Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: Assam has armed 42 state and district resource persons with new tools to tighten oversight of public welfare schemes. The Assam Society for Social Audit and the Golap Barbara State Institute of Panchayat and Rural Development hosted a two-day workshop on October 12 and 13 in Guwahati. These experts must now turn routine paperwork into evidence-based action.
Dr. B. Kalyan Chakravarthy, Additional Chief Secretary of the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, set the tone for the effort. He told the attendees: "Audit findings lead to appropriate corrective action and that the benefits of government schemes reach their intended beneficiaries." The state wants to build public trust through cold, hard accountability.
Training focused on detecting financial slip-ups and using tech to keep the state honest. Participants learned to master the Nirnay App, Awas App, Kobo tools, and various dashboards within the Management Information System. They studied Standard Operating Procedures for tracking and monitoring Action Taken Reports to ensure no audit finding gets buried.
Dr. Arup Jyoti Kalita, Director of ASSA, pushed for a major shift in how these audits operate. He wants results, not just compliance. The curriculum covered community mobilization and inclusive education, led by experts from the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in Hyderabad, Samagra Shiksha Assam, and CML-Tata Trust.
The agency is now mapping out a 100-day action plan. This roadmap prioritizes the systematic follow-up of audit findings and a deep assessment of how these checks change life on the ground. The goal is simple: force government programs to deliver what they promised.
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