Chhibber to head project appraisal office

Ajay Chhibber, former assistant secretary general of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on Wednesday took over as the first head of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) under the Planning Commission.

The body, which has been given an independent status, will evaluate programmes of the central government, particularly its flagship schemes.

The IEO is a brainchild of Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, to upgrade programme evaluation in India to a global level. He had, when at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), also been instrumental in setting up an independent evaluation office there.

Chhibber, an alumnus of the Delhi School of Economics, had worked for 25 years in the World Bank, covering research and policy issues. He was appointed head of UNDP’s regional bureau for Asia and the Pacific in 2007.

Chhibber was a contender for the post of chief economic advisor in the finance ministry after Kaushik Basu's term ended a year before. However, Raghuram Rajan was appointed.

The  office under the Planning Commission was earlier part of the Commission. Now, it will be an attached office, on the lines of the Unique Identification Authority of India.

IEO is meant to undertake impartial assessment of the various public programmes and improve the effectiveness of public interventions. The office has been given an independent status, outside the intervention of ministries, to give a more realistic picture of government programmes and their impact.  

It was set up in pursuance of the promise made in the Presidential address to the joint session of both houses of Parliament in June 2009. The IEO will function at an arm’s distance from the government. It will also advise the Planning Commission and the implementing agencies in developing appropriate management systems consistent with the evaluation objectives. Chhibber has earlier worked in the Commission as a consultant.