New Delhi: Even as the Narendra Modi-led NDA government is facing a litmus test in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls and its continuance at the Centre depends on the outcome of the elections on May 23, the dispensation is learnt to be working on the main electoral plank of the BJP — strengthening national security.
Having received poor feedback from several states on implementation of the two centrally-sponsored scheme (CSS) namely modernisation of police force and border area development programme (BADP), the Centre aims to improve their implementation and subsequent impact.
Highly-placed sources said that police modernisation and development of border areas would remain a priority objective of the government at Centre in future, and therefore it is imperative to focus on improving the implementation of this scheme.
The government think tank Niti Aayog has been mandated to review these two schemes afresh and think of ways to improve their impact.
Many states as feedback to the Centre have pointed out that expenditure in the police modernisation scheme has fallen short of allocation. Also the budgetary provision is inadequate for the aforementioned scheme.
Apart from this, there is no clear objective criterion for inter-state allotment of funds for the scheme, the states have told Niti Aayog.
It has also been suggested to the Centre that resources can be saved by pooling requirement of each state by ensuring bulk purchases of necessary infrastructure needed for the scheme’s implementation. The other centrally sponsored scheme BADP, sources said, has also not left the desired impact, as selection of projects under it has not been undertaken in a well planned manner.
The erswhile Planning Commission had in its report which came out in 2015, revealed that around 80 per cent inhabitants of the states covered under the study did not feel satisfied with the impact of BADP. Also, in most of the north-eastern states, a large proportion of the local people faced inadequate stock of infrastructure facilities under this scheme, the Planning Commission report had said.
Under such a scenario, with the PMO clearly indicating that national security is going to be a key issue for the Government (subject to its continuance at the Centre), there is a likelihood that a fresh study would be undertaken to strengthen these two schemes, and improve their impact.
