Panel members to hit road for review

The country's top plan body wants to gauge the impact of various central government schemes on people just before the elections, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Jul 4, 2008, 01:41:02 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The country's top plan body wants to gauge the impact of various central government schemes on people just before the elections. So it has decided to send its members to various states in the next one-and-a-half months. Stated reason mid-term appraisal of the schemes. Probable reason educating people about the benefits of these schemes.

In a first, a decision was made on Tuesday at an internal meeting of the Planning Commission. “We are in the middle of second year of the 11th plan in which special schemes have been launched. It is sort of a mid-term review," the commission's deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said when asked about the idea behind the decision.

Although technically the 11th plan is in its second year, it was approved only in November last year. Most of the schemes envisaged in the plan are still in the nascent stage whereas some have been introduced from this financial year only. This makes it apparent that the visits will provide the government more than just feedback on its schemes.

Normally, the commission hires consultations to conduct mid-term appraisal of the schemes. But, the commission has decided to take a break from this age-old tradition. Starting from mid-July, each planning commission member will visit the states, for which he or she is responsible in the commission. Ahluwalia said the members have been asked to submit their report within a few months, probably before August-end.

During the visit, the members will also review implementation of flagship programmes, which the UPA government believes has brought change in rural lives and can help them in elections.

The government has been claiming success of National Employment Guarantee Programme, under which more than 1.8 crore people have got a bank account, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, which has brought 94 per cent children to schools and inclusive development schemes for benefit of SC/ST and minorities. Similarly, the government claims to have provided Rs 1,32,000 crores for rural roads for connecting villages with the mainstream.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.