Question : INCLUSION OF DISTRICTS UNDER BRGF PROGRAMME

(a) whether the Union Government proposes to indentify and include more/ new districts under the Backward Regions Grant fund (BRGF) Programme and has conducted/ proposes to conduct any survey in this regard;

(b) if so, the details thereof alongwith the guidelines issued/ to be issued in this regard;

(c) whether some of the States have requested for inclusion of more districts in their respective States including East Singhbhum and other districts of Jharkhand under the programme;

(d) if so, the details thereof indicating the requests received from various States in this regard, State-wise; and

(e) the reaction of the Union Government for identification and inclusion of more/ new districts under the programme, particularly during the Twelfth Five Year Plan alongwith progress made in this regard?

(f) If so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI V. KISHORE CHANDRA DEO)

(a) & (b): There is a proposal under consideration to cover under the District component of Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), more districts that have been carved out of the existing BRGF districts between 2001 Census and 2011 Census.There is no proposal at present to conduct any survey for identification of more/ new districts for coverage under BRGF. A copy of the existing guidelines can be perused at panchayat.gov.in. 

(c) & (d): The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has received several requests from States for inclusion of districts under BRGF. The details are in Annex-1.

(e) & (f): The inclusion of districts carved out from the existing BRGF districts as independent districts under BRGF with a separate allocation would be in the interest of the programme’s objective of mitigating regional disparity.Identification of new districts for inclusion under BRGF needs to be based on objective criteria of assessing backwardness.