Question : DECENTRALIZATION OF ANNUAL PLANS

(a) whether the Planning Commission has given instructions to all the State Governments to prepare annual plans at local level and district level;

(b) if so, the number of States which has followed the instructions;

(c) whether the Planning Commission is evolving any mechanism according to which all the schemes will be prepared as per the requirements of the districts and funds allocated on that basis only;

(d) if so, the details thereof;

(e) if not, the reasons therefor;

(f) whether the Planning Commission has conducted an economic survey of all the districts in the country; and

(g) if so, the special economic package granted to the most backward districts on the basis of the said survey?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING (SHRI M.V. RAJASEKHARAN)

(a) to (g): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (g) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 220 FOR ANSWER ON 07.12.2005 REGARDING DECENTRALIZATION OF ANNUAL PLANS BY S/SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB AND SHRI MOHAN SINGH

(a) Yes Sir. These instructions relate to the preparation of the Annual Plans of the States for 2006-07.

(b) No such assessment has been made by the Planning Commission as the process of finalization of Annual Plans of the States for 2006-07 will be completed only by the end of the current financial year.

(c) to (e): Detailed instructions have been issued by the Planning Commission to all the States to prepare their Annual Plan Proposals on the basis of the requirement of resources for the districts at least for items of minimum needs as a first step. However, the state Governments have also been informed that a similar exercise in respect of entire set of items to be implemented through/by the Panchayati Raj Institutions as a part of the plan should also be attempted.

(f) & (g): No economic survey has been conducted by the Planning Commission of all the districts of the country. However, 147 districts (115 backward districts and 32 districts affected by left wing extremism) were identified for coverage under the Backward Districts Initiative of the Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana, initiated during the Tenth Plan. The backward districts were identified on the basis of an index of backwardness comprising three parameters with equal weightage to each, namely, value of output per agricultural worker, agriculture wage rate and percentage of SC/ST population of the districts.