New Delhi, Dec 14 (PTI) The Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday tabled its report on the ‘Tribal Sub-Plan’ in Lok Sabha, expressing “utmost displeasure” over the government’s silence on its recommendation to create a non-lapsable pool for TSP funds.
The TSP aims to bridge the gap between the Scheduled Tribes and the general population with respect to all socio-economic development indicators. It is not applicable to states where tribals account more than 60 per cent of the population.
Funds for tribal development under the TSP are sourced from sectoral programmes of central ministries and departments and institutional finance.
In its previous report on the TSP tabled in Parliament in December 2017, the Public Accounts Committee had looked at its implementation in three ministries — Education, Health and Family Welfare, and Ayush. It noted several discrepancies in its implementation.
The panel had observed that funds at the end of the financial year were not being transferred to a non-lapsable pool of a TSP fund that could be utilised later.
It had recommended that the government make efforts for optimal utilisation of allocated TSP funds for a given financial year and that a non-lapsable fund be created to pool funds that could not be utilised in a financial year.
“The committee express their utmost displeasure as the intent of the committee through their recommendation was to create a non-lapsable pool for the TSP fund while the response is completely silent about it,” read the report that detailed the action taken by the government on its recommendation.
In 2017, the panel had also noted that the Tribal Affairs Ministry had not put out guidelines detailing the process for an oversight. It had recommended that the ministry create a central nodal unit for oversight for better coordination and efficient implementation of the TSP through an online monitoring system.
The government replied that the TSP Division is the central unit for facilitating better coordination and efficient implementation of the TSP and an “online monitoring system has been put in place to monitor allocation of funds, physical performance and outcome of ST schemes”. PTI GVS DIV DIV
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