Flagship schemes: Centre to rank & reward high-performing districts

To incentivise implementation of some of the government’s flagship schemes like the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Stand-Up India scheme and Jan Dhan Yojana, the Centre has decided to rank and reward high performing districts in the identified areas.

The Prime Minister’s Office, which is driving the exercise, has asked the line ministries and departments, such as Urban Development, Rural Development and Financial Services, to work on the ranking system for execution of schemes in their respective areas.

“The flagship schemes of the government have been designed with specific targets and goals in mind. The PMO wants that well-performing districts should be rewarded so that they get motivated to work even better and those not doing so well feel the pressure to catch up. The over-all objective is to ensure that the intentions of the government do not just stay on paper,” a government official told BusinessLine.

The parameters for judging the districts’ performance for particular schemes are being determined by the line ministries.

The idea behind rewarding districts is to ensure that good work doesn’t go unrecognised even if it is performed in a State where overall performance may not be up to expectations.

“For instance, in the implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission, States like Gujarat and Karnataka may have performed well overall, there are some districts there which haven’t done so well while there are several districts in lesser performing States like Jharkhand, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh that have done very well,” the official said.

The government’s flagship schemes cover areas ranging from cleanliness and housing for all to insurance and opening of bank accounts. The schemes include the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Jandhan Yojana, the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the Beti Padao Yojana and the Stand-Up India scheme.

While it is appropriate to assess the performance of districts for most of these schemes, there are ones such as Start-Up India, designed to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, where such recognition may be difficult.

“The government could examine the possibility of doing so State-wise, but that too would be difficult, and no decision has been taken on the matter,” the official said.

The Centre had roped in NITI Aayog earlier this year to help in timely implementation of its ‘nation-building’ flagship schemes such as ‘Namami Gange’, National Rurban Mission and the Krishi Sinchaayi Yojana by coordinating with various Central Ministries and Departments.

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