Ernst & Young to evaluate jails

Legitimate claim of bureau overlooked, says House panel

The Centre has overlooked the legitimate  claim of  the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) “to evaluate” the implementation of  central  prison modernisation scheme and chosen the high profile US consultancy firm Ernst & Young, a parliamentary panel has said.

It is the BPRD that has developed the modern prison manual and is primarily tasked to research ways to modernise the police but when it comes to evaluating  “modernisation in Indian prisons”, the government looks for foreign hands.

A high-powered parliamentary panel that scrutinised the government’s action has questioned as to why BPRD’s claim was brushed aside in preference to a  foreign firm.

Set up on August 28, 1970  by the Centre,  BPRD  is  a  multifaceted consultancy organisation with five divisions with one exclusively devoted to “modernisation”.

When the panel sought the an explanation on experience/expertise and skill that Ernst & Young  had  for evaluation of modernisation of  Indian  prisons, the home secretary said he was “not aware of theprocess of selecting Ernest & Young for evaluation of the scheme over the BPRD”.

The home ministry later came out with anexplanation saying selection of a consultant was done by an open tender and out of three bidders –  M/s Ernst & Young Private Ltd, M/s Grnat and Thorton India and M/s Wipro Ltd — the first one finally qualified and accordingly the contract was given.

The committee was “not satisfied” with the replies of the ministry and felt “quite concerned  to note”  that the BPRD had not requisite  staff and expertise to evaluate the central scheme for modernisation of prison administration “despite the fact that it has undertaken several research studies of high calibre”, it stated.

“The committee does not buy the argument given by the ministry,” the committee ruled in its observation and maintained that in future only BPRD be given such assignment.

The parliamentary committee also quoted from the home ministry’s annual report which gave account of  its good experience in research and practical experience in various activities relating to policing. Deccan Herald’s attempts to elicit BPRD’s view on the issue did not materialise as there was no response.

The home ministry was of the view that BPRD “shown their inability to carry out such a review” and it explained its stand to the committee.

The first phase of modernisation of prisons was launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs from 2002 to 2007 in 27 states with an expenditure of Rs 1800 crore. Additional two years were also given and the scheme concluded on March 31, 2009. No new scheme for modernisation could be taken up for 2010-11 as funds are not available from the Centre.