Kautilya on Selection, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Project

Kautilya wrote The Arthashastra during the fourth century BCE. It is a manual on how to provide freedom from wants and freedom from fear to every citizen. He understood that provision of human security was possible only if projects were selected properly. He recommended projects that maximized the creation of wealth and prevented damages from calamities, such as floods, famines, and fire, but keeping in view the complementarity of projects. He suggested a balanced growth approach to prevent possible bottlenecks. A bureaucratic set-up was designed to hold someone responsible to implement the project and be accountable. Contingency planning was to be undertaken in case the project did not turn out to be as expected. Evaluation of the project afterwards was considered equally important: if the project was successful, what factors contributed to its success, and if it failed, what factors were behind its failure. This chapter explores the modern implications of The Arthashastra.