Does India need a PAIS?

Better and more effective Planning of government expenditures has many elements. Some of the elements of planning that need improvement have been discussed in this note. These include clearer definition of program outputs and outcomes and detailed operational plans for achieving these goals. With the availability of new technology, government management information systems and public accountability can be vastly improved. The paper proposes a Public accountability information system (PAIS), with a web enabled public information system and a smart card recording all the benefits that the poor are entitled to receive through government programs. This would empower the poor, particularly in rural and remote areas, by converting entitlements into a financial right – a virtual credit/debit card based on government funds. If implemented sincerely, with inevitable modifications and adaptations arising out of implementation experience, this can help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government expenditure over the next five years.

-PLANNING FOR RESULTS: The Public Accountability Information System
Working Paper No. 1/2007-PC, India National Planning Council Working Paper

Expenditure Tracking in India

The connection between release of funds by the Central Government and actual expenditures for physical inputs by the implementing agencies is
currently, very obscure

We highly recommend the Report of the Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects, the chapter on Expenditure Information Network.

Recent Reports - Indian Government

Report of the Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects

Public Debt Management


Report of the Working Group on Foreign Investment in India

Outcome Budget

India's Independent Evaluation Office

The Union Cabinet today approved the establishment of an Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) to undertake impartial and objective assessment of the various public programmes and improve the effectiveness of public interventions. This is in pursuance of the Presidential address to the Joint Session of both Houses of Parliament in June, 2009 to establish an Independent Evaluation Office at an arms' distance from the Government to assess the outcomes and impact of the major flagship programmes of the Government of India.

The IEO will be an independent office attached to the Planning Commission under a Governing Board chaired by the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. It will be funded by the Planning Commission and will have, as its head, a full-time Director General (DG) in the rank and status of Member, Planning Commission. It will have full functional autonomy to discharge its functions. The IEO will also advise the Planning Commission and the implementing agencies in developing appropriate management systems consistent with the evaluation objectives.

Planning Commissions should disappear as countries develop?

South Africa I guess is an exception- their recent green paper on the newly established Planning Commission;

What will the role of National Planning Commission be?

* Lead the development (and periodic review) of a draft Vision 2025 (“South Africa Vision 2025”) and long –term national strategic plan for approval by Cabinet (first plan 2010)
* Lead investigations into critical long term trends under the supervision of the Minister in the Presidency for the National Planning Commission, with technical support from a Secretariat and in partnership with relevant other parties
* Advise on key issues such as food security, water security, energy choices, economic development, poverty and inequality, structure of the economy, human resource development, social cohesion, health, defense capabilities and scientific progress
* Assist with mobilizing society around a national vision and other tasks related to strategic planning
* Contribute to reviews of implementation or progress in achieving the objectives of the National Plan
* Contribute to the development of international partnerships and networks of expertise on planning

Related:
Development of central fiscal institutions;

Planning ministries are quite common in developing countries, but become less common as countries develop. Across the world, there has been a shift from traditional detailed planning, as reflected in 5-year plans and similar instruments, towards strategic coordination. This coordination is increasingly done by finance ministries or by prime ministers’ offices. This is often accompanied by a gradual integration of planning, strategy development and budgeting into a single, coordinated process, and a unified, strategic budget document. Planning ministries were often involved in project preparation, but this function is shifted to line ministries as their capacity develop

Fiscal Risks: Sources, Disclosure and Management
Ministries of Finance in Small, Developing Economies – Their Role and Structure

South Africa: Restructuring of the Ministry of Finance: A Case Study

Who is Chalmers Johnson?

The idea of the Developmental State is most closely associated with Chalmers Johnson and his seminal analysis of Japan’s very rapid, highly successful post-war reconstruction and reindustrialization. Johnson’s central contention was that Japan’s quite remarkable and historically unparalleled industrial renaissance was neither a fluke nor inevitable, but a consequence of the efforts of a Developmental State. A developmental state was one that was determined to influence the direction and pace of economic development by directly intervening in the development process, rather than relying on the uncoordinated influence of market forces to allocate resources. The developmental state took it upon itself the task of establishing substantive social and economic goals with which to guide the process of development and social mobilization. The most important of these goals, in Japan’s case, of course was the reconstruction of its industrial capacity, a process made easier by widespread consensus about the importance of industrial development.
The emphasis has to be placed on the influence over the direction and pace of development by directly intervening in the development process, rather than relying on the uncoordinated influence of market forces.

- Address by the Minister in The Presidency: National Planning Commission, Trevor Manuel, at the Wits Graduate School of Public Development Management

For Discussion: Where's South Africa heading?

Planning Commissions are supposed to disappear

Now South Africa's incoming President Jacob Zuma is moving Manuel to a new job, a cabinet-level post heading a National Planning Commission (NPC) that is key to Zuma's plans for overhauling much-criticised public services.

"The NPC will be responsible for strategic planning for the country to ensure one national plan to which all spheres of government would adhere," Zuma said in announcing the change.

"This would enable us to take a more comprehensive view of socio-economic development in the country."

Manuel's successor at the finance ministry, former tax boss Pravin Gordhan, is also a respected figure credited with improving tax collection during his time at the helm of the revenue service...

Appointed Nelson Mandela's finance minister without any formal economics training in 1996 at the age of 40, the trained civil engineer announced a budget surplus a decade later -- the first in 30 years.

Stringent fiscal policies under his watch are also credited with steering South Africa's banks safely through the global meltdown.

But while widely applauded, Manuel has not shied from unpopular choices and has frequently raised the ire of South Africa's powerful political left who criticise his tight controls over the budget and views on inflation targeting.

-Manuel handed S.Africa planning commission post

For Discussion: What do you think of the creation of this new planning commission in South Africa? In terms of PEFA ranking for medium term fiscal planning, the country gets a B grade- not a bad score?

Related; Development of central fiscal institutions;

Planning ministries are quite common in developing countries, but become less common as countries develop. Across the world, there has been a shift from traditional detailed planning, as reflected in 5-year plans and similar instruments, towards strategic coordination. This coordination is increasingly done by finance ministries or by prime ministers’ offices. This is often accompanied by a gradual integration of planning, strategy development and budgeting into a single, coordinated process, and a unified, strategic budget document. Planning ministries were often involved in project preparation, but this function is shifted to line ministries as their capacity develop. Macroeconomic forecasting is often transferred to the emerging macrofiscal and macroeconomic departments in the finance ministries, and statistics are increasingly produced by independent statistics agencies.

The Long Run

The DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme 2007 - 2036

Budget Circular Beauty Contest

The Winner is Kosova.

Budget Circular

MTEF

Law on Public Finance

Law on SOEs

Transition and Public Management assorted

Presidential Management Capacity to Respond to 21st Century Challenges

Governing with Foresight: Institutional Changes to Enhance Fact-Based Decision-Making in the Executive Office of the President

Making Big Plans