2. Planning Commission
A New Context, A New Vision
ž Away from Command-and-Control
ž Facilitating Reform
ž “An Essay in Persuasion”
ž USD 140 billion spent on flagship
programs in the 11th Plan
ž “U without Q syndrome”
ž USD 250 billion allotted for 12th Plan
ž Need to find ways of bridging the
outlay-outcome gap
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3. 12th Plan: A Learning Plan
from a Learning Organisation
Ø Innovation in recent years has been led
by States, CSOs and PRIs
Ø Facilitate cross-learning across States
to mainstream best practices
Ø Broad rubric
Ø Partnerships
Ø Extending Reform to the Excluded
Ø Public Sector Reform
Ø Devolution
Ø Flexibility
Ø Independent Evaluation (IEO)
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4. New Architecture of Plan Formulation
ž Inclusive process of plan formulation
ž For the first time in the history of the
Planning Commission, all Working
Groups in my sectors chaired and
populated by practitioners and
professionals from PRIs, academia,
industry or civil society
ž Co-chaired by Department Secretaries
ž Consensus arrived at reflects learning
from best practice across States
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5. ü Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT)
Andhra Pradesh, CSOs
ž Massive and growing gap between
IPC and IPU
ž Low water use efficiency
ž Poor O&M of irrigation systems
ž IMT in AP has wiped out losses,
improved WUE
ž NIMF set up to incentivise reform
ž Taking it beyond the engineers
ž Within PRI framework
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6. ü Participatory Aquifer Management
Andhra Pradesh, CSOs
ž Irrigation consumes 80% of India’s water
ž Nearly two-thirds of that is groundwater
ž Which also accounts for 80% domestic water
ž Major crisis of falling water tables and quality
ž National Aquifer Management Programme
initiated in the 12th Plan
ž Based on learnings from FAO-supported, civil
society led program in AP
ž A million farmers taking more rational,
informed decisions on cropping patterns and
groundwater use
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7. ü Breaking Groundwater-Energy Nexus
Gujarat, 7 other States
• 24 x7 electricity
supply to rural
habitants and non
farm users
• Requisite power
provided to schools,
hospitals, non farm
economy.
• 3 phase high quality,
predictable, though
rationed, power to
agriculture
Separation of Power
Feeders
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8. ü Reforms in Watershed Management
MP, Karnataka, CSOs
ž Professionalisation
ž Capacity Building
ž Institution Building
ž Role of Civil Society-PRI partnerships
ž Facilitating Work on Forest Land
ž Smoother Fund Flows
ž Focus on Groundwater
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9. ü Room for the River
Flood Management in Bihar
ž India has over 35,000 km of embankments
ž Experience world-wide shows need to move
away from narrow engineering solutions
ž Bihar will place greater emphasis on
rehabilitation of traditional drainages
ž This involves complex social engineering
ž CSOs will work in partnership with the
State government
ž The 12th Plan endorses this paradigm shift
away from building more and more
embankments towards a “room for the
river” approach based on partnerships
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10. ü Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan
Odisha, CSOs
ž Open defecation biggest national shame
ž Habitation Saturation Approach
ž Demand-driven
ž Led by women
ž Combine Drinking Water and Sanitation
ž Solid and Liquid Waste Management
ž Dramatically higher allocation in 12th
Plan
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11. ü Urban Water and Waste Management
Tiruchirapally, Surat, Udaipur, CSOs
ž Reduce distance water needs to travel
ž Protect and regenerate local water bodies
ž User charges to increasingly cover O&M costs
ž Provide 'lifeline' water free of charge
ž Higher tariffs for increasing levels of use
ž All water schemes to have sewage component
ž Recycle and reuse waste water
ž Biological methods of wastewater treatment
ž Reduce water footprint of Indian industry
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12. ü Legal and Institutional Reforms in Water
Maharashtra
ž National Water Framework Law:
commonly agreed principles of water
management without altering
constitutional position on water
ž Water Regulators based on
experience of MWRRA
ž New Groundwater Bill based on
Public Trust Doctrine enunciated by
the Supreme Court to remove
infirmities created by British
Common Law
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13. ü National Rural Livelihoods Mission
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, CSOs
ž Powerful corporate institutions of the
poor led by women
ž Virtuous cycle of increasing savings,
investment and incomes
ž Improved viability of public sector
banks
ž Large-scale marketing of produce and
purchase of essentials
ž Accountability and transparency in
governance
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14. ü MGNREGA 2.0
Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, CSOs
ž Success of MGNREGA lies in its declining need
ž Majority of workers small and marginal farmers
ž Water security and productivity of farms allows
return to farming and allied livelihoods
ž MGNREGA 2.0 focus on durable asset creation
ž Better systems of recording demand
ž IT to improve efficiency and transparency
ž Strengthen mechanisms of social audit
ž Human resources/civil society support for PRIs
ž Strengthen democracy in Maoist areas
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15. ü Reforming Fund and Information Flows
Bihar and Andhra Pradesh
At Present After the Reform
1. Credit Push
2. Delays in fund flows
3. Corruption
4. Money not available
when needed
5. Opaque file-based
system
6. Large float, wasteful
1. Debit pull
2. Real time transfers
3. Criterion-based
releases
4. Seasonality of work
respected
5. Transparent, trackable
internet-based system
6. Better fiscal
management
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16. Key Elements of these Reforms
1. Principle of Subsidiarity
○ focus on devolution (MDI)
○ empowerment of PRIs (RGPSA)
○ location-specific flexibility (flexi-fund)
2. Strengthening Governance
○ deepening accountability
○ peoples’ empowerment
○ citizens’ participation, especially women
3. Doing away with BPL
○ program specific indicators for program
specific entitlements
4. Converging Departmental Silos
○ overcoming hydro-schizophrenia (drinking
water-irrigation)
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17. 5. Improved Human Resource Quality
ž District Managers empanelled on the basis of
leadership skills, attitude and motivation
ž Local Youth as Community Professionals
ž Incentives for professionals in backward
districts
ž Young Professionals for each Flagship
Program
ž New polycentric curricula to match field
requirements
ž Partnership among Practitioners
(Government and CSOs) and Educational
Institutions
Key Elements of these Reforms
I
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18. Key Elements of these Reforms
6. Mobilising-Managing Knowledge
Resources
ž Knowledge recognised as a critical resource
on par with and distinct from financial and
human resources
ž Value all 3 sources of knowledge:
professional, tacit and people’s knowledge
ž Knowledge Partnerships for each flagship
program
ž Internal Decision Support Systems
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19. Thank You!