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NEW DELHI: Irked by consistent under-spending and under-utilisation
of funds by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, a Parliamentary
Committee has asked the Ministry to identify the grey areas,
make the implementation of its schemes more effective and
step up the monitoring mechanism so as to ensure optimum utilisation
of funds.
Taking
note of the observation before the Standing Committee for
Information Technology by the Secretary in the Ministry that
the under-utilisation and approval of schemes was primarily
due to the problems in Prasar Bharati which depended on the
Ministry for its funding, the Committee has expressed the
hope that the problems relating to Prasar Bharati are addressed
and ways are found during the Twelfth Plan resulting into
effective implementation of various programmes which would
ensure cent per cent utilisation of the outlay.
The
Secretary had told the Committee that these problems would
ease after the Government accepts the recommendations of the
Group of Ministers on Prasar Bharati. But the Committee noted
that the same reasons have continuously been repeated by the
Ministry, whenever the question of under spending has been
raised by the Committee.
The Committee emphasized the need for periodic close monitoring
of the implementation as well as the expenditure position
under the three sectors - Broadcasting, Film and Information.
The
Ministry should make serious efforts to identify the weakness
in the system and streamline the planning process so as to
ensure effective utilisation of Plan outlay - Rs 13.05 billion
- during the year 2012-13.
The
financial performance of the Ministry particularly under the
Plan schemes during the Eleventh Plan has not been very satisfactory,
the Committee noted. The allocations provided at Budget Estimates
were reduced at Revised Estimates stage due to overall trend
of utilisation. Even the reduced allocations could not be
utilised fully resulting into under spending of the scarce
resources during each year of the Eleventh Plan.
The
Committee said the Ministry was allocated Rs 36.86 billion
at the Budget Estimate stage against the projections of Rs
781.212 billion if the overall allocations during the Eleventh
Plan (which ended on 31 March 2012) as a whole are taken into
consideration. The BE allocations were then reduced to Rs
31.44 billion at the Revised Estimates stage. The utilisation
is to the tune of Rs 25.79 billion, thus resulting into under
spending of Rs 5.64 billion. The under spending is more during
the years 2008-09 and 2010-11 when 66.99 per cent and 74.74
per cent of the outlay respectively could be utilised.
The
Committee observed that the Ministry had proposed the Demands
for Grants for the year 2012-13 amounting to Rs 27.37 billion
which comprises Rs 9.05 billion as the Plan outlay and Rs
18.32 billion as the Non-Plan outlay.
The
financial performance of the Ministry particularly under the
Plan schemes during the Eleventh Plan 'has not been very satisfactory',
the Committee notes. The allocations provided at Budget Estimates
were reduced at Revised Estimates stage due to overall trend
of utilisation. Even the reduced allocations could not be
utilised fully resulting into under spending of the scarce
resources during each year of the Eleventh Plan.
The
Committee has consistently been saying that under spending
results in blocking of the national resources.
The
Committee observed that during the year 2011-12, out of the
proposed allocation of Rs 20.26 billion under the non-Plan
head for the three Sectors - Film, Information and Broadcasting,
the BE was Rs 17.83 billion, which was increased to Rs 18.18
billon at the RE stage, but the Actual Expenditure was Rs
18.13 billion, 99.74 per cent of the RE allocation.
The
Committee also observes that the proposed allocation of the
Ministry for the year 2012-13 under non-Plan head is Rs 18.32
billion which is more than double of the Plan Outlay of Rs
9.05 billion.
Justifying
the increase, the Secretary has stated that many of the spending
of Prasar Bharati is evaluated in terms of creating infrastructure.
Furthermore for many programmes of Directorate of Field Publicity
(DFP) and the Song and Drama Division, a lot of expenditure
takes place through non-Plan budget and the outputs are not
tangible.
While
appreciating the facts enumerated by the Secretary, the Committee
would like the Ministry to give the details of the activities
under non-Plan head for which the allocations during 2012-13
have almost been double. Besides, the Committee would like
to emphasize for rationalisation of expenditure under the
non-Plan head as per the General Financial Rules. The Ministry
should try to contain its expenditure in non-Plan head so
as to have a proper balance between the Plan and non-Plan
head, the Ministry says.
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