Paris

Understanding Local Dynamics and Tracking Fraud/Corruption in NREGS: Notes from the 2nd field visit.

Continuing with our study on Social Audits in NREGS in Andhra Pradesh, I visited the Medak and Papannapet Mandals in March. The study aims to analyse the efficacy of the social audits as a platform to capture the universe of complaints and whether it leads to effective grievance redressal.  My part in the study is to … Continue reading "Understanding Local Dynamics and Tracking Fraud/Corruption in NREGS: Notes from the 2nd field visit."

Paris

Teacher Absence, The result of prioritising inputs over outcomes

Teacher absence in India’s government schools is a well documented problem. Since the late 1990s, a number of independent studies such as the Public Report on Basic Education (1999 and 2009) and  Kremer, Muralidharan et al’s 2004 World Bank report on teacher and health worker absence in developing countries have conducted surveys which assessed the … Continue reading "Teacher Absence, The result of prioritising inputs over outcomes"

Paris

Do Gram Panchayats get their money?

It was exactly nineteen years ago, on April 24, 1993, that the Constitution (73rd Amendment Act), 1992, came into force. Two decades have passed since then but efforts to devolve real powers to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have been limited. Various reports have indicated that fiscal devolution has lagged behind functional devolution, making the … Continue reading "Do Gram Panchayats get their money?"

Paris

What is the Per Child Expenditure in Government Schools?

Ambrish Dongre, Accountability Initiative The Supreme Court, in its landmark judgment, upheld the constitutional validity of a controversial provision in the Right to Education (RTE) Act- reservation of at least 25% of admissions in  class I / the entry level, ‘for children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups in the neighborhood, and provide free … Continue reading "What is the Per Child Expenditure in Government Schools?"

Paris

Open Government Platform – A few thoughts on it

Laina Emmanuel, Accountability Initiative On 30th March 2012, I attended the release of the Open Government Platform (OGPL) in New Delhi. Launched by Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Human Resource Development, GOI, this platform is a “A joint effort from India and the United States to promote transparency and … Continue reading "Open Government Platform – A few thoughts on it"