Finance Ministry is planning to divest the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) of its status as an autonomous body of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change(MoEF) and this has triggered anxiety among scientists at the organisation.
The major responsibility of this Institute is to provide advice to MoEF based on scientific information on policy and management of the country’s Wildlife Resources. This role can only be performed and remains relevant as long as the institute remains a part of the MoEF.
The government will cut funding to the institute by 25% every year, and it could become a ‘Deemed University’ engaged in teaching and research.
The move follows a review by its Expenditure Department of 194 autonomous bodies across 18 Ministries. Of them, 109 bodies must be merged into 26, and government must “disengage” from 23, one which is the WII.
Autonomous Bodies are set up whenever it is felt that certain functions need to be discharged outside the governmental set up with some amount of independence and flexibility without day-to-day interference of the Governmental machinery.These are set up by the Ministries/Departments concerned with the subject matter and are funded through grants-in-aid, either fully or partially, depending on the extent which such institutes generate internal resources of their own.
Despite a laid out administrative structure in Autonomous Bodies (ABs), there are a number of governance issues that need review. They are mostly registered as societies under the Societies Registration Act and in certain cases they have been set up as statutory institutions under the provisions contained in various Acts.
These bodies are funded by taxpayer’s money. However, there have been complaints that they don’t follow the policies of the government and are accountable the way the government departments are. The mode of recruitment and recruitment rules differs for each of these bodies. Non-Adherence to Envisaged Goal. No uniform audit procedure: Some ABs are audited by CAG whereas many are done by chartered accountants.
Dhananjai Mohan, the institute’s director, in the letter, said that the recommendation was “unviable” and would affect the institution’s perception as “unbiased opinion generator” that was consulted by both government and public sector units.
“The major responsibility of this Institute is to provide advice to MoEFCC based on scientific information on policy and management of the country’s Wildlife Resources. This role can only be performed and remains relevant as long as the institute remains a part of the MoEFCC,” Mohan said in the letter
The finance ministry’s recommendation came after a review of 194 autonomous bodies across 18 ministries by its expenditure department. The proposal suggested that 109 bodies be merged into 26 and that the government “disengage” from 23, including the WII.
