Planning for the development of districts is the corner stone of overall development of the State. This planning has been structured in a manner that District Development Boards become the nodal agency that carries forward the entire scheme of development. Recently meetings of four District Development Boards have been held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister. These are the districts of Baramulla and Kupwara in Kashmir region and Kathua and Samba in Jammu region. The highlight of these meetings is the revised methodology of utilization of capital allocation for the District Boards. The new methodology is firstly to separate salaries of Government employees from the plan allocation, and secondly to divide the capital allocation into three categories. One-third amount of the district annual plan will go to the clearing of liabilities left by the previous Government, another one-third to the ongoing development works and remaining one-third for new schemes, which will be identified by the people’s representatives in the District Development Board (DDB) meetings. This formula will apply to all the districts of the State.
According to knowledgeable sources, the previous Government had left liabilities to the tune of Rs 9400 crore including some of the works, which had been executed without tenders. Some of the works had been undertaken only on verbal instructions of the then Ministers. Notwithstanding varying views on the formula of liquidation of liabilities, it was agreed that one third of allocations would result in gradual clearance of all liabilities without staging any big difficulty in the futuristic development plans. In other words it means while the liabilities are liquidated, new projects are also devised and the incomplete projects are also in the process of development. In simple terms, the change in methodology ensures that the District Development is not bogged with liquidating the liabilities only but future planning also goes on simultaneously.
Of course, this is a change from the practice observed so far. However, the question is of success of the new scheme or the delivery component. Only the result of the new financial policy will tell us how far the change has helped in streamlining developmental prospect in a district. Therefore, it will be premature to comment on the utility of new financial policy in regard to district planning. Under the new criteria set for financing of the district plans, four basic parameters have been taken into consideration by the Government. They include population, income, area and infrastructure. We think that this is no absolute innovation and the allocation of funds to districts was usually along these parameters. We would have appreciated if the component of location and related security parameters of the districts were also taken into consideration for development. To make the point clear, we have many districts in the State that are located close to the LoC. We have also some districts in which firing and shelling from the other side of the LoC forces the civilian population to migrate to a safer place at least temporarily if not permanently. Kupwara, Baramulla, Poonch, Rajouri, Kathua and Samba districts fall under that category. Therefore the location of a district should also be taken as a component in determining the quantum of Plan allocation for developmental activities.
A number of new projects have been discussed and approved in the DDB meetings for all the four districts in question. There is a sizeable increase in the current year’s allocation. Baramulla district gets 226.32 crore, which is 237 per cent over last year’s allocation and for Kupwara district Capital Plan outlay is 217.47 crore rupees, an increase of 239 per cent. Some new projects have been approved. There is increased thinking that trade along the LoC needs to be given impetus. Reiterating his commitments made during his recent visit to Salamabad check post, the Chief Minister assured that Trade Facilitation Centers, both at Salamabad and Chakan-da-Bagh, will be made real business hubs by creating facilities of banking and telecommunications, besides facilitating trade delegations across the LoC.
Reacting to the discussion on Kathua District Development Board, the Chief Minster said that he would take up the case of utilization of water from Ranjit Sagar Dam with the Punjab Government and see to it that Shahpur-Kandi canal supposed to be crucial to agricultural activities of district Kathua becomes a reality. Several other projects were approved for the twin districts of Kathua and Samba.
Dr. Jatindra Singh, Minister of State in PMO, also MP from Kathua parliamentary constituency, made a meaningful intervention in the meeting. He laid emphasis on the point that transparency was of utmost importance in regard to allocation of funds to districts and also to various heads of expenditure under planning. There is much weight in his suggestion that elected representatives of the people should be taken on board when deciding the priorities in regard to penciling new projects or identifying the priorities. This is essential and is precisely what democratic dispensation means. If we say that it is the people who will decide their priorities, then the blue print of the developmental plan for a district has to drawn by the representatives of the people in consultation with the people and the district level authorities and not by the Deputy Commissioner alone while sitting in his office. We find much commonsense in his proposal that the planning and programming of development of districts has to be a continuous process and one meeting a year is absolutely inadequate in this respect. Likewise, there is little sense in the Deputy Commissioner of a district waiting for one full year when the DDB meeting will be convened. He should be at liberty to invite the elected representatives of his district to keep the developmental debate a continuing process
Dr. Jatindra Singh regretted that in the power presentation made by the Deputy Commissioner of Kathua district, progress and delivery on many important schemes floated by the Centre were conspicuous by their absence. Details of Government of India schemes like Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana, and Jeevan Suraksha Yojana have not been mentioned. While other States of the country and even Sangwali village adopted under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana have achieved 100% targets in some of these schemes, the DDC chose not to reveal anything. Nothing was shared about the steps initiated to implement Arogya Gram Yojana in the district.
It will be recalled that in these columns we have often drawn the attention of the State Government towards its casual treatment of centrally sponsored schemes with the result that it has ended up with deprivation for the State. In final analysis, we appreciate the new financing methodology for the DDBs. But what is important is the delivery. We shall be able to comment objectively on the new financing methodology only when concrete results come to us. At the same time, we entreat the Government to change its culture towards handling the Centrally sponsored schemes. There is lot of absence of accountability in this area and the Government should take adequate measures to remove this discrepancy.
Lastly, as the adage goes ‘the taste of pudding is in eating’, we expect the Government to ensure two things in regard to DDBs. One is that the pending projects are completed as early as possible and the other is that new projects proposed for the districts are floated with all seriousness and not made a propaganda instrument.
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