Bhubaneswar: With the Mohan Charan Majhi-led state govt nearing two years in office, Odisha has empanelled seven leading institutions, including IIT Bhubaneswar and National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), to conduct rapid and survey-based assessments of its schemes. The move aims to generate real-time feedback, plug implementation gaps and enable quick policy corrections.Other empanelled institutions are NIT Rourkela, Utkal University, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Nabard and XIM University, Bhubaneswar, according to a finance department office memorandum issued on Thursday.A senior govt officer said the assessments will provide swift, evidence-based inputs from the field, helping identify operational bottlenecks, gaps in delivery and beneficiary-level challenges without delay. “This will allow the govt to take immediate corrective steps, recalibrate strategies mid-course and improve efficiency while schemes are still underway,” she says.The entire assessment process is to be completed within four months, following a phased schedule, from design and fieldwork to analysis and reporting. The empanelment will remain valid for an initial period of three years, with datasets and reports retained as govt property.The empanelled institutions will be responsible for end-to-end execution of rapid survey-based assessments. This includes preparing questionnaires and survey tools in consultation with departments, conducting field surveys among beneficiaries, and collecting ground-level data for analysis. Different institutions will survey different schemes.The agencies will apply both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess scheme performance, identify gaps in implementation and gauge beneficiary response. They will submit inception reports, undertake fieldwork, clean and analyse datasets, and deliver draft and final reports along with stakeholder presentations. The teams deployed will include project managers, domain experts and data analysts, with a focus on technical accuracy and adherence to ethical standards.Existing schemes will be evaluated for design, monitoring systems and implementation gaps, while newly launched programmes will be assessed for early outcomes and on-the-ground response. The objective is to enable concurrent evaluation rather than waiting for full-fledged third-party studies, which often take longer to complete.Officials said the rapid assessments are aimed at providing actionable insights for immediate intervention, mid-course corrections and future policy planning. Departments will identify schemes based on strategic importance or emerging concerns, and coordinate with the finance department for approval and selection of agencies.The administrative departments concerned will act as nodal units for execution, appointing officers to oversee the process, facilitating field coordination, and ensuring timely availability of data and documents. They will also be responsible for funding studies and submitting action taken reports on the recommendations.The cost per study ranges from around Rs 10.6 lakh for surveys covering up to 300 households to about Rs 24.8 lakh for those covering up to 1,500 households.
