Study of a Study about Studies
By Dr Arvind Kumar
Recent media reports indicate that the Pentagon in US was inundated with so many studies in 2010 that it commissioned a study to determine how much it cost to produce all those studies. Now the US Government Accountability Office had reviewed the Pentagon’s study and concluded in a report in early May this year that it’s a flop. The study of a study of studies began in 2010 when Defense Secretary Robert Gates complained that his department was “awash in taskings for reports and studies.” This phenomenon is not peculiar to the US administration alone; India also suffers from this malady wherein precious official resources are drained out on instituting commissions of inquiry and the reports of such commissions’ gather dust in the stores. No body cares to find out as to what is the worth of these recommendations. This shows sheer lack of coordination, cooperation and convergence between and amongst the different departments and ministries dealing with the same subject. Take the instance of water as a subject, which is state subject. There is a fulfledged union Ministry of Water Resources to deal with water-related issues. However, the issue of water is dealt with by about eight other ministries as well. Huge public funds, manpower and other resources are expended on the same subject without one knowing as to what is being done by the other. This calls for inter-sectoral convergence between the departments to tackle the problem more efficiently and effectively. The present author has been harping on establishing a central nodal agency to deal with water related issues for the past four years. Perhaps vested interests are disinclined to allow such a mechanism to exist.
