Govt repeals UPA's decision to set up Concurrent Evaluation

Government decided to repeal a decision of the UPA government to establish Concurrent Evaluation Office (CEO), an independent entity mandated to assess the impact of social sector schemes, including MNREGA.

In March 2013, then Cabinet had approved the proposal to set up CEO to critically assess the government programmes and find out whether they were reaching to the people or not.

The CEO office was envisaged to work in tandem with Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the erstwhile Planning Commission.

"...Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to rescind the earlier decision of the government to set up the Concurrent Evaluation Office (CEO) for managing Concurrent Evaluation Network (CENET) in Ministry of Rural Development," an official statement said.

It will pave the way for a need based strengthening of the economic and monitoring wing of the Rural Development Ministry for managing and carrying out evaluation studies of rural development programmes, the statement added.

Originally, the idea was mooted by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 1985-87 when he was a member in the Planning Commission.

According to the proposal, CEO was supposed to be a lean organisation headed by a scholar in economy and policy research.