The Development, Monitoring and Evaluation Office, which monitors the process of long term policies in an attached office under

The correct answer is D) NITI Aayog. The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) is an attached office of NITI Aayog. It was set up in 2015 to monitor and evaluate the implementation of government programmes and projects, and to feed the results back into planning. Its work supports NITI Aayog's role as the think tank that tracks outcomes rather than just approving schemes.

• A) Prime Minister's Office: The PMO has its own monitoring platforms, such as PRAGATI, but DMEO is not an office under it.
• B) Ministry of Home Affairs: MHA handles internal security, Centre-State relations and related subjects. It does not house DMEO.
• C) Cabinet Secretariat: The Cabinet Secretariat manages the business of the Union Cabinet and its committees. It does not monitor development programmes.

Core concept: institutional design of policy monitoring and evaluation, which is part of the Governance and Planning sections of the syllabus. For Mains, link it to outcome-based budgeting and the shift from input tracking to outcome evaluation.

Trap: Aspirants pick the PMO because of PRAGATI and similar review mechanisms. Remember that the office belongs to NITI Aayog.