MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE), MINISTRY OF PLANNING, MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION AND MINISTER OF STATE FOR DEFENCE (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)
(a) Backward Districts have been identified for coverage under the District component of the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF). The 250 districts initially identified for coverage under the scheme, included all the 200 districts covered by the first phase of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and 170 districts identified by the Inter- Ministry Task Group on Redressing Growing Regional Imbalances (IMTG),120 districts being common to both. List of 17 parameters used by the IMTG for Redressing Growing Regional Imbalances for identification of backward districts is at Annexure I. In 2012-13, 22 more districts were included, most of which were districts carved out of the existing BRGF districts between Census 2001 and 2011. The statewise list of 272 districts covered under BRGF is at Annexure-II.
(b): In addition to Centrally Sponsored Schemes / Flagship Schemes, the Government is also implementing the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) which is the specific scheme for removal of regional imbalances and development of backward areas. State-wise releases / funds utilized are at Annexure-III. Funds under the District Component of BRGF have been used to fill critical gaps identified by the community through decentralized planning. An evaluation study of the BRGF has been conducted through the Programme Evaluation Organisation which shows that investments in creation of assets, promotion of livelihoods, etc. have been useful and have had a positive impact on the overall living conditions of the people.
(c) & (d): The State component of the Backward Regions Grant Fund includes: (i) Special Plan for the Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi (KBK) districts of Odisha with an allocation of Rs. 1250; (ii) Special Plan for Bihar with an allocation of Rs. 12,000 crore (iv) Special Package for implementing Drought Mitigation Strategies in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with an allocation of Rs. 4400 crore for the Twelfth Plan period; and (iii) Special Plan for West Bengal with an allocation of Rs. 8750 crore for 2011-12 and the Twelfth Plan. In addition, the Integrated Action Plan(IAP) for Selected Tribal and Backward Districts has been in operation since November, 2010. This scheme has now been approved for continuation in the Twelfth Plan as Additional Central Assistance(ACA) for Left Wing Extremism Affected Districts in 88 districts, including all the 82 districts covered under IAP with an allocation of Rs. 30 crore per district annually in 2013-14 and 2014-15. A new Scheme, namely, Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojana has been included in Annual Plan 2014-15 with an allocation of Rs. 100 crore for tribal development. However, there is no proposal at present to formulate any new scheme for infrastructure development of backward and tribal areas in the country.
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