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The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has detected shortcomings in the implementation of the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) which was primarily meant to expedite the implementation of large major and multi-purpose irrigation projects that were beyond the resource capability of the States.
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The CAG performance audit of the AIPB, tabled in Budget session of Parliament, covered 70 major and medium irrigation projects and 346 minor irrigation (MI) projects in 26 States. Incidentally, from 1996-97 to 2007-08, 253 major, medium and extension, renovation and modernisation and 6,855 MI projects were approved under AIBP.
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| The ultimate irrigation potential (UIP) of these projects was 10.49 million ha, which signified about eight per cent of the country's aggregate UIP. In this span, the Government provided funding of Rs 26,719 crore for such projects — Rs 16,720 crore in the form of Central Loan Assistance (CLA) and Rs 9,999 crore as grant. |
Audit sample: Pointing out that the status of completion of projects executed under AIBP continued to be poor, the CAG report said of the 253 major, medium and ERM projects sanctioned under AIBP between October 1996 and March 2008, only 100 projects were reported as completed.
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But, of the 70 major and medium projects within the audit sample, while 21 projects were reported as completed, 12 of these ‘reportedly completed' projects were found to be “incomplete or non-commissioned”.
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Besides, “most of the major and medium projects also suffered from cost and time overruns”, it bemoaned, adding that the major reasons for this lapse include “non-fulfilment of pre-requisites such as acquisition of land, receipt of forest/environmental and other clearances, delayed construction of railway and highway crossings and poor tendering and contract management”.
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The report said between 75 per cent and 85 per cent of the AIBP grants released during 2005-06 to 2007-08 were released to just six States — Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa.
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| The CAG is critical of the Centre as it had failed to enforce the provision of the AIBP guidelines for converting the grant component into loan in cases of failure to complete the projects in time in 7 major/ medium projects in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and 18 minor irrigation projects in Himachal Pradesh. |
Diversion of funds
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The audit also found “substantial diversion of funds and other irregularities in the AIPB components of Sardar Sarovar Project, Gujarat and other instances of diversions/ parking of funds of Rs 280 crore in 14 States”.BL 110510
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Power generation and Crude oil production miss targets
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The power generation of 771.55 million units in 2009-10 was 2.3 per cent lower than the target, but it was 6.8 per cent higher than the generation in 2008-09.
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The crude oil production at 33.69 million tonnes was 11.4 per cent lower than the target for 2009-10. However, the output was marginally higher by 0.5 per cent than what was achieved in 2008-09. PTI 160510
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NOTE: The country has consistently missed its targets for building roads, ports and power plants and private interest has been lukewarm, with bureaucratic red tape and difficulties in acquiring land holding up projects.
Neither will India achieve a road building target of 20 kilometres a day, nor add 78,700 megawatts of power generation capacity in the five years to 2012, targets set and then slashed by the government.
India may reach only 12-13 km per day in the current year, and add only 61,000 MW by 2012. BS 170510
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NREG-Complaints galore of fudging muster rolls
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A total of 1,230 complaints about irregularities in the implementation of NREGA have so far been brought to the Ministry's notice since the scheme was first launched in 200 districts in February 2006.
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These include complaints about fudging of important records including application registration record, employment register and muster rolls, sources said. |
| The government has so far spent over Rs 90,260 crore in the implementation of the programme. |
| As per figures available with the Ministry, 2.10 crore households were provided employment under the Act during 2006-07, 3.39 crore during 2007-08, 4.51 crore during 2008-09 and 4.49 crore households in 2009-10 (up to January, 2010). |
The average wage paid per persondays was Rs 65 during 2006-07, Rs 75 during 2007-08, Rs 84 during 2008-09 and Rs 88.56 during 2009-10. B S 160510 |
NOTE: The Supreme Court observed that several projects under the NREGA are failing and the funds of it’s schemes are not reaching the ‘actual beneficiaries’. |
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“There is no uniform policy. The money is not reaching actual beneficiaries,” a Bench comprising Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and B. S. Chauhan said. |
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| The Bench, which expressed concern over the implementation of NREGA said several projects under the scheme are failing as the funds allocated for them either remain unutilised or in many cases money lands up in wrong hands. |
“There has been distribution of money. But in many cases, it is going to wrong persons and real beneficiaries do not receive the cash,” the Bench said. The Hindu 080410 |
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| “Adequate remunerative prices” need to be given to the farmers” F M |
Defending his government’s role in containing the price rise, Mr.Pranab Mukherjee argued in Rajya Sabha“ adequate remunerative prices” need to be given to the farmers. “If they don’t produce, how are we going to feed 1.2 billion people? Therefore, it is essential that we must enhance the remunerative price, we must enhance the procurement price and we must procure adequately. BS 050510 |
| Bureaucratic reforms and rural investment key for sustainable 10% growth, Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor |
We need a more efficient decision-making system in the Government. If you can manage to work on that alone, 10 per cent (economic growth) is achievable,.Mr Basu said. India has a cumbersome decision making system when it comes to enterprise and business, he said, adding that it takes too long to give the green signal to an enterprise to flourish, for a firm to close down and a contract to be enforced. |
Apart from the bureaucratic reforms, there is a need for rural investment to improve farm productivity. India has woken up to the importance of infrastructural investment in urban areas. Now the push should be in rural areas, he said. — PTI 230510 |
| Wheat procurement down at 21.9 mt despite record output |
Wheat procurement, which started in April this year, has declined by 3.5 per cent to 21.89 million tonnes, despite record production. Procurement had stood at 22.68 million tonnes in the year-ago period. |
| The Government expects to procure 24.5-25 mt in 2010-11 marketing year (April-March) against a record 25.4 mt last year. BL 180510 |
Snippets: “On the economic lane, traditional confusion between the standard of living and the quality of life needs to be dispelled. People are not necessarily happier because their per capita income is higher. The gross national product is not an index of gross national contentedness.” Frank Hercules |
| Those in authority would do well to remember that before they make life luxurious for the very few, it is their obligation to make life bearable for the many. K Natwar Singh: GDP no index of contentedness BL 170410 |
| Corrupt Regulators of Tech &Medical Education |
Less than a year after swooping on the top brass of India's regulator for technical education, the CBI on 22nd April arrested Ketan Desai, president of the Medical Council of India (MCI), the apex national body regulating the higher education and degrees in medicine. Yahoo News 240410 - krsr/240510 |
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