GEOGRAPHY: CLIMATOLOGY

1. ARE EL NIÑO-LA NIÑA WEATHER PATTERNS CHANGING?

THE CONTEXT: Recently, a new study projects that climate change will significantly impact El Niño-La Niña weather patterns approximately by 2030 — a decade before what was earlier predicted. This is bound to result in further global climate disruptions.

THE EXPLANATION:

What is the El Niño phenomenon?

• El Niño is the warming of sea water in the central-east Equatorial Pacific that occurs every few years. During El Niño, surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific rise, and trade winds — east-west winds that blow near the Equator — weaken.
• Normally, easterly trade winds blow from the Americas towards Asia. Due to El Niño, they falter and change direction to turn into westerlies, bringing warm water from the western Pacific towards the Americas. The phenomena of upwelling, where nutrient-rich waters rise towards the surface, is reduced under El Niño. This in turn reduces phytoplankton.
• Thus, fish that eat phytoplankton are affected, followed by other organisms higher up the food chain. Warm waters also carry tropical species towards colder areas, disrupting multiple ecosystems. Since the Pacific covers almost one-third of the earth, changes in its temperature and subsequent alteration of wind patterns disrupt global weather patterns.
• El Niño causes dry, warm winter in Northern U.S. and Canada and increases the risk of flooding in the U.S. gulf coast and southeastern U.S. It also brings drought to Indonesia and Australia.

What is La Niña?

• La Niña is the opposite of El Niño. La Niña sees cooler than average sea surface temperature (SST) in the equatorial Pacific region. Trade winds are stronger than usual, pushing warmer water towards Asia.
• On the American west coast, upwelling increases, bringing nutrient-rich water to the surface. Pacific cold waters close to the Americas push jet streams — narrow bands of strong winds in the upper atmosphere — northwards. This leads to drier conditions in Southern U.S., and heavy rainfall in Canada.
• La Niña has also been associated with heavy floods in Australia. Two successive La Niña events in the last two years caused intense flooding in Australia, resulting in significant damage.

What were the study’s findings?

• The combination of El Niño, La Niña, and the neutral state between the two opposite effects is called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Southern oscillations are large-scale changes in sea level pressure in the tropical Pacific region.
• ENSO’s scale is significant enough to influence global climate. According to the study, published in the Nature Communications journal, increased SST variability from ENSO in the eastern Equatorial Pacific (EP) will emerge around 2030 ( error margin of +/- 6 years), more than a decade earlier than that of the central Pacific (CP) ENSO.
• If CP and EP are not separated, SST variability from ENSO will occur almost four decades earlier than previously suggested. Changes in the equatorial Pacific will be visible first due to a stronger increase in the EP-ENSO rainfall response, leading to increased SST variability.

What is the effect on India’s monsoons?

• In India, El Niño causes weak rainfall and more heat, while La Niña intensifies rainfall across South Asia, particularly in India’s northwest and Bangladesh during the monsoon. At present, India, like the rest of the globe, is witnessing an extended ‘triple dip’ La Niña. As reported by The Hindu, this, in part, is why India saw surplus rain in September, a month that usually sees the monsoon retreat, for the third year in a row.

INDIAN POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

2. THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ACT, 1960

THE CONTEXT: The Centre has proposed to overhaul The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, introducing 61 amendments in the law, which includes three years’ imprisonment for committing “gruesome cruelty” including “bestiality” with animals.

THE EXPLANATION:

A draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill, 2022, prepared by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, has been opened for public comments. Once the draft is final, the Bill could be brought either in the Winter Session or the Budget Session of Parliament.

What are the main changes proposed in the law?

• Essentially, the law is proposed to be made tighter, with more stringent punishments. Several offences have been made cognizable, which means offenders can be arrested without an arrest warrant. The draft Bill has proposed to include “Bestiality” as a crime under the new category of “Gruesome cruelty.”
• he proposed subsection describes “gruesome cruelty” as any act involving animals which leads to “extreme pain and suffering” and is “likely to leave the animal in life-long disability”. It includes “mutilation or killing of animal by the use of strychnine injection in the heart or any other cruel manner that is known to cause permanent physical damage to the animal or render animal useless or cause any injury which is likely to cause death including bestiality…”.
• The draft proposes fines from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 “or the cost of the animal…whichever is more or with the imprisonment of one year which may extend up to three years or with both” for the offence of gruesome cruelty. For killing an animal, the draft Bill proposes a maximum punishment of five years in jail.

About Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960

• The legislative intent of the Act is to “prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals”.
• The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) was established in 1962 under Section 4 of the Act.
• This Act provides for punishment for causing unnecessary cruelty and suffering to animals. The Act defines animals and different forms of animals.
• Discusses different forms of cruelty, exceptions, and killing of a suffering animal in case any cruelty has been committed against it, so as to relieve it from further suffering.
• Provides the guidelines relating to experimentation on animals for scientific purposes.
• The Act enshrines the provisions relating to the exhibition of the performing animals, and offences committed against the performing animals.
• This Act provides for the limitation period of 3 months beyond which no prosecution shall lie for any offences under this Act.

SOCIAL ISSUES AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

3. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION STRATEGY

THE CONTEXT: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare unveiled the National Suicide Prevention Strategy — the first-of-its-kind policy formulated by the government to prevent suicides as a public health priority.

THE EXPLANATION:

What is India’s National Suicide Prevention Strategy?

• According to the ministry, the policy that will set the stage for promotion of mental health and prevention of suicides in the coming decade.
• The goal of the strategy is to reduce suicide mortality in the country by 10 per cent by 2023. The strategy provides a framework for multiple stakeholders to implement activities for prevention of suicides in the country.

National Suicide Prevention Strategy: Objectives

• First, it seeks to establish effective surveillance mechanisms for suicide within the next three years.
• Second, it seeks to establish psychiatric outpatient departments that will provide suicide prevention services through the District Mental Health Programme in all districts within the next five years.
• Third, it aims to integrate a mental well-being curriculum in all educational institutions within the next eight years.
• The fourth objective of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy is to strengthen surveillance of suicide and further generation of evidence through evaluation, that will ensure improvement in the programme quality.

Implementation mechanism

• Reinforcing leadership, partnerships and institutional capacity in the country.
• Enhancing the capacity of health services to provide suicide prevention services.
• Developing community resilience and societal support for suicide prevention and reduce stigma associated with suicidal behaviours.

Suicides in India: What’s the current scenario?

• According to the annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), released in August, 1.64 lakh people died by suicide in 2021 — an increase of 7.2 per cent from 2020. This is 10 per cent higher than the COVID deaths (1.48 lakh) in India in 2020, and 6.8 times the maternal deaths (23,800) in the same year.
• The NCRB report also stated that more than 1,00,000 people die by suicide in the country every year. A total of 25,891 suicides were reported in the 53 megacities of the country during 2021, with the highest in Delhi.
• In the past three years, the suicide rate in the country has increased from 10.2 to 11.3 per 1,00,000 population. Most suicides in India are by youth and middle-aged adults — with 65 per cent of the suicides in 2020 being reported in the age group of 18-45 years.

Ongoing suicide prevention initiatives in India

• The National Mental Health Policy (2014) sees prevention of mental disorders, reduction of suicide and attempted suicide as core priority areas.
• The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 brought in some necessary changes. The Act that came into force from May 2018 effectively decriminalised attempted suicide, which was punishable under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code.
• It ensured that the individuals who have attempted suicide are offered opportunities for rehabilitation from the government as opposed to being tried or punished.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

4. SEBI’S PLANS TO TACKLE MARKET RUMOURS

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) floated a consultation paper proposing measures to effectively tackle market rumours. It reviewed disclosure requirements for material events and information under the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015.

THE EXPLANATION:

What was the need for review?

• The central premise of the proposal is to ensure timely disclosure of significant events that may have a bearing on the price of a scrip. SEBI notes that while regulatory actions against non-disclosure of events do act as a deterrent for listed entities to withhold details of material events or information, timely disclosure is still very important.
• SEBI also seeks to ensure that unverified rumours do not shake investor confidence and affect decision-making. Listed entities too have sought that the regulator institute a certain uniformity in its guidance for disclosures, to help them better determine what constitutes a material event or information.
• In a related context, the market regulator pointed to provisions that require companies to put forth specific and adequate replies to all rumour verification queries raised by the exchanges. This could be with respect to certain ‘information’ circulating on social media or any other platform. It proposes that entities should confirm or deny any such reported event or information.

What disclosures are being proposed?

• The proposed measures are directed towards preventing any false market sentiment or impact on the securities of a company. Recognising the “growing influence” of print, television and digital news media, it argues that companies need to keep pace and ensure that any rumours are verified or refuted.
• It proposes companies disclose all information whose expected impact in terms of value exceeds 2% of either its turnover or net-worth as per the last audited financial statement, or 5% of the three-year average of absolute value of profit/loss after tax.
• In order to avoid information asymmetry, SEBI has proposed that the listed entities need to also disseminate any communication with regards to the company made by its directors, promoters, key managerial personnel or senior management individually and not through the company. It recognises that it is difficult for an investor to keep track of multiple newsworthy announcements from diverse avenues.
• To this effect, it proposes that companies inform about any ratings actions, even if it was not requested for by the company or if a request was withdrawn. Further, companies also need to disclose any actions initiated by a regulatory, statutory, enforcement or judicial authority against any of its directors, key managerial personnel, senior management, promoter or subsidiary in relation to the entity.
• These may include investigation, suspension, imposition of penalty or fine, settlement of proceedings, debarment, sanctions, warnings, search, seizure, and default on the payment of fines, penalties and dues among others. The mentioned measure would thus, prevent information asymmetry as it would streamline access to verified information.
• Other than this, the proposals also recognise the material importance of key personnel, senior management and directors to investors. They instil confidence in the functioning and affairs of the company.
• To this effect, it proposes that entities inform the exchange about their resignation(s) within seven days. Along similar lines, companies must also disclose if the MD/CEO is not available to discharge their duties for greater than a month.

Are timelines being revised?

• The regulator observed that there was a need for quicker disclosure of material events since ‘information’ permeates very fast on social media and digital media. It makes a note of several instances where the disclosures were made only after the news had already circulated in the media.
• At times, the information was disclosed only after the exchange raised a query to the company. Therefore, SEBI proposes that disclosures pertaining to events or information emanating from within the company be made within twelve hours instead of the existing mandate of twenty-four hours.

SECURITY AFFAIRS

5. WHAT IS THE ASSAM-MEGHALAYA BORDER DISPUTE

THE CONTEXT: The recent killing of six people in Assam police firing comes ahead of the second phase of talks between the two states to resolve their boundary dispute, and there are concerns its shadow will loom large over the negotiations.

THE EXPLANATION:

The incident comes ahead of the second phase of talks scheduled for this month-end (November 2022) between the two states to resolve their boundary dispute, and there are concerns its shadow will loom large over the negotiations.

What is the border dispute?

• Assam and Meghalaya have a longstanding dispute in 12 stretches of their 884-km shared border. The two states had signed a pact in March resolving the dispute in six out of 12 areas. In August, they decided to form regional committees. The second round of discussions for the remaining six phases was to commence by the end of this month..
• The Assam-Meghalaya pact was seen as a major achievement, as Assam’s border disputes with other states in the Northeast have remained unresolved despite multiple rounds of talks. Now, the firing threatens to derail the upcoming talks.

CONNECT THE DOT: In March 2022,the Assam and Meghalaya state Government signed an agreement to resolve their five-decade-old border dispute in six of the 12 locations.

History Behind Border Demarcation

• During the British rule, Assam consisted of the present-day Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya, besides Mizoram, which later became separate states.
• However, the long-standing dispute between Assam and Meghalaya began in 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam under the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, a law that it challenged.

Major Point of Contention

• Since 1993, twelve (12) areas of differences have evolved between the two states. The said areas are: Upper Tarabari, Gazang reserve forest, Hahim, Langpih, Borduar, Boklapara, Nongwah, Matamur, Khanapara-Pilangkata, Deshdemoreah Block I and Block II, Khanduli and Retacherra.
• In August 2021, the governments of Assam and Meghalaya had formed a committee to resolve the border rows in a phased manner in six (6) of the 12 disputed sites (Hahim, Gizang, Tarabari, Boklapara, Khanapara-Pilingkata, Ratacherra).
• The proposed recommendations for the 36.79 square km of land said that Assam would keep 18.51 square km, while Meghalaya would get the remaining 18.28 square km.

What is the Next Step?

• The Survey of India (SoI) will delineate and demarcate the boundary in the presence of representatives of both governments. It will then go to Parliament for approval and will likely take a few months.

THE PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

6. NYINGMA SECT OF BUDDHISM

THE CONTEXT: In a significant development in the Tibetan Buddhist circles, the Nyingma sect has identified a boy from Spiti in Himachal Pradesh as the reincarnation of the late Taklung Setrung Rinpoche, a scholar known for his knowledge of Tibetan Tantric school.

THE EXPLANATION:

“The Nyingma sect is the oldest of all Buddhist sects, and Taklung Setrung Rinpoche was a profound scholar renowned for his expertise in Tibetan Tantric school.

• The Nyingma or “ancient” tradition is the oldest of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Often referred to as “the ancient translation school”, it was founded in the eighth century following the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit to Tibetan.
• Around 760, the Tibetan king Trisong Detsen invited two Buddhist masters from the Indian subcontinent, Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita, to the “Land of Snows” to bring Buddhism to the Tibetan people. Thus began a massive translation project of all Buddhist texts into the newly created Tibetan language.
• The legendary Vajrayana master Padmasambhava, who Tibetans call Guru Rinpoche, is considered the founder of Tibetan Buddhism. He supervised the translation of the tantras (the esoteric teachings of the Buddha) while Shantarakshita, abbot of the great Buddhist Nalanda University, supervised the translation of the sutras (oral teachings of the Buddha).
• Together they founded the first monastery in Tibet, Samye, which became the main center for Buddhist teaching in Tibet for around three centuries.
• The Nyingma tradition classifies the Buddhist teachings into nine yanas or vehicles. The first three vehicles are common to all schools of Buddhism, the next three are common to all schools of Tantric Buddhism, and the last three are exclusive to the Nyingma tradition. The highest is known as Dzogchen or the Great Perfection.
• Unlike the other schools, the Nyingma traditionally had no centralized authority or a single head of the lineage. However, since the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the Nyingma school has had representatives.

What are the 4 sects of Tibetan Buddhism?

The four schools of Tibetan Buddhism are Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug or Gelugpa.

1. Nyingma (founded in 8th century)
2. Kagyu (founded in the early 11th century)
3. Sakya (founded in 1073)
4. Gelug (founded in 1409)

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTION

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Q1. Consider the following statements about Global Hunger Index:

1. It is calculated on the basis of four parameters with each having equal weightage.
2. India ranked 107 out of 121 countries in Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a) 1 only

b) 2 only

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: B

Explanation:

• It is annually released by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
• India has slipped 6 places and ranked 107, out of 121 countries, in Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022.
• Four parameters:

1. Undernourishment: The share of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient. This makes up 1/3 of the GHI score.
2. Child Stunting: The share of children under the age of 5 who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition. This makes up 1/6 of the GHI score.
3. Child Wasting: The share of children under the age of 5 who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition. This makes up 1/6 of the GHI score.
4. Child Mortality: The share of children who die before their 5th birthday, reflecting in part the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments. This makes up 1/3 of the GHI score.

THE CONTEXT: The new currency driving governance today is data. Whether it is the debate on the hunger index or the arguments regarding the caste census, data is at the centre of these controversies: how it is coll­ected, interpreted, and constructed into an index is being vociferously debated by everyone, including those who have only a rudimentary understanding of data. The pandemic management that relies heavily on numbers in terms of testing, vaccinating or tracking recoveries and deaths has only heightened this fascination with data.

EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY

• The reason for this obsession with data is because evidence-based policy (EBP) making or data-based governance has been touted as a rational form of governance that bases its decisions not on populist pressures but on objective data.
• This requires evidence-based data at all stages of policymaking. EBP is viewed as especially important for deve­loping countries where public resources are often scarce or limited. It requires both data and the process of data collection to be scientific, rigorous and validated both in the process of the collection as well as analysis. However, the entire process of data collection and its interpretation often tends to be imbued with political economy issues in deve­loping countries.

DATA TO DATA POLITICS

• Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have had a defining impact on how data is currently viewed as “it rec­onfigures relationships between states, subjects, and citizens”.
• Today, big data, machine learning and algorithms are the frameworks within which citizens operate—oblivious to the manner in which this digital interface is converting them into data to be used by unknown entities.
• In this age of data politics, new players like transnational corporations that control ICT’s and social media domains are becoming more important forces than the state.
• This is alarming as, unlike the checks and bala­nces that limit the state’s influence, these large, transnational corporations are not constrained or held accountable by any such mechanisms. This merits a deeper inquiry.

DATA-BASED GOVERNANCE

• Amassing large, granular data about the citizens by the state through census, periodic surveys, etc. Now through digital convergence has continued unabated and gained further traction in the context of EBP.
• Data-based governance aims to facilitate the use of research and evidence to inform programmatic funding decisions.
• The goal is to further ­invest in what works to improve outcomes for citizens based on prior evidence. In general, data-based governance assumes the existence of a system of reliable, rigorous and validated data with associated infrastructure.
• However, in reality, the governance process is often messy and riddled with political compulsions as governance involves both formal and informal dom­ains, rules and actors.
• This makes governance outcomes even more challenging to measure.
• This is especially because governance outcomes combine tangible outputs and intangible processes.
• Measuring only tangible outputs without capturing the intangible processes is likely to provide misleading inferences. For example, if one is trying to assess women’s participation in a gram sabha, the number of women participants (outcome) needs to be captured and the nature of participation (process) should be documented.
• Often, quantitative data collections focus only on quantifiable measures, thus omitting qualitative processes that give mea­ning to those numbers.

WHY DATA CENTRIC GOVERNANCE (EVIDENCE BASED POLICY MAKING) IS IMPERATIVE FOR DEVELOPING NATIONS

Evidence from randomised evaluations can yield insights and conclusions into questions at the heart of controversial policy debates. Since the past decade or so, evidence-based policy-making has gained traction, with some governments and NGOs having institutionalised processes for rigorously evaluating innovations and incorporating evidence into decision-making.

CASE STUDY:

• The seminal and pioneering work of Noble Prize winner of Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer in development economics using randomised evaluations to test the effectiveness of social programmes and policies with the objective of reducing poverty marks a definite shift in discerning development from an entirely theoretical perspective.
• The path-breaking approach that they follow is popularly known as randomised control trial (RCT), which is used to test the effect of small interventions on individual behaviour. The lab has transformed the field of development economics from being mainly theoretical to empirical with high-quality evidence that has influenced piloting, testing, and scaling of effective policies around the globe. For example, with support from Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the Ministry of Education in Peru formed a dedicated unit to identify, test and scale low-cost interventions to improve educational outcomes.
• J-PAL is promoting the scale-up and replication of effective programmes. Randomised evaluations allow researchers to learn not only about the impact of a particular programme but also to draw out the mechanisms behind its success to help derive general lessons that can be applied in the same context.

IMPACT OF THE STUDY:

• From randomised evaluations in India, Ghana and Kenya, researchers learnt why children are behind in school and thereby built a range of cost-effective strategies based on the insight of regrouping students by their current learning level rather than by their age group.
• On the other hand, the Government of Zambia has been able to apply the general idea of “Teaching at the Right Level” (TaRL, an approach developed by Indian NGO Pratham) to inform the design of its own remedial programs. This has significantly improved the learning opportunities in both India and Africa.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

Cases that highlight the value of EBP in developing nations: one where evidence-based policies transformed lives and the other where the lack of an evidence-based response has caused widespread death.

• First, the Government of Tanzania has implemented various health service reforms informed by the results of household disease surveys. This EBP contributed to over 40% reductions in infant mortality in two pilot districts.
• Second, the AIDS/HIV crisis has aggravated in some countries because respective governments have ignored the evidence of what causes the disease and how to prevent it from spreading further.

EXAMPLES OF EVIDENCE POLICY MAKING IN INDIA

• CENSUS BY MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
• SWACHH SARVEKSHAN BY MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
• NATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY BY MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE.
• MULTI-DYNAMIC POVERTY INDEX BY NITI AAYOG
• SDG RANKING OF STATES BY NITI AAYOG
• ASER REPORT BY PRATHAM NGO

CHALLENGES OF POLICY MAKING

• States routinely gather vast quantities of administrative data. However, large proportions of these data remain unutilised or are unusable as ­often these administrative data are not validated or updated.
• At times, the same data is collected by different agencies with different identifiers making integration or consolidation of data difficult. To avert duplication of data, which is costly both in terms of human as well as financial resources, it is essential to standardise data collection across departments.
• Data starts to become scarce and variable at lower tiers of governance, for instance, the devolution of funds at the sub-block level is often opaque and self-reported without external validation. This makes matching of funds, particularly untied grants with specific functions at the sub-block level challenging as funds are often fungible.
• Administrative data is generally inaccessible to the public and researchers for scrutiny or analysis. Citing the example of Denmark, where opening up of administrative data on tax collection gave significant insights that led to key tax reforms, advocate encouraging and incentivising governments to share the administrative data, especially in the context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Measuring governance is a challenging proposition. This is particularly true in the domain of law and order, which is an essential aspect of governance. Two studies aiming to measure governance across states in India by developing a composite governance index lay bare the challenges of choosing appropriate indicators and their measurement and interpretations.

WHY DATA-CENTRIC GOVERNANCE IS THE RIGHT STEP TO CHOOSE AND HOW INDIA CAN ACHIEVE IT?

• India is mired in a data-driven world. Governance is increasingly being pushed to become data-centric.
• Data-centric governance or policymaking is a step in the right direction. However, the paradox of data-centric governance in India right now is that it is caught between two countervailing forces—a rel­entless churning of digital and other forms of data that are often unreliable and/or prone to errors on the one hand and a steady erosion of credible, scientific sources of data on the other.
• If governance decisions are to be data-centric, there is a need to ensure a good, robust and reliable database system. With several national statistical bases, such as the National Sample Surveys, that provide an interim glimpse into the trajectory of the economy in between the decadal census counts, getting eroded either through delays or data suppression, the danger of a “statistical vacuum” has been raised by some scholars (like Drèze) and others who have advocated a decentralised system of data collection process where states take the lead in building their own bottom-up databases.
• This requires individual states to invest heavily in both human and technical infrastructure with built-in quality control measures to ensure those policy decisions are based on robust and rigorous data.
• Finally, it is equally essential to ack­nowledge that policymaking is a contested space that is interactive, discursive and, therefore, a negotiated process.
• In the global South, the rigorous, constant implementation of data-based governance or policymaking is likely to be challenging. The government often discretionary policy decisions need to be taken by the government by prioritising one group over the other to redress historical inequalities.
• Thus, data-based governance req­uires not just validated and scientific data but also requires the policymakers to use it wisely by contextualising it to ensure equality and equity.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• Data-driven governance is being touted globally as a new approach to governance, one where data is used to drive policy decisions, set goals, measure performance, and increase government transparency.
• Evidence-based policymaking (EBP) assists in making decisions about projects, programmes and policies by placing the best available evidence from research conducted at the heart of policy development and implementation. It also makes explicit what is known through scientific evidence.
• In contrast to opinion-based policymaking, evidence-based policymaking needs an evidence base at all stages in the policy cycle to define issues, shape agendas, make action choices, identify options, deliver them, and monitor their impact and outcomes. Basically, it is a set of methods that informs the policy process, rather than aiming to directly affect the eventual objectives of the policy directly. Thereby, EBP advocates a more systematic, rational and rigorous approach to produce better outcomes.
• The pre-requisite for evidence-based policy is that the data must be trustworthy, and it depends upon the quality of the data and the quality of the professional statisticians.
• Credible statistics is important for good governance and decision-making in all sectors of society. Therefore, policy-makers are more likely to use evidence in decision-making if that evidence is unbiased, rigorous, substantive, relevant, timely, actionable, easy to understand, cumulative and easy to explain to constituents. EBP approaches can dramatically help reduce poverty and improve economic performance in developing nations.
• Impact evaluations of social programmes have emerged as an important tool to guide social policy in developing polities as they allow for accurate measurement and attribution of impact can help policy-makers identify programmes that work and those that do not work, so that effective and performing programmes can be promoted and ineffective ones can be discontinued.

THE CONCLUSION: The EBP has the potential for high impact change that India shouldn’t ignore. Thereby, systemic institutionalisation of EBP is the way forward in eradicating poverty and improving economic performance, education, health care, and social assistance for millions of people. But, if governance decisions are to be data-centric, there is a need to ensure a decentralised, robust, reliable database system. Data-based governance requires not just validated and scientific data but also requires the policymakers to use it wisely by contextualising it to ensure equality and equity.