New Delhi, Jul 26 (IANS): Regulatory impact assessments are required by specialised bodies at central and state levels to reach out to the people at the grass root level and arrive at optimal solutions to improve the ease of living conditions, according to experts.

In a webinar organised by the Cuts International and SKOCH Group on 'Making Regulatory Reforms Inclusive and Sustainable', Pradeep S. Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International highlighted said that at present there is a coordination failure within the government and processes adopted by the government in reaching out to marginal stakeholders are not resulting the best possible results.

He was of the view that there is a need to institutionalise good practices like regulatory impact assessments which should include women, informal and small entrepreneurs.

Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group, noted that progress is possible only through negotiation and discussion, particularly with stakeholders having differing points of view. Implementation of a participative policy making process will be key to ensure ease of living, he added.

President of FICCI FLO, Jahnabi Phookan said that the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in navigating the regulatory ecosystem include issues with accessing collateral free loans, market linkages, information asymmetry about government schemes and capacity building.

She said that supporting traditional and scalable businesses championed by women entrepreneurs would go a long way in enhancing growth and ease of living of citizens.

According to Ajay Shankar, Former Secretary of the erstwhile Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said that India's regulatory system has been a hangover from colonial administration and said that the process of consultation with stakeholders is extremely weak and is captured by those who are relatively privileged.

He said that there is a need to create a transparent and publicly accessible inventory of regulations and institutionalise practices like cost-benefit analysis in letter and spirit to take into account perspectives of all stakeholders.

The panelists on the webinar also discussed the need to review and implement recommendations of different expert committees on bureaucratic and administrative reforms to shorten the distance between policy makers and citizens.