Niti Aayog to set up working group for centrally sponsored schemes

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 27

The Niti Aayog will set up a working group to prepare a draft report on improving the functioning of centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) by taking into account suggestions made at the first meeting of the sub-group of Chief Ministers here today.

“We have decided to set up a working group under Niti Aayog CEO Sindhushree Khullar to prepare a draft report on the suggestions made by various Chief Ministers in the meeting,” said Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, convener of the sub-group comprising 11 Chief Ministers.

The report will be taken up for discussion in the next meeting of the panel on April 27. According to a Niti Aayog statement, the first meeting of the sub-group on rationalisation of CSS was held today. The Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Rajasthan and Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands attended the meeting.

Member of Niti Aayog Bibek Debroy and CEO Sindhushree Khullar, along with senior officials of the Aayog, were also present at the meeting. The meeting discussed various aspects of rationalisation of the centrally sponsored schemes with a view to improve their impact.

The sub-group on rationalisation of CSS has been constituted as per the decision taken in the first meeting of the Governing Council chaired by the Prime Minister in February.

Chouhan said that the sub-group will discuss the draft report at its meeting next month and then move towards making recommendations. He will meet officials of central departments running various schemes on April 16 to know their experience and suggestions.

The sub-group, he said, has been constituted to discuss the funding pattern on CSS as the states’ share in central taxes has been increased to 42 per cent from 32 per cent, as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission. Also, there is need for implementation flexibility in some of the schemes, he added.

Among others, the meeting was attended by Jammu and Kashmir CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje.