If it is broke, fix it!
They say ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, meaning leave alone anything that is working fine. But if something is broken, it would be unwise not to fix it. Unlike in the west, we do not have a throw-away culture; from Apple Macs and Blackberrys to mixer grinders and umbrellas, everything is repaired. But, […]
Comprehensive Government Finance Architecture – the Australian Example
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” ~ Abraham Lincoln The Financial Rules, the Treasury Rules/Code, the Accounting Codes and the Civil Services Rules broadly provide internal controls in the Government of India and the state governments. These rules and codes comprise basic […]
Conflict of Interest – The Bottom Line
The Asian Development Bank defines corruption quite concisely as ‘abuse of public office for personal gain’. Conflict between personal interest and the public interest is implicit in all incidents of corruption. Any corrupt act invariably compromises the larger public interest. Whether it is the frauds in Commonwealth Games, the allocation of 2G, denotification of government […]
The Cost effectiveness of Radio Programs in Primary Schools of Karnataka
Centre for Budget and Policy Studies recently undertook a study called Cost effectiveness of the Radio Programs in the state of Karnataka. This blog has been written from experiences the author had while conducting the impact evaluations of the Radio programs in 20 schools of Karnataka. Radio Programs (Interactive Radio Instructions) have been the chosen […]
The Incentive Mechanisms of the Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY) – Are They Geared for Service Delivery? The Case of Karnataka
This article was written after the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies completed a household survey in the district of Shimoga in Karnataka in November 2010. The team had been interacting with various stakeholders – the department of labour, the insurance company, the district officers, hospital administrators and the beneficiaries of the scheme over the […]
The Elephant in the Insurance Controversy Room
I have been witness to many instances where hospitals overcharge as soon as they know you hold an insurance policy. A friend of mine was charged around Rs 250/- for a simple Out Patient Discharge because she happened to mention she had insurance. If she hadn’t, it could not have cost more than Rs 100/- […]
Ensuring Women’s Representation in Parliament and State Legislatures
The proposal to reserve one-third of the seats in Parliament and the state assemblies for women has passed in the Rajya Sabha, but has stalled in the Lok Sabha. The opponents of the Bill want ‘quotas within quotas’. But this is a polite way of opposing the Bill. The men are worried about having a […]