The P Path to Process Policies

Follow the “P”s Path to
Process Policies
1
PRESENTATION TO
YOUNG INDIA FELLOWS
BY
HARSH SHRIVASTAVA
MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012
Harsh Shrivastava December 11, 2014

Twelve “P”s to understand policies
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Plan
Pradesh
Paisa
Profit
People
Process
Places
Poor
Picture
• Performance
• Pilot
• Political Will

Policies vs. schemes vs. laws
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National Old Age Policy
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
Right to Education

Who makes policies
4
Ministries
 Ministers
 Senior officials
Other agencies
 National Advisory Council
 Planning Commission
 Prime Minister’s Office,
 Chief Ministers’ Office

Who influences policies
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Courts
Media
Civil Society
Industry Associations
Legislators
Political parties
Experts—academics, or interested parties

Some regular policy statements
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Manifesto of the ruling party
President’s yearly Address to both Houses of
Parliament
 Governor’s yearly address to State Legislatures—if allowed
to complete!
Prime Minister’s Independence Day address.
The Five Year Plans of the country and of States
Economic Surveys

Who influences schemes
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Finance Ministry—both at the Union and at the
State: no money, no scheme!
 Expenditure Finance Committee
 Cabinet
Planning Commission—for Union Government
Political heft—powerful ministers get more outlays!
World Bank, bilateral agencies—who fund schemes.
Lobbyists, who swing allocations.
Political map: Ruling party states get more

P1: Plan
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Is the proposed policy in the Plan: either five-year or
annual?
To what other Plan schemes does this proposed
policy refer to?
 Acknowledging inter-connectedness.
Does the policy define what success will look like.
Does it have “Key Failure Factors”.
 Like risk factors in a DRHP!

P2: Pradesh
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States implement most policies.
Have they been consulted?
Are they on board?
 If so, how?
 What is their deliverable?
 Do they have the resources to do their share?

P3: Paise
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How much is the allocation?
 Of which, how much is the capital (Plan)
 And, how much is the revenue (Non-Plan)
 Are these two in sync with each other and the objectives.
Is there sufficient absorption capacity of the
ministries to spend this money.
 Check the latest budget for actual expenditure (as a
percentage of the revised outlay).

P4: Profits
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The private sector is driving growth, investment, and
efficiencies, so:
Is there a role for private participation in the policy?
 Even for areas like tribal welfare, nutrition, forests, etc.
If private investments are solicited, then:
 Will the private sector make a profit?
 Is there a regulatory body?
 Is there political will to get the private sector in?

P5: People
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Does the government have enough and capable
human capital to implement the scheme, including
on its own rolls:
 Not enough doctors for NRHM
 Not enough people trained in disability
 Not enough diplomats for us to be a world power.
Australia’s example.
Do the people have the capacity and capability to
implement the policies
 Tip: check if there’s a capacity building component.

P6: Processes
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Are the government’s internal rules and regulations
flexible and supportive enough to implement the
policy?
 General Financial Rules
 Rules for lateral entry
 Rules to decide how much failure to tolerate.
Even if we have the money and the staff, the
processes and procedures can slow things down.
 Eg. UIDAI or NATGRID

P7: Places, representing institutions
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Are each of the government’s different ministries and
departments working together to successfully
implement this new policy.
No coordination within, and across, government, will
sink all new policies
 Coal
 Skills—17 departments
 Land—no clarity across the Union and State governments
 Water

P8: Poor
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How much of this directly benefits the poorest
person?
 Gandhiji, Aam Admi, and P. Sainath
 What’s the point otherwise of this policy, unless it explictly
generates tax revenues?
Time is the biggest constraint for decision-makers.
 Worrying about the rich means less time to worry about
the poor.
Airport privatization vs. railway stations and bus stands
AIDS versus TB.

P9: Picture
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Are there “pictures” as part of a well-thought-through
communication plan that explains what this
policy is to stakeholders?
 What are the advantages of this new policy?
 What are the costs?
 How will citizens and the country benefit?
Role of media: continuing coverage after the policy is
in place:
 Although a proposed “new” policy is more newsworthy.

P10: Performance
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Does the policy have some key performance
indicators (apart from general goals) that can be
tracked yearly.
Does it have anyway of defining both a final
outcome, as well as an intermediate outcome.
 Hint: the Results Framework Document of the Performance
Management Division can help (performance.gov.in)

P11: Pilot
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Did the policy have a pilot project to test if works in
the real world.
If so, does the policy document say how the
learnings of the pilot have been applied to improve
the policy.
Are the learnings from similar pilots in other
countries also incorporated.

P12: Political Will
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Last, but most important!
In the government and in the coalition.
To deal with the problems that can come up—known
and unknown!
 Retail FDI

An exercise for us …
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Pick anyone existing or proposed policy:
 Healthcare
 Education
 Urbanization
 Retail?
Let’s examine it along all these Eleven “Ps”.

The “How” and “Who”, not just
the “What” and “How Much”
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WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/PEOPLE.POLICY.PROFIT

The P Path to Process Policies

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