With taxpayer funds,UPA plans election plug

Plan panel asks ministries to ensure Centres share of funding in welfare schemes is displayed prominently.

With countrywide polls just six months away,the UPA government wants to earn as much credit it can for all social welfare projects and schemes it has funded fully or in part in the states.

In a directive last month,the Planning Commission asked ministries to ensure that project implementing agencies display the Centres share of funding. They will have to put on view a detailed break-up of the shares of the Centre and state funding for all central schemes.

Sharing details of the flow of central assistance in projects would encourage accountability on the part of the implementing agencies besides raising awareness of the general public for their participation in the governance process, says the September 2 order,a brainchild of the cabinet secretariat.

State governments have been taking credit for programmes and schemes of the Centre that are branded by the latters initiative and funding. Prominent examples are rural roads and electrification,where the Centre contributes the most,but the ruling party in the state frequently claims as its achievement.

While the central ministries would monitor all central sector schemes,the onus would be on state governments to advertise the Centres contribution in Centre-sponsored schemes.

The ministry may take it up with concerned states to ensure prominent display of information regarding the flow of central assistance in the project,the share of the state government and other agencies,its starting and completion dates etc., says the order.

Even in cases where the Centres assistance is for a piecemeal venture,the office from where the work is being executed will have to prominently display the details of central funding,contribution of the beneficiary or the state government,with a brief write-up on the scheme.

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The September 2 provision would be incorporated in the guidelines of all schemes and projects.