Chief Minister Conrad Sangma while speaking at a meeting on malaria research recently had stated that data is integral to policy making. The opposite of that is shooting in the dark and this is how policies have been made in Meghalaya for over forty years. Data-driven decision making is critical to ensuring that money invested by government has the desired outcomes. It also means that the decisions taken are informed by reliable data. In Meghalaya, research in critical areas of development has been sketchy. The actual numbers in maternal and infant mortality are not readily available. So here too we are shooting in the dark and hitting the wrong targets in an area that is critical to the human development index.
Up until now, interventions by government have not been based on fundamental research but on the assumption that those are problem areas. Much also depended on which minister or bureaucrat gave a push to certain pet projects. Even in the Tourism sector Meghalaya has been pushing the same destinations without the foresight to create at least 25 or 30 sites so that tourists are not rushing to the oversold destinations. Is there any research done by a credible agency after which we could evolve a tourism policy? Many in positions of decision-making have failed to verify whether a scheme that has been pushed here has benefitted our people. If not why not? In fact there is a resistance to accept that a particular scheme has failed and to reconfigure it. Many hospitals today find it curious that the patients coming in with the MHIS card meant for those living below poverty line (BPL), drive into the hospitals in sedans and are unwilling to be put in the general ward because they say they are not BPL. If so how did they get the MHIS Card? Do we have a reliable database of the number of BPL families in Meghalaya? Isn’t giving an MHIS card to someone who can afford health care a waste of scarce public resources? MHIS cards have been issued to people based on their affinity to politicians or the Dorbar Shnong. This is possible because of want of a credible database. Hence a second BLP census is important for Meghalaya.
To extract genuine value from data, it must be accurate as well and relevant to the aims and objectives of the government. Data driven decision-making is what good governance is all about. Information technology is there to help government come up with more informed decision-making. This is the Department that needs a huge fillip.