UPA tucks away key report cards from public domain

Two report cards of Central ministries that the UPA had promised in 2009 are ready but the government is fighting shy of putting the score-cards in public domain.

Two report cards of Central ministries that the UPA had promised in 2009 are ready but the government is fighting shy of putting the score-cards in public domain.

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The system to monitor performance of central ministries was initiated in 2009 on orders of PM Manmohan Singh, a first of its kind initiative in India to improve the government's efficiency by building accountability into the system.

The scheme requires ministries to declare their objectives at the beginning of the financial year and then, assess their performance against the stated objectives and deduct marks for slipping on deadlines.

A key element of the project - inspired by management guru Peter Drucker's principle, "what gets measured, gets done" - was to make the report card public as soon as they were placed before the Cabinet.

The third report card, for 2011-2012, will be finalised a few weeks after the UPA government unveils its annual "Report to the People" on Tuesday that will expectedly showcase the government's achievements.

But worries over potential embarrassment to ministries - and by default, ministers - whose departments have a low score have prompted the Centre to tuck away the report cards for two years.

In response to a request for the report cards under the information law, GS Panwar, under secretary at the Cabinet Secretariat refused to release the marks sheet on grounds that the "process of placing the matter before the cabinet is yet to be completed". The RTI Act exempts Cabinet papers.

Prajapati Trivedi, secretary, performance management division, didn't respond to a questionnaire that asked why the cabinet secretariat had overshot its own timeline.

However, Trivedi had earlier stressed on making the report card public "if they are to have any effect on behaviour of the people getting evaluated".