Transcript SUB COMMITTEE ON DISTRICT PLANNING PROCESS
SUB COMMITTEE ON DISTRICT PLANNING PROCESS
Current Scenario on Planning
The DPCs are weak bodies with little professional support to guide & monitor planning process except in a few states
Even the State Planning Boards (SPB) generally have i) little allocable fund for the DPCs ii) inadequate capacity to steer & monitor decentralized planning process
Planning processes & set of reforms to be adopted for District Planning as prescribed by the Planning Commission is yet to be adopted in general through appropriate contextualization by the States
There is little incentive / compulsion to go through the rigorous process of planning
DPCs do not have back up professional support to plan in a decentralized mode even if they desire so in most cases
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Strengthening DPCs
The DPCs are to have own permanent Secretariat with adequate infrastructure
Full time professionals in the field of i) Economic development; ii) Social & environmental issues; iii) urban planning; iv) Statistics & IT; v) Training & IEC and a District Planning Officer to coordinate along with necessary support staff – as per size of the district
DPCs to develop baseline data on relevant socio economic indicators relevant for the state under guidance of SPB for each local body & the district as a whole, make the same public through website & update suitably
Census 2011 to publish data local body wise for benchmarking progress in important areas
DPCs should have adequate allocable resources
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District Sector Plans of the State
Many states do not come forward with district sector component of the departmental plan
Some states have such component but the same is not worked out through any consultation process at district & sub-district levels & is rather prepared by state officials of the line department concerned
Ideally the district sector component is to be shown in the budget document and DPC should finalize the component through adequate participation of people at lower tiers
The resource envelop for district component to be communicated at the beginning of the planning cycles at the bottom level – otherwise even if there is budget provision shown separately there will be no time to work out plan after the state budget allocates so
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Compelling to Start the Process
Apart from resource gap (human & financial) the ‘Will’ to plan properly is absent in general except some sporadic effort by individuals with little institutionalization in states
The Planning Commission may impose condition for preparing district sector plan on each subject and check the progress as a part of the annual Plan discussion as well as to provide minimum support for the secretariat & hiring professionals – there could be some financial incentive to promote the process
Mandate to line deptts of GOI for promoting district plan
The matter should be pursued with the highest level of the State on a regular basis in a mission mode
The minimum support required at the SPB & current status may also be worked out so that the SPB has capacity to follow up with DPC & give necessary guidance
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Reforms Necessary for the Process
States to come up with clear Activity Mapping for assigning specific responsibilities on different tier
Budget window as per Activity Map by different depart’
Mandatory integrated planning at all levels for state support under various programmes and passing budget by every local body on time as well as to ensure that approved plan is in consonance with passed budget
Every local body to be authorised to pass their plan subject to technical vetting in some cases
Functioning of Standing Committees for horizontal decentralization & close liaison with line deptts
Timely transfer of fund and using electronic transfer for ensuring that
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Planning at Grass Root Level
Every state to finalize the procedures for participation of the villagers in village level planning
Decentralized Planning prescribed for NREGA, NRHM, SSA etc to be subsumed in the common approach so that separate processes are not run to generate those plans
Participation of marginalized section, women etc to be ensured and institutionalized
PRA techniques may be appropriately utilized for participation of the people – support of TSI may be needed, if necessary, to finalize those and developing training manuals
Area planning to be promoted and if possible GIS maps showing natural, social & economic infrastructures are to be made available to local bodies so that location of new facilities are decided objectively during planning
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Capacity Building for Planning
DPC to aggregate the plans of local bodies –possible only if urban & rural local bodies have capacity to plan
DPC to have strength to guide planning of lower tiers with dedicated professional in adequate numbers ( experience of WB is at least one person for three Blocks) – they may be hired directly by the state or outsourced from TSI
There is also need for a small cell with at least one officer & a support staff at every Block for providing support to decentralized planning & monitoring
Participatory planning at the village level requires tremendous facilitation and capacity at Gram Panchayat level & within the community also
The process of planning – though state specific – has to be finalized by each state & Manuals to be published
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Capacity Building for Planning
Capacity building for decentralized planning – both training & non-training inputs will involve many activities
At least one apex level training institute in each state with a cell on Decentralized Planning – the ETCs or even district training centres may be provided support for engaging faculty on Decentralized Planning
Preparation of training & IEC material to cater the need of officials, PRI/ULB functionaries and common people
Finding few champion local bodies for preparing model plan on pilot basis and gradual scaling up in a time frame
Developing database & capacity to handle planning related data, monitoring planned activities and updating the same
Training on Plan + & other IT application at all levels
Development of GIS maps of local bodies for spatial plan
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How BRGF Can Facilitate the Process
The Capacity Building component may come from the BRGF (though RGSY may be of use in non-BRGF district but some components to be financed by the Planning Commission for essential infrastructure & manpower)
Rs one crore per district is not the corrent norm because size of districts & needs vary widely
Availability of fund for capacity building, monitoring & evaluation of the decentralized planning process at the state level out of BRGF may be clearly delineated
Simpler fund flow mechanism from GOI to be worked out – one initial instalment at the beginning of the year & another second instalment – instead of funding district there could be state fund as done in NREGA
There should be incentive for preparing holistic District Plan and stand alone BRGF plan may be discontinued after certain period with advance notice
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