Glumdog Millions

• Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill: Changes arrest, custody and remand procedure.
  
• National Tax Tribunal Bill: Sets up tribunal for taxation issues.
  
• Disaster Management Bill: To set up authority to deal with disasters.
  
• Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill: Permits plea bargaining. Brings safeguards for witnesses.
  
• Maintenance of Parents Bill: Makes it obligatory on children and heirs to maintain parents and aged relatives.

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• Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill: Corrupt public officials to forfeit property.
  
• Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill: Raise FDI from 26 to 49%. Companies Bill: Allows more self-regulation.
  
• R&R, Land Acquisition Bills: Limits government role in land acquisition, set a slew of new compensation norms.
  
• Clinical Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Bill: All clinics have to register with the government.

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Subject: Social sector

Remarks: The government scored with the RTI Act and the NREGA, but most of the programmes hit by below-desired outcomes.

Subject: Recession

Remarks: Despite the economic talent at its disposal, was unable to diagnose the impact of the global economic freefall.

Subject: Governance

Remarks: The strains of coalition politics came to bear—unsupportive allies, weak administrations, fund leakages to corruption....

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So can the government's erstwhile allies, the Left parties, be held responsible for the below par performance in many key areas like rural roads, sanitation, public health service, education, rural electrification, drinking water and other vital development areas? "For half its tenure, the Left-supported government seemed serious about social development, but with the SEZ Act in December '06, it undid much of the good work. Even the loan waiver for farmers seems to have been half-hearted," says Lysa John of Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, a network of civil societies linking 355 parliamentary constituencies.

If one takes stock, the UPA scored high with the right to be better informed 'RTI Act' and the right to work for at least 100 days through the NREGA. But it also failed to take forward many key legislations, like the Right to Education or the Women's Reservation Bill. On the plus side, it is felt the UPA's flagship programmes played a key role in shifting the agenda of governance to the social sector. "In the NDA government, the Sensex was seen as an indicator of national health," says Amitabh Behar, executive director, National Centre for Advocacy Studies.

Many admit the UPA government has strived to bring about a change in spending patterns of its planned expenditure. For instance, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was allocated Rs 1,951 crore in 2003-04. By 2008-09, the allocation had gone up to Rs 13,100 crore. "This government has shown more earnestness on rural development, particularly through the NREGS, which has helped address livelihood and employment issues," says Mahesh Vyas, MD and CEO of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. Based on anecdotal evidence, he points to the rise in cost of labour in rural areas, particularly in the western region, where NREGS has been implemented better.

Unfortunately, most of the government programmes—reduced from 115 to 65 in 2006 to make them more effective and to avoid duplication—have been hit by below-desired outcomes. Part of the reason for the opacity is the vast scope of these projects and the fact that most of them require local planning by panchayat, district and city or town administrations. "The capacity to plan at these levels does not exist, so they cannot absorb the funds even if they are available," says Dr Rajesh Tandon of Delhi-based NGO, PRIA.

As the UPA gears up to face general elections in May, a host of hurdles are slowing many of its key schemes including Bharat Nirman, a massive programme that is the primary source of funding for basic services such as roads, drinking water and telephone connectivity. A key problem with Bharat Nirman has been that though the central government has disbursed around 80 per cent of the funds allocated to states, there is no data to support their actual utilisation or impact. "The central disbursement does not reflect the actual fund utilisation by the states. There is often a big time lag or under-utilisation of funds," admits expenditure secretary Sushma Nath.

On-ground implementers state that funds are not the primary stumbling block. For instance, it took over 50 reminders from the SC before the government moved to universalise the Integrated Child Development Services, a child care and nutrition scheme that is also meant to provide supplements for adolescents and lactating mothers. The mandated 13.8 lakh anganwadi centres under the scheme have now been set up, but wide gaps remain. "This project is yet to cover younger children, appoint second anganwadi workers, or spend allocated funds on maternal health and teacher training," says Biraj Patnaik, principal advisor, Office of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court in the Right to Food Case.

Similarly, the nutrition-supplement scheme has been mired in controversy over whether to provide schoolchildren hot, cooked meals or nutrition packaged ready-to-eat snacks. In a critique, the cag noted that the mid-day meal scheme—the world's largest school-feeding programme—lacks "clarity". The committees monitoring the scheme had "met only twice since inception in 2005 against the scheduled five meetings".

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So, on many of the issues that high economic growth cannot address, experts both within and outside the government admit that performance has been mixed. The fact that Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh remain among the better performers (as in the past) is no surprise. On the other hand, while Bihar and UP continue to move slowly, Rajasthan and MP have shown considerable improvement on various indicators.

It's hard to be sure how far the UPA's policies were responsible for this. "The inputs are there but on the outcome measure, we are not sure or they are not measurable," says Dr Pronab Sen, secretary, ministry of statistics and programme implementation. The problem lies not just at the state level, but also in pockets of neglect, where the decision-making process is mired in apathy, or where local bodies are not given authority along with funds. On the other hand, success stories such as the RTI Act are now reeling under the weight of applicants—and obfuscating state authorities. RTI activist Sarbajit Roy says the RTI has only benefited a limited section of society. "In rural areas, there's hardly anyone using it. In some states like West Bengal and Kerala, the Act seems to hardly function. There's widespread coercion against its users and the information commissions are peopled with favourites, not experts," Roy states.

Another ground for criticism is that despite all the economic talent at its disposal, the government dream team was unable to diagnose the slowly deteriorating worldwide economic environment. After spending much of last year in tackling inflation, the government's surprise at the extent of the slowdown is exaggerated. The sudden and sharp dip in tax receipts of the Centre is a clear indicator that all is not well.

"The sudden and unanticipated fall in tax revenues chips off some of the buoyancy related to high growth," says D.K. Srivastava, director, Madras School of Economics. He says the government could have handled the current crisis better—the cuts in duties announced to counter the slowdown have eroded tax revenues without making a visible difference to the downturn. All this adds to the general atmosphere of uncertainty and nervousness in business and industry.

Of course, now the government's performance has become ideal territory for a political debate. "When you ask for votes, you cannot say you built new airports in Mumbai or Udaipur. You have to take credit for grassroots schemes like NREGS, where leakages abound," says Dr Jagdish Shettigar, convenor, BJP economic affairs cell. For now, the politics will take over. But there's no denying the slipping economic environment and the gaping holes in the outcome of many flagship initiatives of the UPA. That's the unkindest cut for a regime that came to power on the promise of inclusive growth.