Prioritise schemes: FM tells Plan panel

Finance Minister P Chidambram on Tuesday asked the Planning Commission to prioritise expenditure and focus on weeding out irrelevant centrally-sponsored schemes in the short-term.

Schemes that are important from the point of view of the common minimum programme should be the focus, while those which are 'nobody's priority' should be weeded out, he said.

Significant changes would be effected in the Budget for 2005-06, but for now, minor adjustments would be made in the schemes, he told reporters after an hour and a half long meeting with members and officials of the Planning Commission.

Schemes that are of national importance, especially welfare schemes, are likely to be retained at the Centre, while the rest will be transferred to states over a period of time.

Indications are that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is under flak for lack of absorptive capacity, while the mid-day meal programme is likely to be shifted to states.