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Ministers to brief state Congress chiefs on welfare schemes
Tuesday December 06, 2011 05:12:21 PM,
Amit Agnihotri,
IANS
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New Delhi: As the
Congress attempts to better project its welfare programmes in the
run-up to elections in seven states next year, union ministers
will brief Congress chiefs from 16 states on some of the flagship
schemes of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in
order to clear their doubts and misconceptions.
The two-day meeting from Wednesday is aimed at "better monitoring
of the welfare plans by educating the state leadership on the
implementation of the various programmes", said Vilas Muttemwar,
Congress general secretary in charge of the flagship programmes.
"This is the first time we have organised such a meet. This will
help clear the doubts of the state leaders," Muttemwar told IANS.
About nine or 10 central ministers dealing with various social
welfare programmes will give an update on the implementation of
these schemes.
Amongst those who will attend the meet are Jairam Ramesh, Health
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Information and Broadcasting Minister
Ambika Soni, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and
Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja.
Congress leaders said the move to improve monitoring of these
schemes in the states comes from the realisation that only a small
fraction of the whopping Rs.80,000 crore being spent annually on
various social welfare measures is actually reaching targeted
beneficiaries. Of this, rural job plan MGNREGS alone has an annual
budget of Rs.40,000 crore.
The inspiration for the move appears to have come from Congress
general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who has blamed Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Mayawati for widespread corruption in the implementation
of flagship schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the National Rural
Health Mission (NRHM).
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had recently suggested to
Mayawati that there should be a Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) probe into financial irregularities in the MGNREGS.
Elections to the state assembly are due next year.
Gandhi had even called on elected office bearers of the Youth
Congress to keep an eye on the implementation of the flagship
schemes. Following this state leaders sought more information on
these programmes from the government.
Senior party leaders said the UPA government's strategy is to
pursue high economic growth so that substantial money is available
for social welfare measures to pull millions out of poverty levels
and improve rural infrastructure.
Besides MGNREGS and the NRHM, some other flagship programmes are
the midday meal scheme, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, Indira Awas Yojna,
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, Integrated Child Development
Services and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
Elections are due next year in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab,
Gujarat, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh and Goa.
(Amit Agnihotri can be contacted at amit.a@ians.in)
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