GS Paper II

News Excerpt:

The 1st meeting of the Social Audit Advisory Body (SAAB) was held on 18th January 2024 in New Delhi.

• This advisory body, a first of its kind, has been established to guide the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment in institutionalizing social audits for its various schemes.

What is a Social Audit?

• It is an audit of a Scheme/Programme that is conducted jointly by the Government functionaries and the people, especially by those people who are affected by or are the intended beneficiaries of such scheme. 
• It can be described as the verification of the implementation of a program/scheme and its results by the community with the active involvement of the primary stakeholder. 
• This is done by comparing official records with actual ground realities, with the participation of the community in the verification exercise, and by reading out the findings of the verification exercise aloud on a public platform. 
• Oral testimonies and facts are obtained from the public and compared with the official records. 
• The Social Audit process goes beyond accounting for the money that has been spent to examine whether the money was spent properly and has made a difference in people’s lives.

Principles of social audit: 

• Transparency: Complete transparency in the process of administration and decision making, with an obligation on the govt to proactively give the people full access to all relevant information.  
• Participation: A right based entitlement of all the affected persons and not just their representatives to participate in the process of decision making and validation.
• Representative Participation: In those cases where options are predetermined out of necessity, the right of the affected persons to give informed consent, as a group or as individuals, as appropriate is to be held.
• Accountability: Immediate and public answerability of elected representatives and government functionaries, to all the concerned and affected people, on relevant actions or inactions. 

Objectives of Social Audit:   

• Accurate identification of requirements   
• Prioritization of developmental activities as per requirements   
• Proper utilization of funds   
• Conformity of the developmental activity with stated goals   
• Quality of Service 

Purpose of the Social Audit:   

• The purpose of conducting Social Audit is not to find fault with the individual functionaries but to assess the performance in terms of social, environmental and community goals of the organization. 
• It provides an assessment of the impact of an organization’s non‐financial objectives through systematic and regular monitoring, based on the views of its stakeholders. 

Scope of Audit: 

• Social audit is also conducted on Policies and Laws in addition to the schemes or programmes.  
• The task of auditing is relevant right from the stage when an issue is identified through planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. 
• Audits are done on not just of ‘decisions taken’ or the actions done (or not done) but also of the ‘processes followed’. 

The six steps of Social Auditing are: 

• Preparatory activities 
• Defining audit boundaries and identifying stakeholders 
• Social accounting and book‐keeping 
• Preparing and using social accounts 
• Social audit and dissemination 
• Feedback and institutionalization of social audit 

Audit Criteria:

Audit criteria are derived from:

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005;
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Audit of Scheme Rules, 2011;
• Instructions issued by the Ministry and rules issued by State Government and SAU (Social Audit Unit) from time to time in this regard;
• MGNREGA Operational Guidelines 2013 and Amendment thereon.

Significance of Social Audit:

• Raises public awareness and knowledge;    
• Promotes citizen empowerment and strengthens community voice by allowing community members to provide feedback, gather evidence, interpret findings and develop solutions;
• Promotes local democracy and collective decision-making;   
• Enhances policy-makers’ understanding of stakeholder concerns and encourages them to take steps to address the same; and    
• Can lead to improved design and delivery of programs and services.  
• When institutionalized, social audits allow for regular monitoring of public institutions, enhancing the legitimacy of state actors and enhancing the trust between the citizens and the government.   
• Curb on corruption  
• Increased effectiveness of a Program / Project   
• A sense of belonging (Personal touch with People, since people participate in the audit)    
• Social Accounting and Reporting   
• Promotes integrity and a sense of community among people.   
• Good Local Governance   
• Grievance redressal and follow-up of corrective actions

Challenges and lessons:   

• The implementation of a social audit may require substantial technical support, particularly in obtaining and analyzing the data often necessitating external funding.   
• Access to public records is crucial for a social auditing process. 
• Obtaining records may often depend on the intervention of sympathetic officials. 
• In the longer term, overcoming this obstacle may involve lobbying with the government to introduce legislation granting citizens access to public records.  
• In situations where the non-existence of accurate public records is a problem: social audits can focus on user feedback and advocate for improved recordkeeping over time.    
• Service providers and policymakers may feel threatened by the social audit process.  
• Social audits, if not handled sensitively, can inflame emotions and can potentially lead to conflict or retribution from those who are “exposed”. 
• It is prudent to foresee the potential need for conflict management and to remind all participants that the primary goal is not to assign blame but to bring about improvements.

Control over Social Audit:

• No official/ political pressure should be brought on to the social audit process.  
• All records pertaining to works that are to be audited must be available with the social audit team before the Audit process begins.  
• The role and responsibilities of Government/Administration and the Social audit team should be clearly explained.  
• The purity of the Social audit must be maintained under all circumstances.  It should not be politicized.   
• A Social auditor shall not bring his/her personal or organizational agenda into the social audit process   
• All the aspects of the scheme must be closely examined during the social audit process   
• There should not be any place for discrimination in the Social audit process based on caste, race, religion or profession.   
• A social auditor must be an impartial observer of facts.   

Conclusion: 

• The key to successful Social Auditing is in knowing which techniques to use and in what sequence. 
• The Social Auditor can choose different methods so as to capture both quantitative and qualitative information from the respondent. 
• It is equally important to ensure the follow‐up action taken on the Social Audit report and the receptiveness of the departments/organizations to adopt the recommendations in the Social Audit report. 
• The social auditors should suggest modalities for improving its performance based on the feedback received from different stakeholders. 
• The detailed work plan needs to be identified by the social auditors and the same should be implemented at the earliest.

Mains PYQ

Q. An independent and empowered social audit mechanism is an absolute must in every sphere of public service, including judiciary, to ensure performance, accountability and ethical conduct. Elaborate. (UPSC 2021)