Vikas Yojana under review

The Planning Commission is reviewing the Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana. The programme, with an allocation of Rs 3,225 crore in the current fiscal, was launched in 2002-03 to assist backward districts.

The allocation was for policy reforms in sectors constraining growth and development. The idea was to put in place programmes and policies to remove barriers to growth and accelerate development.

The project covers 100 districts, including those affected by Left-wing extremism.

"We are spending Rs 15 crore each year, for three years, on each of these districts. It needs to be ensured that the money is well spent. I will go to the village panchayat level to see how the programmes can be used to fill the missing links," Minister of State for Planning M V Rajashekharan told Business Standard.

The additionality should be used to fill the gaps in existing programmes in the Tenth five-year plan, he said.

The programme, which was launched in 2002 as the Development Reserve Facility and then renamed Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY), has not been very successful, officials said.

The allocation for the first year was Rs 2,500 crore, of which only Rs 775 crore was spent. The subsequent year, the government allocated Rs 1,450 crore but spent only Rs 1,000 crore. In the current fiscal, an allocation of Rs 3,225 crore has been made.

Rajashekharan said villages should have the right to implement and monitor the programmes. Under the scheme, a sum of Rs 15 crore is provided each year to these districts for three years.

The funds are sent to the state governments on a 100 per cent grant basis in installments, based on the satisfactory progress of the district plans.

The Planning Commission had specified that the money from the RSVY should be allocated as an additionality only for expanded coverage of schemes which were being funded from other sources, like the state plan, centrally-sponsored schemes, central schemes and externally-aided projects.

As per the guidelines, allocations under the RSVY should be made only after exhausting the assistance available from other sources.