Govt may eliminate 900 central sector schemes

Mamata Singh in New Delhi

The government is likely to reduce the number of centrally-sponsored schemes by 170 and central sector schemes by 900 in the Budget.

This will result in savings of around Rs 350 billion for the government during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2002-03 to 2006-07), an average saving of Rs 70 billion per year.

The Planning Commission has taken approvals in principle from all central ministries and departments for reduction in the number of schemes.

The exercise will not only lead to a decrease in the outlay for these schemes, but will also make monitoring easier as it will clear out the balance sheet, say officials.

The plan body had initiated an exercise to evaluate all ongoing central and centrally-sponsored schemes with a view to converge similar schemes, eliminate duplication and weed out the redundant ones.

All ongoing schemes are also to be subjected to zero-based budgeting next fiscal onwards. Prior to launching on its ZBB drive, the government was running 327 centrally-sponsored schemes and sub-schemes, at a cost of around Rs 800 billion.

This number will be brought down to 158 during the 10th Plan period. The total cost for running these schemes will be around Rs 650 billion.

In case of central sector schemes, the government is likely to sharply prune the number by 65 per cent, from 1,402 to 495. The cost of running these schemes is expected to come down from Rs 1,050 billion to Rs 950 billion.

Of the total number of centrally-sponsored schemes, the government is likely to weed out 55 schemes, merge 140 schemes into 47 and transfer 16 schemes to states. Three schemes will be transferred to other departments.

The highest number of centrally-sponsored schemes being weeded out is in the labour department where the government proposes to eliminate 15 schemes.

This is followed by the departments of family welfare and elementary education and literacy, where the government is likely to weed out eight schemes in each.

The amount of money the government is likely to save on schemes to be weeded out, is maximum in case of the department of agriculture and cooperation, where the government is likely to save Rs 6.14 billion by weeding out seven schemes.

Of the central sector schemes, the government plans to weed out 93 schemes in labour, 45 in the department of agriculture and cooperation, 34 in information and broadcasting and 30 in agricultural research and education.

In agriculture and animal husbandry, the government plans to reduce the number of schemes from 324 to 25.

The resultant savings to the government will be over Rs 50 billion.

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