Institutions and Public Policy - Reflections on CBPS@25

The roots of this decentralisation go back to the Royal Commission on Decentralisation of 1907, where the phrase, ‘institutions of local self government’ (under the supervision and control of a civil servant) was first used in the context of Indian policy making. [...] It showed us the importance of moving on from the ‘input’ information that budgets gave us to the ‘outcome’ of the expenditure and a follow up direction of work. [...] We learned the importance of the audit process, and how the Comptroller and Auditor General works with the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament. [...] If there is any delay in the presentation to Parliament of the CAG reports from the President’s Office, the data often become out of date, and accountability becomes academic. [...] The unstated, implicit assumption is that the saving has been achieved by greater efficiency in the execution of schemes; this is far from the truth.