 "Glaring irregularities in agri ministry's flagship programme")
The findings could justify the 46 per cent reduction in Central allocation to RKVY in 2015-16 with the assumption that the balance would be contributed by state governments.
The CAG report questions state governments’ role in proper execution of the programme. More than half of the total annual Budget of the Union agriculture ministry is routed through RKVY, which is aimed at incentivising the states to achieve four per cent annual farm growth.
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In total, 4,000 projects were taken up for implementation during 2007-08 to 2012-13, of which the CAG did a comprehensive audit of 393. The total cost of 393 projects was Rs 6,017 crore between 2007-08 and 2012-13.
The auditor found glaring instances of diversion of funds and poor planning for projects at the districts level. The sub-schemes under RKVY such as development of 60,000 pulses villages, National Food Security Mission etc were also fraught with irregularities, the CAG found.
The auditor found instances of gross diversion of funds, improper planning in selection and execution of projects at the state and district levels and slack monitoring at the Central level, which could have cost the national exchequer a huge sum.
In one instance, the auditor found Rs 759.03 crore was parked in the personal ledger accounts or personal deposit accounts in as many 11 states without any utilisation, while in another, it discovered around 8,000 maize shellers were distributed among 3,000 farmers.
In Uttar Pradesh, the CAG found 100,000 seeds costing Rs 61 crore were supplied to farmers after the sowing was over.
“There was no dissemination of information, projects were planned and sent for approval without even looking at market linkages and there was absolute no input from the grassroots,” Satish Loomba, director-general of audit at CAG, told reporters. He said the auditor was not calling for scrapping the programme, but for proper execution of the scheme.
Among the other instances of mismanagement of public funds in RKVY, the CAG found an instance where cage fishing was being promoted in hilly areas, where the topography was not suited for the same, leading to massive losses.
In Madhya Pradesh, the CAG found the villages with assured irrigation were selected under the pulses development programme, while the guidelines clearly say pulses villages be set up only in areas that don’t have assured irrigation facilities.
In total, the auditor said against an allocation of Rs 32,460 crore between 2007-08 and 2012-13, an amount of Rs 30,873 crore was released under RKVY by the Centre of which Rs 28,083 crore was spent.