The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and pension payments in (undivided) Andhra Pradesh accounted for more than 90% of Aadhaar-authenticated payments in India. This may be the way forward for other public programmes that are plagued with inefficiency and corruption. Technology when worked on and used right takes us into a regime of transparency and impartial decision-making that are key to good governance.
Social audits have the potential to make delivery of public programmes more effective. While the process is evolving, the audits of the employment guarantee programme in Andhra Pradesh show us what is possible.
