PM's agri plan to be ready in 10 days

The government will finalise within 10 days the plan for allocating the Rs 25,000 crore additional central assistance (ACA) for agriculture.

The plan was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a special National Development Council meeting on May 29.

"We have sent our suggestions to the department of agriculture on how to distribute the Rs 25,000 crore assistance among the states. The department will formulate the final draft and send it to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) within 10 days," a source in the Planning Commission said. The EFC will send the proposal to the Cabinet for final approval.

The Plan panel had proposed that the states with more dry land should be given more funds, the official said.

On the proportion of funds the states would contribute, the official said, "We have suggested that the Centre's contribution should not be less than 50 per cent."