very little room at the top in the bureaucracy, there has to be a way to select the best for the top job; a way to separate the wheat from the chaff. The most frequently used metho.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How Commonplace is ‘Outstanding’?

Once a senior officer endures the tedium of commenting on various aspects of the officer’s performance, space is left for her to give her general opinion of the officer being assessed. Even thoug.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Additional Crown

Hierarchies are important in the IAS as anywhere else in the government. It is not only important as a positioning tool within the service, but also to peg oneself against other hierarchies. There.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

No Space at the Top

It is nearing seven years since I quit the cozy confines of the bureaucracy and became a traveling salesperson of decentralisation and anti-corruption. I would be deluding myself if I did not admit.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How Jayan transformed Manickal Grama Panchayat

Jayan, the current vice-President of Manickal Panchayat, is an unusual individual. In Kerala’s politically charged society, he has remained politically independent, though he does get outside sup.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Flowering of Buds

‘You must visit our ‘Buds’ school’, she said. A group of us, members from India of the Local Governance Initiative and Network, LoGIN, were in Kerala on a three day visit to share.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Tales from the Panchayats

The last few weeks has been spent yo-yoing from interactions with policy makers and academia, to visiting local governments and interacting with elected representatives. The latter has been infinit.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Seventeen Signatures

At first sight, this looks like a digression from my continuing tale of the tortuous way in which public expenditure happens in India, but read on.   Last week, a good frie.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Estimating earmarking of funds

It is common for governments to conceive of new schemes at the drop of a hat and then make grandiose pronouncements of the money allocated to these. It is another matter altogether to actually make th.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Following the Money: The PAISA for Panchayats Saga

The Paisa for Panchayats project aimed to track how funds flow into the Panchayats from the State government. We chose the district of Kolar in Karnataka and aimed to find how funds are spent by th.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Expenditures at the Local Level: Untying the Gordian Knot

Getting to know how much money is spent in each panchayat by the government, is easier said than done. At first sight, it might sound a simple thing to meet all officials of the departments concern.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Can the IAS learn Bridging and Adaptive Leadership?

First and foremost, the IAS needs to consciously work on curbing swollen heads within their tribe. By all means, let there be a genuine celebration of the fact that people have cleared a.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Bridging Leadership and the Civil Servant

While some aspects of dysfunctionality within the government system have been built up through several civil-servant driven decisions that go against fundamentally accepted principles of fed.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Wicked problems; financing environmental services

‘Just letting you know, Raghu’, said my friend, a passionate advocate of participative urban planning. ‘Whatever you do, don’t try to solve the stray dog problem’. .....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Imbibing Leadership skills through Institutional Reforms and personal habits

The coming years calls for adopting the new age strategies of bridging leadership and adaptive leadership if civil servants are to make a difference. Training alone cannot make a difference in lead.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The Wicked Problem of Global Warming

Over the last four, somewhat intermittent blogs, I had detailed the initiative taken by the Fourteenth Finance Commission in introducing a new factor, namely the extent and conservation value.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

How Conservation Payments Ought to be Used

As detailed in last week’s blog, the report on ‘High Conservation Value Forests: An Instrument for Effective Forest Fiscal Federalism in India’ suggested the devising of a horizontal fo.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Funding for forest protection – peeping behind the Fourteenth Finance Commission Award.

One good feature of the way India’s Finance Commissions go about their jobs is that once their reports are finalized, they make public the data on which they based their reports, as also the various.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Funding environmental services; fundamental questions or process issues?

My apologies for a break from my weekly blog. After five weeks of skipping my schedule, I resume my series on funding of environmental services. As expected, my blog of five weeks.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

Crafting Policy, the V. Ramachandran Style

Working with the Expert Group on Participatory Planning chaired by Mr. V. Ramachandran was an object lesson in how to craft policy. The group had a mercurial composition and arguments flew t.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

A Role Model Slips Away

It was at a conference in Kerala, probably in 2003 or so, that I first met him. Vijayanand, my friend and fellow traveller on the road to democratic decentralisation, grabbed me by.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Blog

The PAISA Story

‘Let’s meet for lunch’. A decade back, whenever I heard that voice over the phone, it always brought a smile of anticipation. I did enjoy those lunches with my good friend, Yamini A.....

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T.R. Raghunandan

Publication

PAISA for Panchayats Policy Brief

The PAISA for Panchayats research project extends AI’s PAISA methodology to track fund flows and implementations processes at the Panchayat level. By focusing on understanding the state of fiscal de.....

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Publication

PAISA for Panchayats Report

The PAISA for Panchayats research project extends Accountability Initiative’s PAISA methodology to track fund flows and implementations processes at the Panchayat level. By focusing on understanding.....

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Blog

Raghubytes: Too right to be left, too left to be right

(In the first blog of a series titled “Raghubytes”, T.R. Raghunandan offers readers a look at the functioning of the Government Machinery through the eyes of a former bureaucrat.) In 2.....

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T.R. Raghunandan