Plan panel gets Rs. 5,000cr to reward 'good' ministries

Corporate sector uses financial incentives to achieve targets. Taking a cue from that, finance minister P Chidambaram has tried to push Central ministries to achieve the maximum impact from the modest plan expenditure hike of 6.5% in 2013-14 in the crucial election year.

The finance minister has provided the Planning Commission, which disburses money to Central ministries, with an unallocated fund of Rs. 5,000 crore for the next fiscal.

"We have Rs. 5,000 crore of free money for ministries doing a good job," panel's deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

The plan panel would soon draw parameters for ministries to improve delivery and has the unique identification (UID) payment bridge to gauge the outcome.

The panel has the UID platform to check the claims of ministries on disbursement of money to beneficiaries. The PMO has asked ministries to create a database of beneficiaries of their schemes --- whose traditional record-keepers were state governments --- under the direct benefit scheme (DBT).

Chidambaram has provided money to individual ministries such as petroleum and food, whose schemes presently are outside of the DBT, to create a similar database for direct transfer for subsidies by the year-end.

Montek hails budget Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday complimented Chidambaram for his budget and said the budget was on track to revive economic growth and ensure that India achieves higher growth rate.

The noted economist said the "budget addresses key challenges" facing the country including high fiscal deficit and current account deficit.

"We should not forget that we are passing through a bad year. In that, it is a good budget," he said.