The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, today launched the India Backbone Implementation Network (IBIN). The purpose of IBIN is to improve implementation of policies, programs, and projects, which the 12th Five Year Plan has located as the critical necessity for accelerating more inclusive and faster growth. An analysis of projects and schemes has revealed that the major causes of bottlenecks in implementation are contention amongst stakeholders, and poor coordination amongst agencies.
These bottlenecks are at many levels in the system, at the center, in the states, and in districts and cities too. They cannot be relieved top down by the Planning Commission. They require collaborative action by stakeholders and agencies at multiple points.
IBIN has been modeled on the very successful Total Quality Movement in Japan which in the 1960s and 70s transformed the capability of Japanese organizations in the private and public sectors to deliver results. The TQM movement provided to teams within organizations, and to inter-organization teams, techniques and tools with which they could make rapid improvements of processes thereby transforming Japan into the hallmark of quality internationally. The Planning Commission has studied best practices for coordination and implementation in other countries also, such as Korea, Malaysia, Brazil, and Germany.
Speaking at the launch, Mr Ahluwalia said the Planning Commission has introduced several innovations in the 12th Plan to improve planning, communication, and implementation. These include the use of techniques of 'scenario planning' for the first time, use of social media for communications with youth, and the concept of IBIN.
The IBIN movement will disseminate techniques and skills for collaboration, coordination, and better planning through a network of agencies in the country. The partners in the expanding network already include more than two dozen institutions such as the Administrative Staff College of India, the Indian School of Business, SEWA, WISCOMP, UNDP, GIZ, the World Bank, FISME and other business associations. Speaking at the launch of IBIN, Arun Maira, Member Planning Commission, said that the network will form around nodes. The functions of a node will be to bring together providers of the skills and techniques and the agencies that
need them, and to continuously distil good practices and disseminate them widely. He thanked India@75 for partnering with the Planning Commission to launch this national network of collaboration and incubating it in India@75. India@75 will also help expand the IBIN network.
Mr. S. Gopalakrishnan, Co-Chairman of Infosys, and Chairman Apex Council of India@75, said that the objective of India@75 is to assist collaborative movements of change to achieve national goals in important sectors. India@75 is already engaged with expanding skill development. He thanked the Planning Commission for its partnership with India@75 to set up a cell within India@75 which will be the first node of IBIN. The launch session was also addressed by Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Member Trustee, India@75 Foundation and Mr. Rajan Navani, Chairman of the National Committee.
Preceding the launch on 19th April, 150 persons representing more than 50 organizations that have come together to support IBIN participated in an interactive meeting hosted by the Planning Commission and India@75. In this meeting they discussed the plan for creating the network over the next few months. They endorsed the concept of IBIN and committed themselves to support its implementation.