Even as Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia made a joint statement on Thursday to introduce flexibility in flagship Central schemes, some differences have emerged between them on the same schemes.
In a letter to Singh, dated October 18, Ramesh has expressed “grave concerns at the reported move of the Planning Commission to convert flagship programmes… from Centrally-sponsored schemes to Additional Central Assistance (ACA) programmes.”
The schemes mentioned by Ramesh include the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, National Rural Livelihood Mission, and Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan.
This move to convert centrally-sponsored schemes would mean that the Finance Ministry would control the fund release and allocation, while the Ministries under which these schemes have been operational, would be reduced to by-standers and would only monitor them.
The letter further said, “Incidentally, some years back, the National Social Assistance Programme went from being a Centrally-sponsored scheme to ACA one. The result has been severe delays in disbursement of old age, widow and disabled pensions.”
The Minister stressed that the Planning Commission should not make this move “under any garb,” adding that the only thing needed in the current system is more flexibility for State Governments to make monetary decisions related to Central schemes.