know How performance-based rankings are shaking up the rigid world of government

The Economic Times, BY ,MALINI GOYAL,  ET BUREAU | UPDATED: JAN 26, 2018

It hurts when you are a laggard. It hurts even more when it is in public display, every month, every week, every embarrassing day. 

Pratyaya Amrit, principal secretary of Bihar's energy department, knows that feeling. In the power sector, like in many others, Bihar is a laggard. It has among the highest AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses in power in the country. "We would be slightly better than Northeastern states," he says. 

The performance has been poor all along. But there is a small change now. "We can now see our status and performance on the national portal in real time, with the latest facts and figures. You can now see desh me aap kahan hai (where you stand in the country). No one wants to be seen as a laggard," he says. The feeling is so strong that the Bihar government and its bureaucratic machinery are working hard to change it. 

Bihar was rushing to complete rural electrification by December 31. It managed to finish it a few days earlier, on December 27, says Amrit, with a tinge of pride. This year, all households, rural and urban, have to be electrified by December-end under the Saubhagya Yojana. Amrit is confident that they will meet the target three months ahead of the schedule. "I see it positively. Competition is a very healthy thing," he says. 

Spurred by the positive impact of competition, the Bihar government is rolling out a slew of internal rankings. Last year, for the first time, the state ranked the education departments of all 38 districts on the basis of parameters like mid-day meal, student attendance and child marriage. It now ranks districts on the "seven resolves" Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has promised its citizens. "Every month he reviews the progress in various districts, with a dashboard streaming live data. It is transparent, healthy and infuses serious internal competition," says Amrit.

Going a step further, the state now wants to rank and grade all banks based on their performance on loan disbursement. Business from the government, like deposits and transactions, will reportedly be influenced by these rankings. 
On Your Marks Bihar isn't alone. Andhra Pradesh is ranking all its tehsils and rolling out its own happiness index to rank its districts. A competitive wave is shaking up the rigid world of government. An intense race is on at virtually every level the government wields control, from cities to panchayats, universities to discoms (power distribution companies). "With 29 states jostling for attention, it whips up the bureaucracy. Ranking is a great tool in public policy," says Vinayak Chatterjee, chairman, Feedback Infra. Agrees Jun Zhang, head (India), International Finance Corporation: "The driving factor is the desire to outrank others. Some of these competitions have led to quality work (by government bodies)."

The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) at the Centre is ranking states on the Ease of Doing Business. Pushing the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is ranking 500 cities to pick the cleanest and dirtiest cities. The Railways is ranking not just railway stations and premier trains but also the zones. The Ministry of Rural Development wants to rank all panchayats. "This idea of competitive federalism is a good thing. This name-shame-and-fame and putting things in public domain infuse a huge sense of competition. People can now see who is performing well, why and who isn't," says Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.




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