Study of a Study about Studies
By Dr Arvind Kumar
Recent
media reports indicate that the Pentagon in US was inundated with so many
studies in 2010 that it commissioned a study to determine how much it cost to
produce all those studies. Now the US Government Accountability Office had
reviewed the Pentagon’s study and concluded in a report in early May this year
that it’s a flop. The study of a study of studies began in 2010 when Defense
Secretary Robert Gates complained that his department was “awash in taskings
for reports and studies.” This
phenomenon is not peculiar to the US administration alone; India also suffers
from this malady wherein precious official resources are drained out on
instituting commissions of inquiry and the reports of such commissions’ gather
dust in the stores. No body cares to find out as to what is the worth of these
recommendations.
This
shows sheer lack of coordination, cooperation and convergence between and
amongst the different departments and ministries dealing with the same subject.
Take the instance of water as a subject, which is state subject. There is a
fulfledged union Ministry of Water Resources to deal with water-related issues.
However, the issue of water is dealt with by about eight other ministries as
well. Huge public funds, manpower and other resources are expended on the same
subject without one knowing as to what is being done by the other. This calls
for inter-sectoral convergence between the departments to tackle the problem
more efficiently and effectively. The present author has been harping on
establishing a central nodal agency to deal with water related issues for the
past four years. Perhaps vested interests are disinclined to allow such a
mechanism to exist.
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