Tamil Nadu government signs agreement with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, IFMR for schemes

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has entered into an agreement with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, for implementing various schemes in sectors like education, healthcare and poverty alleviation.
"The MoU with the Abdul Latif Jameel-Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and the Institute of Financial Management and Research (IFMR), Chennai, will enable the involvement of economists and social scientists in the formulation and evaluation of various schemes in sectors like school education, health, poverty alleviation and skill development," an official release said.

The signing of MoU comes in the backdrop of the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's announcement in the assembly early this year that the government will lay emphasis on proper monitoring and evaluation of ongoing schemes.

IFMR, Chennai, is the local host institute for J-PAL in India and also a 44-year-old not-for-profit organisation engaged in research, training and education.

The MoU is a step towards realising the VISION 2023 document of becoming India's most prosperous and progressive state and having fully eradicated poverty, it said.

The draft MoU would identify top policy priorities and come up with solutions that can be "field-tested", identify policy innovations practiced globally and could be replicated in Tamil Nadu.

J-PAL will assist the state government to carry out monitoring and evaluation of ongoing or new schemes, provide training and assist Government in adopting outcome based initiatives.

Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Principal Secretary, S Krishnan exchanged documents with J-PAL South Asia Executive Director, Shobini Mukherji in the presence of Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, the release said.