Development in a democratic country is entailed with sensitivity. Every government tries to come up in sequence of five years with the objective of ‘do or die’ for developing the country. But this may or may not be fruitful. There might be a chance of defusing its agenda, rather becoming a deterrent force against the initiatives of the previous government. That is why an independent monitoring mechanism of the ongoing development is needed so as to ascertain it more prominently. Further, development is not necessarily confined to mere exploitation of scarce natural resources. It might be the kind of peace and happiness, security and services, health and wellness, education and wisdom, or innovation and research. Clearly, the modus operandi of development should not be the precursor of a climatic crisis. However, creating infrastructures for all types of connectivity and job avenues in manufacturing and productivity sectors is one of the prime concerns of development for which focusing on ‘projectology’ is sought to be discussed briefly in the beginning.
As discussed elsewhere, a project is a specific activity on which money is spent in the expectation of returns.It has a specific objective, and has a specific geographical location and would serve a group of population. To eliminate exhaustive mechanism of monitoring and evaluation, the project phases are to be observed and preserved seriously. The phases are: i) project identification, ii) project preparation or formulation which is inclusive of preliminary and feasibility studies, iii) project appraisal, iv) negotiation, v) project approval, vi) detailed project planning, vii) project implementation, viii) project monitoring and control, and ix) project evaluation. So, the Detailed Project Report (DPR) will speak the fate of the project’s success. An effective monitoring and evaluation system should prevail in the backdrop of governance mechanism.
Before identifying correct tools for monitoring and evaluation, let us recall the above phases briefly. The first phase of the project is concerned with identifying projects which have high priority, possibility to finance the project, and the government and the users are interested in the project. These projects must also meet a prima facie test of feasibility, i.e., it is viable from the technical and financial point of view. The cost of the project should be less than the expected benefits. Next phase after identification of the project is the project formulation phase. This is an important phase and decides whether the project should be executed or not. In project appraisal phase, feasibility report is examined by different agencies from their respective view. The government agencies give more emphasis on socio-economic aspects, while the financial institution will critically examine its technical feasibility and financial viability along with managerial competence of the organization undertaking the project. Thus, after negotiation, if any, the project is approved for implementation subject to having proper planning of resource mobilization and utilization including scheduling drawn in ‘network techniques’. But the real task that comes into play immediately is project monitoring and control. It is a systematic procedure to collect and analyse information related to the project. The monitoring provides timely information and feedback to the management regarding vital stages in project implementation. Periodic feedback on the progress of the project helps the management to know the achievement and compare it with the other targets in order to take appropriate steps for proper implementation of it. As a corrective step, the management can correct the lagging time schedule, synchronize with other related activities and indentify other slippages and take remedial measures.
Efficiency of the monitoring and control depends upon the efficiency and effectiveness of the information system. For taking corrective measures, there is a need for fast and meaningful data collection, its analysis and dissemination. For the purpose of fast data collection, latest techniques, including drones are appeared to be more powerful. In broad sense, monitoring means control of performance/cost/time (P/C/T). Therefore, these elements (P/C/T) must be reported in a way that ties them all together. Some methods of project reporting are: i) integrated P/C/T charts, ii) financial schedules and variance reports, iii) time scale network plans and iv) problems and there analysis. Reports in the form of graphics and tabular statements are preferred rather than statement in grammatical structure. Finally, projects are evaluated and their performance audit is done with the idea of gaining experience for subsequent projects in their identification, preparation and appraisal. Also, the idea of evaluation is that, past mistakes are not repeated and new approaches, policies, and procedures are adopted to improve the project performance, reduce cost overruns and implementation delays. The popular control techniques called ‘network techniques’ which should have devised in DPR for civil and mechanical projects are: critical path method (CPM), ii) programme evaluation and review technique (PERT) and iii) resource allocation and multi-project scheduling (RAMPS).
The NITI Aayog has endeavoured with de novo attitude of project appraisal followed by monitoring and evaluation mechanism. But this concept is yet to scatter well to the States. Every department in the State Secretariat should have a set of three consultants in hierarchical structure (Junior-Assistant-Senior) to effect the project appraisal and development monitoring and evaluation.
How can we supplement the monitoring mechanism to prevent haphazard encroachment and illegal construction? The very local agency of the government other than the local representative of the people is the police station equipped with comprehensive logistic. Can they be instrumental to make a question to the suspicious stakeholder in that locality, whether the construction is permitted? For more details to view approved permission plan, an infantry technical person may be assigned in each police station. It will reduce hazardous planning, living and resource mobilization. Police is very much active and praiseworthy in breakdown action. Can we plan to make the police force efficient for preventive action?
The NITI Aayog has endeavoured with de novo attitude of project appraisal followed by monitoring and evaluation mechanism. But this concept is yet to scatter well to the States. Every department in the State Secretariat should have a set of three consultants in hierarchical structure (Junior-Assistant-Senior) to effect the project appraisal and development monitoring and evaluation.
How can we supplement the monitoring mechanism to prevent haphazard encroachment and illegal construction? The very local agency of the government other than the local representative of the people is the police station equipped with comprehensive logistic. Can they be instrumental to make a question to the suspicious stakeholder in that locality, whether the construction is permitted? For more details to view approved permission plan, an infantry technical person may be assigned in each police station. It will reduce hazardous planning, living and resource mobilization. Police is very much active and praiseworthy in breakdown action. Can we plan to make the police force efficient for preventive action?
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