In the last five years, the Society has worked towards meeting its aims on several projects.
The major funding for the Society has been the Ford Foundation. The Society started its projects with a Ford Foundation grant to study Decentralisation through a study of local budgets of Panchayats at village, taluk and district levels. Another study was on the functioning of the District Planning Committee in Kodugu. This was presented to the President of the DPC after a formal presentation.
Current Projects :
The study on Local Self Governance and MCH Services in Karnataka funded by John D and Catherine T Mac Arthur Foundation. This is in continuation of our work in decentralisation, with a special emphasis on maternal health and the role that Panchayats play in it. Budgets of Panchayats could display the extent of decentralisation in issues of health, which is an important subject of governance. It could also reflect the priorities of the Panchayats. Work on this is nearing completion. The final report is in its last stages.
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A Linked Study of Employment, Income and Nutrition : This study attempts to make a rigorous estimation of time spent in productive employment, wages received for it and simultaneous data on nutritional intake, to monitor the roots and consequences of poverty in detail and to hopefully come up with a model of such monitoring that gives insights into how the various parameters of poverty are linked.
Data analysis is completed and the preliminary results are available.
Enhancing Capacity and Accountability in Urban Governance : This project started in January 2006. CBPS primarily address the following issues:
· Access to information regarding all issues of governance for civil society: This will build ability to understand budgetary and related processes and raise questions from time to time, leading to effective accountability and oversight.
· Capacity building for urban planning as a process for councilors and administrators: This will address issues information, as well as of integration of infrastructure needs with equitable economic growth.
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Public Expenditure Effectiveness in India at the District Level: (The Transparency and Accountability Project- The Brookings Institution)
The study focuses the expenditures in the field of Health and Education. The study looks into the relationship between the District Government or Zilla Panchayat and the State Government in the arena of demand, allocation and expenditure in health and education. The study is undertaken in the districts of Chitradurga and Udupi. The study began in july 2007 and to be completed by December 2007.
Recently Completed Projects
A project to study the Municipal Finances in Karnataka, which was a Ford Foundation grant to CBPS was a 3-year grant. This was completed in the year 2005. This project is the CBPS’ first study of Urban Local Bodies after the 74th Constitutional Amendment. It was a study of the budgets of selected City Municipal Councils in Karnataka to see how the budgets reflect decentralisation of finances and governance as envisaged in the 74th Constitutional amendment.
The analysis on each of the City Municipal Council was published in Kannada and provided to elected representatives. The report was also presented at a meeting of the CMC where it was discussued.
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Please, click here to download the reports of the Study
Other Completed projects
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 – A Study in Chitradurga
CBPS has studied Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) finances in Karnataka and in other states. Given our interest in not just decentralization, but in its fiscal dimensions, the question of how NREGA funds, which come mainly from the Centre, will be used to meet the goals of not just employment in the short term but creation of social assets in the longer term, and the maintenance of these assets over time, is a logical question to investigate. We took the opportunity of our base in Chitradurga [one of the NREGA districts in Karnataka] to gain a quick understanding of the local dynamics during August 2006.
Please, click here to view the full report
The Karnataka government had financed a 6 month project on health finances of the state as an input to the Task Force headed by Dr H. Sudarshan. This was followed by a study on ways to implement the recommendations of the Health Task Force of the State.
The UNDP has also financed a few projects of CBPS. Their major area of interest was in the estimation of district income. With their financing, a workshop was held to gather together the experts in the field to understand the best methods to arrive at the income at the district level. After that UNDP financed a study in which a methodology for estimating district income, together with the Planning Commission, was developed, and this was published as a manual on how to estimate district income by Macmillan India.
This work was carried on further by UNDP when they financed a project to develop a software together with a GIS based map interface to calculate district income and train the Economics and Statistics department of any one State in its use. This software, called Indical, was developed together with Spatial Data Pvt Ltd. District Statistics officers in Kerala and Chhattisgarh have been trained in the use of this software.
Click here to download the Indical software (without the GIS based map interface).
The UNDP also financed a project to study the municipal finances of two municipalities of Karnataka, viz Udupi and Mandya to begin work on a Budget Information System. This was shared with these municipalities in workshops.
CBPS has partnered the Stockholm Environment Institute in a study on the procedures for examining safety of genetically modified organisms. This study has been completed, and the report will be published when the other partners of SEI finish their work in the cross-country study.
CBPS has also worked with Taru Leading Edge Consultants to study the contribution of Panchayats in watershed development and joint forest management. A report based on this has been brought out.
The International Budget Project of the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington had requested CBPS to conduct a Workshop on Budget Analysis and Civil Society on its behalf for groups in South Asia in Kathmandu in June 2002. A report on this has been circulated.
CBPS has been an active member of the group that has promoted the Centre for Governance and Budget Accountability in Delhi. This centre will co-ordinate and facilitate the work of groups in the states, and it will develop a programme of research on the national budget.
A study with the Centre for Youth and Social Development in Bhubaneshwar resulted in a report targeting the poorest of the poor on a relative poverty basis in Koraput district of Orissa. This also led to the publication of a report that has been circulated widely.