Not an easy task
Context :
Niti Aayog to conduct household survey to assess impact and outreach of central Schemes
( ET - 02 June 2022 )
Extract :
The Development, Monitoring & Evaluation Office under Niti Aayog will soon start a comprehensive household survey to evaluate the impact and outreach of key central sector schemes (CS) and centrally-sponsored schemes (CSS) amounting to an annual allocation of over ₹11 lakh crore.
The exercise is expected to be completed before the next fiscal year following which DMEO will propose the necessary changes to the CS and CSS to prevent leakages and ensure that the scheme benefits go to the targeted individuals
"The idea is to evaluate the success of these schemes on the ground. This kind of survey will help prevent leakages and improve efficiency in the implementation of these schemes in future while ensuring benefits reach to the people who deserve the most," the official added.
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The exercise is also aimed at giving flexibility to states in implementation of these schemes by reducing proliferation of such schemes.
Some of the big-ticket schemes to be evaluated include :
# Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,
# Ayushman Bharat,
# National Social Assistance Programme and
# Food and fertiliser subsidy, among others.
MY TAKE :
I suppose there are dozens of CS / CSS schemes
And there must be millions of “ households “ ( out of our estimated 290 million – 2900 Lakh households ), whose ( family ) members “ qualify / are
eligible “ to receive the benefits of one or more of these Schemes
In fact, different members of a given family may be “ eligible / entitled “ to benefits under different schemes
It is obvious that, while framing any CS / CSS scheme, the Govt must have laid down very STRINGENT / SPECIFIC “ criteria of eligibility “
With this background, I believe conducting SURVEY of mere 1 LAKH households may not yield any meaningful insights ( even considering a well-designed
Statistical sampling plan )
Is DMEO planning a survey of only those households , which ( whose some or other member ) are already EXISTING RECEPIENTS ( beneficiaries ) of some
or other CS – CSS scheme ?
This assumption looks possible since ( I am sure ), Govt must have an elaborate / detailed / comprehensive DATABASE of the existing beneficiaries of
each scheme, in order to effect DBT ( Direct Benefit Transfer to their Bank Accounts ) – as per recent transfer of Rs 2000 / - each to 10 Crore farmers (
which might include some who are really NOT eligible / do not qualify )
But what about those 289.9 Million ( 2899 LAKH ) households which will be LEFT OUT of this survey ?
These “ non – covered “ households could well contain MILLIONS of citizens who meet ALL the “ Eligibility Criteria “ ( for some or other scheme ) – but
they do not have awareness of the existence of these Schemes
Or be aware of the fact that they possess ALL the “ Eligibility Criteria “ for X – Y – Z scheme
POSER :
Is there a better way to collect such data ( number of eligible citizens out of 137 Crore ) ?
ANSWER :
Surely
Next year Govt is staring the ALL INDIA CENSUS exercise to cover all 137 crore citizens
Apart from the fact that it will be carried out using a Mobile App, it is likely to contain following “ data – fields “ which were in the last ( 2011 ) paper-
based CENSUS FORM ( seems no “ Eligibility Criteria “ is left out ! ) :
SIDE A
1 ……….. Name
2 ……….. Relationship with Head
3 ………. Sex
4 ………. Date of Birth / Age
5 ………. Current Marital Status
6 ……… Age at marriage
7 ……… Religion
8 ………. SC / ST
9 ………. Disability
10 ………… Mother Tongue
11 ……….. Other languages known
12 ……….. Literacy Status
13 …………Status of Attendance ( in Education Institutions )
14 ………… Highest Education attained
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SIDE B
15 ………. Workers and Non-Workers
# 1…. Main Worker [ if worked for 6 months or more ]
# 2…. Marginal Worker [ worked for 3 months or more but less than 6 months ]
# 3…. Worked for less than 3 months
# 4…. Non-Worker [ if not worked at all ]
16………….. Category of Economic Activity
# 1….. Cultivator
# 2….. Agricultural Labourer
# 3….. Worker in Household Industry
# 4…… Other worker
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ONLY FOR 16#3 AND 16#4
17 …………..Occupation …………………. ( Describe the actual work )
18 …………… Nature of Industry-Trade-Service ( Where the person works / worked or Self-Employed )
19 …………….Class of Worker …………………………. ( Give code from list below )
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ONLY FOR 15#2 / 15#3 / 15#4
20 ……………. Non-Economic Activity [ give code from list below ]
21 ……………..Seeking or Available for Work [ YES / NO ]
=============================
22 …………… Fill for Marginal worker / Non Worker [ Travel distance to place of work – one
23 …………… Birth Place
24 ……………. Migration Characteristics
25 ………….. Reason for Migration
26…………… Duration of Stay
27 ……………..Children surviving
28 ………………Children ever born
29 ………………No of children born alive during last one year
Name of Respondent [ 3 digit Serial Number ]
Signature / Thumb impression of respondent / Date
Signature of Enumerator / Date
Sex of Enumerator { M / F }
Signature of Supervisor with Date
To these ( data fields ), I had suggested adding the following :
{ source : Census 2021 : an Unprecedented Opportunity / 11 Apr 2019 }
# Aadhar ID
# PAN
# Mobile Phone Number
# E Mail ID– to be treated as “ User ID “ for accessing own data for EDIT purpose
# Password – for EDITING own data, online , at any time
# Voter ID
URGENCY :
My suggestion assumes URGENCY given the fact that only yesterday, BIHAR government passed a resolution to carry out a STATE-LEVEL Census ( of State
Citizens ) for determining OBC – SC – ST population
{ Refer : Explained: What is the caste-based census announced in Bihar by Nitish Kumar? / 01 June 2022 }
IF IMPLEMENTED, THIS IS BOUND TO SIMILAR STATE-LEVEL CENSUSES IN ALL OUR STATES
This nightmare could lead to :
# Widely differing “ Data Fields “ in Census Forms of different States
# Non-capture of ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
# Non-inclusion of some of the 2633 “ castes / sub castes “ under umbrella named OBC
# A person of one State migrating to another State may turn “ In-eligible “ for a scheme
# Huge expense and manpower costs , spread over months / years
# Because of widely differing DATA-BASES ( of States Censuses ), no chance of “ Aggregating “
Dear NITI Aayog,
I urge you to :
Ø Give up the idea of DMEO survey
Ø Persuade States to give up their idea of State-level OBC census
Ø Persuade Centre / States to have just ONE / CENTRAL / NATIONAL census
With regards,
Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 03 June 2022
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