Social auditing can be used as an efficient tool for addressing the monitoring and implementation bottlenecks in success of government schemes in India. Enumerate the steps that have been taken by the government recently in this regard.

Implementation of government schemes have often been marred by monitoring and implementation challenges.

Challenges:

• Lack of independent monitoring agencies.
• Lack of awareness among people about schemes and its modalities.
• Vast size and huge population of India makes monitoring a tough task.
• Lack of compliant and grievance redressal mechanisms.
• Corruption at lower levels of the government.

Steps taken by the government:

• E-Samiksha portal – enables PMO to directly monitor the implementation in the states. 3-tier mechanism viz, PMO, secretaries, chief secretary.
• CPGRAMS – Integrated grievance redressal mechanism.
• Digitization of service delivery – plugs leakages, corruption.
• Aadhaar-based biometric POS machines – enables real-time monitoring and tracking of PDS distribution.
• Encouraging use of social media and WhatsApp for on-ground monitoring.

Social audit:

It is a process by which beneficiaries of a particular scheme directly audit on-ground performance and report to the implementing authority.

Benefits of social audit:

• Direct participation and communication by beneficiaries.
• Elimination of false reports by middlemen.
• Constructive criticism, since beneficiaries know the lacunae.

Implementation of schemes needs to be followed by proper monitoring. Measures like e-governance and social audit assist effective monitoring. It is necessary to further widen the scope of social audit and statutorily include it in the implementation process.

Topics: GS-I: Social Empowerment Communalism Regionalism Secularism • GS-II: Functions and Responsibilities of the Union and the States • GS-III: Economic Growth Development