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Amitabh Kant | File photo (Photo: PTI)
What is the main obstacle to India’s growth? It is not a lack of resources but rather a failure of governance, said Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog. He said he strongly believes in data because it can drive development and growth through a competitive setup. “I’m a big fan of real-time data and ranking. I’m a big supporter of naming and shaming people and telling them they perform badly and I’m a big supporter of rewarding those who perform well on data. Each scheme of the Indian government should reserve a minimum of 33% for those who do well, â€Kant said. He was speaking at the launch of IIM-A’s public discussion series on public policy issues titled India 2031: The Decade of Transformation on November 11.
Kant said it would not be possible for a country with poor learning, health and nutrition outcomes to grow very quickly. “I think it is not possible for India to grow at high rates over a long period of time without focusing on learning outcomes and health outcomes. And more importantly, nutrition – you cannot develop a nation where one in two women is anemic or one in three children is stunted. It is not possible. It is not because of lack of resources – we are spending a lot of money. resources – this is governance failure. We still operate in silos and fail to converge, “said the retired ICD officer.
Kant said it has become easier to compare or track the progress of a district thanks to the availability of real-time data. “India has now been able to create the basic framework called the Indiastat where everyone has a biometric database, cell phones and a bank account. When I was a district collector and I didn’t didn’t know if my district was going up or down – there was no data available. All that existed about 5 years ago. Now it is possible for you to be able to capture data. I firmly believe to the fact that governance in this country can improve on the basis of good data. If you are able to access the data in real time and put it in the public domain they will run. We put the data on face the district collector and tell them how they work… even better than non-ambitious districts, â€he added.
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