Accountability Initiative, India

India's public sector is fast deteriorating. Absenteeism, incompetence, inefficiency and corruption plague every public service that the state is obligated to deliver. Systemic failures of accountability lie at the heart of the problem.

The Accountability Initiative is an independent effort to strengthen accountability by undertaking policy research, creating networks of stakeholders, exploring new areas and ways to collect and disseminate information on the quality of public services in India.

The initiative’s work is collaborative. It seeks to strengthen current accountability efforts by government, civil society, research institutes and the media.

Getting Development From Development Expenditures

Special issue of India Review edited by AI and the Centre for Development Finance, IFMR.
Watching the watchdogs

AI in the news: Mandakini Devasher Surie assesses RTI as a tool for NGO Accountability. Click on to read the full article.

Budget Briefs

How does the Government of India spend its money? Read our Budget Briefs for an analysis of trends social sector expenditures across Government of India’s flagship programs.

Policy Briefs

What are the key policy challenges to ensuring transparency and accountability in the delivery of key public services? Read our policy briefs for an analysis of policy challenges and recommendations.

RTI Briefs

How effectively is the RTI being implemented in India? Are there lessons to be drawn from international experience? Read our RTI briefs for a review of key issues.

AI Blog

Join the accountability debate. Click here to participate in AI’s new and expanding online discussion aimed at engaging stakeholders in discussions on topical issues of governance and accountability.

Publications

Transparency and Accountability in NREGA: A Case Study of Andhra Pradesh

This paper documents the Andhra Pradesh experience of institutionalizing social audits into the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and uses it to analyse the social audit process. It draws on empirical work aimed at measuring the effectiveness of social audits conducted in Andhra Pradesh between March and December 2007.

This working paper is an effort to trace the landscape of citizen-led efforts to hold the state accountable in India. It first offers an analytical narrative of the evolution of thought and practice in public accountability till the current emphasis on citizen-led accountability initiatives, and then after a quick overview of the different mechanisms and instruments through which citizens have begun to scrutinize the state it identifies some of the key limitations in the current discourse on citizen-led accountability initiatives, arguing for a research agenda that addresses some of these issues.

Accountability Watch

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