The central challenge to creating effective governments worldwide is the lack of a universal standard for defining and measuring "effectiveness." Currently, a government's effectiveness is subjective—like beauty, it lies in the eye of the beholder. The same government department can be viewed as good, bad, or ugly by different people, all looking at the same information.
This contrasts sharply with the private sector. When a company reports a profit of $300 million, that number is widely accepted. This isn't because people trust the private sector more, but because the figure is calculated using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). An external auditor then verifies that the financial statements comply with GAAP before they are made public.
Until recently, there was no equivalent to GAAP for the public sector. However, this changed in 2023. At a meeting of 65 Commonwealth countries, a new framework called the Generally Accepted Performance Principles (GAPP) was adopted. By following these principles, governments can now produce a "bottom line" for their departments that everyone can agree on.
Until GAPP is more widely adopted, managing the public sector will remain a challenge. We will continue to manage by focusing on controlling processes instead of measuring results.
History of Employment
Position
Division
Organization
Start
End
Senior Director
Economic, Youth and Sustainable Development Directorate
The Commonwealth Secretariat
2018
2019
Faculty Chair
Management Program in Public Policy
Indian School of Business
2016
2018
Senior Fellow (Governance)
Bharti Institute of Public Policy
Indian School of Business
2015
2018
Adjunct Professor of Public Policy
Indian School of Business
2015
2018
Secretary, Performance Management
Cabinet Secretariat
Government of India
2009
2014
Chairman
National Authority for Chemical Weapons
Government of India
2009
2014
Senior Economist
PSD - MENA
World Bank
1995
2009
Economic Adviser
Department of Public Enterprises
Government of India
1991
1994
Full time Economics Faculty
Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
1990
1991
STC Chair Professor of Public Sector Management and Director
Centre for Public Enterprise Management
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
1987
1991
Lecturer in Economics
St. Stephen's College
Delhi University
1974
1977
Visiting Fellow
IBM Center for the Business of Government
2016
Special Envoy for SDG Implementation
Secretary-General's Office
Commonwealth Secretariat
2019