Subject: Governance

Thought partnership between government and the external players can aid in informed policymaking. The article deals with these issues and suggest forging of more of such partnerships. 

Government working together with external partners

• Policymaking requires multiple rounds of consultations and co-working with different entities, including collaboration between the government and external partners.
• Over the last few years, there has been increasing evidence of the government and external partners working together on complex policy problems.
• The government has formalized the induction of private individuals into the system by opening up lateral entry.
• Several central government ministries and entities, such as NITI Aayog, routinely recruit private individuals as consultants, officers on special duty, or young professionals.
• Given the staggering vacancies in the central government, such support is critical since civil servants are generally overburdened and under-resourced.

What is thought partnership and how it works

• Thought partnerships are a structured mechanism for private entities to lend relevant strategic expertise to the government on policy design, evaluation, and implementation.
• It is also not always feasible for the government itself to fund projects involving private partners, more so when such projects are unconventional thought partnerships.
• Several domestic and international philanthropies and impact investing firms are already investing in critical sectors in developing countries including India.
• However, much of this funding goes into supporting projects or interventions that work in limited, contextual settings rather than systemic or sectoral transformation programs.
• It is here that philanthropies and impact investing firms can make a huge difference.

Past thought partnerships

• In 2005, the Ashok Lahiri Committee report stated that there was not enough knowledge about external capital flows and controls in India.
• The committee’s recommendation resulted in the establishment of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Department of Economic Affairs research program.
• The program led to the creation of a rich body of world-class research on capital controls and flows in India that was used to inform government policy on the matter.
• In 2015, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs constituted a research secretariat headed by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, to support the Companies Law Committee to make “informed decisions”.
• The National Institute of Financial Management is working with the Department of Economic Affairs to provide legal research and technical assistance on Indian and foreign financial markets, policy analysis, formulation as well as the conduct of impact assessment studies on decisions taken by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Consider the question “What is thought partnership and how it could help in making informed policymaking? What are the challenges in forging thought partnerships?”

Conclusion

It is in the public interest that more thought partnerships are forged and funded to channel external expertise and skills towards finding scalable solutions to the pressing policy challenges the country faces.

The article suggests the ways to make the most of the data collected through Census and the SECC.

Census and issues with it

• The synchronous decennial Census has evolved over time and has been used by the government, policymakers, academics, and others.
• Though Census is both a data collection effort and a technique of governance, it is criticized for not being useful enough for a detailed and comprehensive understanding of a complex society.
•  There is a lack of depth in the Census where some issues are concerned.

The debate around full-scale Caste Census

• Since Independence, aggregated Census data on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on certain parameters such as education have been collected.
• There is a growing demand for a full-scale caste census to capture contemporary Indian society and to understand and remedy inequalities.
• While others believe that this large administrative exercise of capturing caste and its complexities is not only difficult but also socially untenable.
• There have been concerns that counting caste may help solidify or harden identities, or that caste may be context-specific, and thus difficult to measure.
• The other concern is whether an institution such as a caste can even be captured completely by the Census.

Socio-Economic Caste Census: how it is different from Census

• Following debate over full-scale caste census, the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was conducted in 2011.
• The SECC, which collected the first figures on caste in Census operations since 1931, is the largest exercise of the enumeration of caste.
• Questions remain on whether the SECC is able to cover the effects of caste as an aspect of Indian social structure.
• This was a distinct exercise from the Census of 2011.
• The Census and the SECC have different purposes.
• Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas the SECC data is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.
• The Census thus provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.

Way forward

• What is needed is a discussion on the caste data that already exists, how it has been used and understood by the government.
• Linking and syncing aggregated Census data to other large datasets such as the National Sample Surveys or the National Family Health Surveys that cover issues that the Census exercises do not, such as maternal health, would be significant for a more comprehensive analysis.
• This linking of the Census with the National Sample Survey data has been suggested in the past by scholars such as Mamta Murthi and colleagues.
• Census operations across the world are going through significant changes, employing methods that are precise, faster, and cost-effective, involving coordination between different data sources.
• Care must however be taken to ensure that digital alternatives and linking of data sources involving Census operations are inclusive and non-discriminatory, especially given the sensitive nature of the data being collected.
• Delay in the release of data needs to be reduced.
• There needs to be a closer and continuous engagement between functionaries of the Census and SECC, along with academics and other stakeholders concerned.

Consider the question “How Socio-Economic and Caste Census is different from the Census? How linking and syncing of  these data with other databases could help in the governance?”

Conclusion

Data collected through both the exercises serve an important purpose in the governance of the country, however, there is scope to widen the use of data if the steps suggested here are implemented.

The article highlights the various provision of RERA and its overall impact on the sector.

How it changed the real estate sector

• Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) was enacted in 2016 and it had been in the works for more than a decade.
• RERA has infused governance in a hitherto unregulated sector.
• Along with demonetization and GST, it has, to a large extent, cleansed the real estate sector of black money.
• It has transformational provisions, conscientiously addressing issues that have been a constant bane for the sector.

Important provisions of RERA

• The Act stipulates that no project can be sold without project plans being approved by the competent authority and the project is registered with the regulatory authority.
• This provision ended the practice of selling on the basis of deceitful advertisements.
• Promoters are required to maintain “project-based separate bank accounts” to prevent fund diversion.
• The mandatory disclosure of unit sizes based on “carpet area” strikes at the root of unfair trade practices.
• The provision for payment of “equal rate of interest” by the promoter or the buyer in case of default reinforces equity.
• These and many other provisions have empowered consumers, rectifying the power asymmetry prevalent in the sector.

How RERA is an effort in cooperative federalism

• Though the Act has been piloted by the Central government, the rules are to be notified by state governments.
• The regulatory authorities and the appellate tribunals are also to be appointed by them.
• The regulatory authorities are required to manage the day-to-day operations, resolve disputes, and run an active and informative website for project information.
• Since RERA came into full force, 34 states and Union territories have notified the rules, 30 states and Union territories have set up real estate regulatory authorities and 26 have set up appellate tribunals.
• The operationalization of a web-portal for project information, which is at the heart of ensuring full project transparency, has been operationalized by 26 regulatory authorities.
• Around 60,000 projects and 45,723 real estate agents have been registered with regulatory authorities.
• Twenty-two independent judicial officers have been appointed to redress consumer disputes, and 59,649 complaints have been disposed-off.

Consider the question “What were the various problems faced by the consumers in real estate sector? How various provisions in RERA helped in the protection of consumers’ interests?” 

Conclusion

RERA is to the real estate sector what SEBI is to the securities market. It helped consumers from the various malpractices in the real estate sector.