core sector communique

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation reviews Twenty Point Programme with Secretaries of States and Union Territories

A review meeting of Twenty Point Programme – 2006(TPP – 2006) was organised here today by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with Secretaries of States/UTs and the concerned officers of Central Nodal Ministries. Shri Srikant Kumar Jena, Minister of State (I/C) for Statistics & Programme Implementation chaired the meeting.

The TPP Programme was launched in 1975 by late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi with the objective of poverty eradication and providing employment, education, housing, health etc. The TPP has been re-structured thrice since its inception, to fine tune it with the changes in programmes/schemes undertaken by Government over the years. The current TPP-2006 Programme continue to give thrust to poverty alleviation, employment generation in rural areas, housing, education, health & family welfare etc. Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation monitor the TPP on the basis of information collected from the States, UTs, Central Nodal Ministries and other concerned organisations. TPP-2006 presently consists of 65 monitorable items annually, out of which 19 items are monitored against pre-set targets and 15 items are monitored without targets on monthly basis.

Inaugurating the meeting, Shri S.K. Jena mentioned that the Twenty Point Programme has achieved many mile-stone leading to the socio-economic development specially for the weaker section of the society. He said that since the inception of the revised TPP programme in 2007, 1574.98 lakh job cards had been issued and 888.92 crores of man days of employment has been generated under MGNERGA. He further mentioned that similarly under Swaranjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana, 28.90 lakhs individuals got assistance and 7.51 lakhs Self Help Groups were provided income generating activities. He said that to help the farmers 9.9 crore Kisan Credit Cards has been issued under Kisan Mitra Programme. He also sid that to mitigate the poverty, 339.94 lakh tonne food grains has been distributed under PDS to BPL families. In order to improve health parameters 3.87 lakh slipped back habitations/ habitations with water quality problems has been addressed under Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme and 486.51 lakh individual household latrines has been constructed in rural areas under Sanitation Programmes.

The Minister expressed satisfaction that TPP has also been successful in bringing social and community development through various programme like Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana which resulted in construction of additional 2.08 lakh Km of rural roads. Similarly now 99% of the rural population has a primary school within 1 km as a result of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. In order to generate employment, Skill training has been provided to 1.83 lakh Urban Poor people for employment. Similarly 9.84 lakh urban Poor Families has been assisted under Seven Point Charter. Being environment conscious, Government has brought 65, 61,043 hectare of public and forest land under tree plantation He also mentioned that 98,176 villages have been electrified under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana.

The Minister while emphasizing the importance of Twenty Point Programme, stressed the need for a more focussed implementation and monitoring, so that the full expected benefits reach the poor in the remotest areas of the country. He requested the Central Nodal Ministries to follow a Bottom-Ups approach in the fixation of targets so that the targets are more relevant to the requirements and fund the target accordingly. He also asked the Central Nodal Ministries to provide all support to States and Union Territories which may be lagging behind.

Expressing his concern over delayed performance reports from States and Union Territories and variation in the information received from the state with that received from central nodal ministries, the Minister appealed to all State Nodal Departments to have proper coordination with their line Departments, who are implementing various Schemes. The Minister requested the states to give their opinion on central Government maintaining a Single Portal for uploading the information on achievements against TPP parameters. The Minister observed that for better implementation, the Central Nodal Ministries and State Governments should give wide publicity to the TPP schemes and the provisions contained therein. The Minister also emphasized that the Monitoring Committees required under TPP may be urgently constituted at all the three levels and they should meet regularly.

Secretary, MOSPI Shri T.C.A. Anant suggested that States should be forthcoming in discussing their concerns and problems with the nodal Ministries in order to improve their performance under TPP-2006. A power point presentation on the occasion highlighting the achievements and concerns under TPP was also made by Additional Secretary, MOSPI. The representatives from some of the States/UTs and Central Ministries shared their experiences and provided valuable inputs for improving the performance of TPP.