India’s first independent evaluation office (IEO) was formally launched on Wednesday. The office is mandated to suggest radical changes in the government’s social sector initiatives, as well as in its interface with the private sector through public-private partnership projects.
The IEO, modelled on the lines of Mexico’s National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, will give its first report on the public distribution system (PDS) and maternal mortality in three-four months.
“We are working on government programmes — the PDS and the programme to reduce maternal mortality. We will submit our interim report on the two programmes this summer,” Ajay Chhibber, director-general of the IEO, told reporters.
In 2010, the Union Cabinet had approved setting up IEOs to undertake impartial and objective assessment of various public programmes and improve the effectiveness of public interventions.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was present at the launch, said the body would help improve the effectiveness of flagship schemes and other government programmes. Asked whether the IEO would have elected members on its board, as was the case in other countries, Ahluwalia said the IEO was a new concept in India and would evolve in time.
The IEO is an independent office attached to the Planning Commission, under a governing board chaired by the commission’s deputy chairman. It is funded by the commission and is headed by a full-time director-general, with the status of a minister of state. The IEO also advises the commission and implementing agencies in matters relating to developing appropriate management systems, consistent with evaluation objectives.
