As expected, Sonia Gandhi’s absence from the National Advisory Council (NAC) has started affecting programmes once championed by it. The UPA Government’s flagship job guarantee scheme (NREG), pushed ahead by the NAC, received its first blow from the Finance Ministry. The ministry has opposed the move to raise the level of administrative expenditure from two per cent to five per cent of the total expenditure for implementation of NREG.Sidelining the expenditure and finance committee’s (EFC) decision last October that allowed a hike in administrative expenditure, the Finance Ministry stated that it was willing to concede only up to four per cent.Earlier in the last session of Parliament, the Rural Development Minister had announced the approval of the expenditure and finance committee’s decision to raise the administrative expenditure under NREG. However, ahead of being placed before the Cabinet for its approval, the Finance ministry has put a spanner into this decision by raising objections over the expenditure on staff and salaries for administering the job guarantee scheme. What indicates a loss of influence of NAC over matters of the job guarantee scheme is that the Finance Ministry’s opposition sidesteps similar demands made by NAC. In fact, the council had recommended an increase in administrative expenditure to six per cent. It was only after the rolling out of the NREG in 200 districts across the country that the Ministry of Rural Development realised the challenges involved in administering this scheme. In September, the Central Employment Guarantee Council had submitted a note indicating four major obstacles in implementing the scheme — lack of awareness in implementing agencies, lack of sufficient provision for administrative expenditure, staff shortage at the local level and lack of an independent redressal mechanism. What is more interesting is that the tussle over expenditure does not call for additional budgetary allocation but only a permission to use a larger proportion of total expenditure on NREG. The Finance Ministry’s current stand has brought the Rural Development Ministry back to where it had begun. A proposal to raise the proportion of administrative expenses to six per cent was taken to the Cabinet last year by Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. The Cabinet was not willing to allow more than four per cent for administrative expenses, which referred the matter to the expenditure and finance committee for its suggestion. However, after an approval of five percent from the EFC, the Finance Ministry has again brought this to the same level.
