New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has asked the Union tribal affairs ministry to set a timeline for the implementation of the Narendra Modi government’s ambitious Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAAGY). The panel observed that development plans have been approved for only 24 percent of the 36,428 identified tribal villages under the project in the past two years.
The PMAAGY is aimed at providing basic facilities and adequate infrastructure in 36,000-plus identified tribal villages that have at least 50 percent Scheduled Tribe (ST) population and 500 ST persons. In 2022, the Modi government rebranded the ‘Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme’ (SCA to TSS) to PMAAGY.
In its action taken report tabled in Parliament Thursday, the parliamentary panel on social justice and empowerment that assessed the demand for grants (2023-24) for the tribal affairs ministry did not accept the ministry’s explanation regarding the slow pace of implementation of the scheme.
Expressing concern, the panel — headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rama Devi — said that the ministry has not taken “substantive steps” to address the problems, and asked it to find “viable solutions” and set timelines for implementation.
The preparation of Village Development Plans (VDPs) is a crucial step for the successful implementation of the scheme, according to the ministry’s guidelines from March 2022. The VDP includes basic infrastructure such as road connectivity, schools, telecommunication connectivity, and health facilities. Under the scheme, which is completely funded by the central government, Rs 20.38 lakh is given to each village for development.
Villages are to be taken up in a phased manner — according to the guidelines, about one-fifth of the total villages are to be selected annually for five years. According to the panel’s report, of the 36,428 identified villages, 16,554 were selected in the first two years. Of these, VDPs had been approved for 8,707 villages (52 percent) till earlier this year.
“The Committee are (sic) not convinced with the progress of Village Development Plan as only 24 percent of the villages identified under Integrated Development Plan could be approved by (the) Project Appraisal Committee in a period of two years,” the panel said.
Reiterating its recommendations made in the original report on the demand for grants — tabled in the Parliament in March this year — the committee said: “…the time consumed in appraisal of the VDP needs to be curtailed and also the timelines are to be laid down for each stage so that there is no delay and (sic) the work of integrated development of 36, 428 villages.”
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Several states yet to submit development plans
The 16,554 villages selected in the first two years are spread across 29 states and Union territories. Of these, 16 states, among them Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Meghalaya, have not submitted any VDPs, the report shows.
According to the scheme’s guidelines, 50 percent of the funds are to be released to the states once they select the villages for the financial years. However, this is subject to procedural requirements, such as creating a Single Nodal Account (SNA) for the transfer of funds from the state treasury and submission of utilisation certificates (UCs) by the states.
A utilisation certificate is a document to certify that a particular loan or grant has been used for its intended purpose. A single nodal account is a special purpose account created for monitoring the utilisation of funds released to states under Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).
In its response to the committee, the ministry said that 12 states/UTs, including UP, West Bengal, and Maharashtra, didn’t submit UCs or create SNAs in 2021-22, while in 2022-23, eight states — including Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand — didn’t meet these procedural requirements.
It also said that states such as Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Gujarat, which have a sizeable number of identified tribal villages under the scheme, have not been able to meet the target in the first two years.
For instance, of the 7,307 tribal villages identified in Madhya Pradesh, the state had selected 2,867 villages in the first two years. But it could prepare plans for just 1,195, the report said.
Similarly, Rajasthan (4302 total villages) has prepared plans for just 860 out of 1,688 villages selected in the first two years, it said.
“The Committee find from the Action Taken Reply that no substantive steps have been taken to address the perennial problem of non-submission of Utilisation Certificates, non-compliance of Single Nodal Account (SNA), etc,” the panel said.
Reiterating its past recommendation, the committee further added that if some viable solution is not worked out by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the project “may suffer as mere coordination/persuasion with State/UT Governments has never yielded desired results in the past also”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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