Roland Lomme Governance Advisor, India CMU

 The 11 th five-year plan for aims “at bringing about major improvements in governance which would make government-funded programs in critical areas more effective and efficient” by further strengthening local governments and participation of community-based organizations, improving the focus on results and development outcomes, and a scaled-up e-government program for better service delivery. Governance is defined as government’s transparency and accountability, effectiveness and efficiency, fairness and inclusiveness in public services delivery.  In her speech to the Parliament last February, the President of India listed “addressing frontally the concern regarding the lack of probity and integrity in public life” as the second priority of her government for the present fiscal year. She announced “ the formulation of a public procurement policy and enunciation of public procurement standards, review and abolition of discretionary powers enjoyed by Ministers, introduction of an open and competitive system of exploiting natural resources, fast tracking of cases against public servants charged with corruption, and amendments to the relevant laws to facilitate quicker action against public servants”, a reform of electoral financing, the enactment of whistleblowers’ protection and the ratification of the UNCAC.

 Broad characterization/perception rather negative (last TI ranking: 87 out of 178) – but lack of operationality  India fares much better based on more focused and objective performance indicators: ◦ A new indicator of countries’ adherence to the rule of law (the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index) ranks India 9 th among 35 countries on transparency in public affairs and the International Budget Project ranks it 14 th out of 94 in 2010 based on the transparency and accountability of its national budget. ◦ Women political empowerment: 23 rd rank out of 134 (112nd rank on gender gap) according to WEF Gender Gap Report  Using the country’s own risks assessment frameworks: DARPG’s state governance assessment framework and internal control & risk management framework  Avoiding quantitative outcome benchmarks: “The extent of corruption cannot be judged by the number of vigilance cases.” (Vigilance Manual, CVC)

 Recent: performance management system across GoI’s ministries and dpts ; anti-money laundering (India joining the OECD FATF last June) ; e-governance (rolling out of UID since last October) ; enhanced women empowerment in local governments (in 2009 seat reservation increased to 50%) ; mandatory guidelines on corporate governance of CPSU since May 2010 ; revision of NREGA social audits ;  Forthcoming: procurement policy and legal framework ; reform of mining licensing ; whistleblower legal protection ; ratification of UNCAC (strengthening of legal and regulatory anti-corruption regime- asset disclosure, conflict of interest, transparency and social accountability, international cooperation ; stolen asset recovery) ; Lokpal (bill still heatedly debated): for prosecution of public officials including elected (up to the PM) – will it extend to cancellation of license, lease, permission or contract granted illegally, blacklisting of corrupt contractor, grievance redress, whistleblower protection, oversight of asset disclosure by public officials (sanctioned by salary retention) ?

 Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) for Government departments rolled out by the Cabinet Secretariat since September 2009: ◦ New critical accountability indicators mandatory from this year on:  1) identifying and implementing 3 major recommendations of 2 nd ARC  2) identifying potential areas of corruption related to departmental activities and develop an action plan to mitigate them  3) developing an action plan for e-office implementation in the department  4) develop an action plan to implement ISO 9001 certification  5) implementation of social accountability mechanisms (Citizen’s charter and public grievance redressal system to be independently audited)  6) timely submission of Action Taken notes and reports on CAG audit and Public Accounts Committee reports. ◦ Inputs from the Bank welcome to review RFDs ; provide technical assistance to the states for replicating the program at the state level ; advice on strengthening accountability mechanisms at the Union level.  Mandatory Corporate governance guidelines for CPSUs  Transparency: operationalizing RTI Act

 Preventive and punitive vigilance: vigilance manual; vigilance cells ToRs; assessment metrics of performance of CVOs; mandatory template for review of vigilance work; towards a new preventive vigilance framework for corporate entities (SCOPE)  Fiduciary controls: CAG shifting from compliance to performance and social auditing (surveying of public services beneficiaries)  Mainstreaming E-service delivery within 5 to 8 years (E-Service Delivery Bill, 2011)  GoI decision on Recommendations of 2 nd ARC: Mandatory social audits for all programs; Citizen's charter with benchmarks based of end-users feedback, redressal mechanism in case of default and periodic evaluation ; Fool-proof registration of complaints with time schedule for response and resolution, compliance monitoring and evaluation and review for mitigation of systemic causes of public grievances ; Citizens' report card  Guilelines on Client’s Charters and Public Grievance Redress Mechanisms from DARPG N.B. One missing item: a governance framework for NGO/CSO. " Civil society is a very poor term that conceals more than it reveals. In a country like India, where there are so many fundamental divides of class and caste, the term is even less appropriate." Aruna Roy

 Right to Service (MP Public Services Guarantee Act, Bihar): sanctioning service delays (power & water connection, granting of legal documents and social allowances, etc.); Chhattisgarh online PDS-won award for Process Re-engineering; Orissa Modernizing Government Initiative (an umbrella institutional framework for cross cutting and department specific reforms).  Procurement reforms  Grievance redress: Lokayuktas ; Gujarat SWAGAT (CM awarded 2010 UN Public Service Award)  Social accountability: directorate social audits in Rajasthan & AP ; e-transparency (on-line filing of RTI application in Bihar); Community-based monitoring of NRHM of the performance of District Health Officers and other medical officers at local level; Social media: reporting traffic violation to Delhi traffic police on facebook  Decentralization/local governance: promoting convergence and institutional checks and balances rather than interagency competition

 Overcoming the challenge of engaging clients on governance issues: “the reticence on the part of Indian clients, so far, to engage with the Bank on addressing broader systems strengthening and on the larger Governance and Anti- corruption (GAC) agenda” mentioned in progress report on DIR action plan, September 2009  By operationalizing Bank counterparts’ governance requirements & agenda  Leveraging the country’s own accountability institutions and mechanisms