Twenty-Fifth Report

STANDING COMMITI'EE ON URBAN AND RURAL DEVELOPME 25 (1998-99) TWELFTH LOK SABHA MINISTRY OF RURAL AREAS & EMPLOYMENT (DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT) DEMANDS FOR GRANTS (1998-99) TWENTY-FIFTH REPORT LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI TWENTY-FIFTH REPORT STANDING COMMITI'EE ON URBAN AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (1998-99) (TWELFTH LOK SABHA) MINISTRY OF RURAL AREAS & EMPLOYMENT (DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT) DEMANDS FOR GRANTS-(1998-99) [Action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Fourth Report of the Standing Committee on Urban & Rural Development (Twelfth Lok Sabha)) Presented to Lok Sabha on 22nd April, 1999 Laid in Rajya Sabha on 23rd April, 1999 .', .," "'"i LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI April, 1999/Chaitra, 1921 (Salal) c.u. at R.D. No. 0'15 Price : Rs. 22.00 © 1999 By LoK SABHA SECRETARIAT Published under Rule 382 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha (Ninth Edition) and Printed by the Jainco Art India, New Delhi. CONTENTS PAGE COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE .............................................................. (iii) INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. (V) CHAPTER I Report .............................................................................. 1 CHAPTER II Recommendations that have been accepted by the Government ...................................................... 8 CHAPTER III Recommendations which the Committee do not desire to pursue in view of the Government's replies .................................................... 35 CHAPTER IV Recommendations in respect of which replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee ......................................................... 38 CHAI'TER V Recommendations in respect of which final replies of the Government are still awaited .......... 39 APPENDICES I. Minutes of the 36th sitting of the Committee on Urban & Rural Development held on 26.3.1999 ............. 44 II. Analysis of action-taken by the Government on the Recommendations, contained in the Fourth Report (12th Lok Sabha) ........................................................ 47 COMPOSmON OF lHE STANDING COMMITTEE ON URBAN &t RURAL DEVELOPMENT (1998-99) Shri I<ishan Singh Sangwan - Chairmtln MEMBERS Lok Sabha 2. Shri 0.5. Ahire 11'3. Shri Tariq Anwar 4. Dr. Shafiqur Rahman Barq 5. Shri Padmanava Behera 6. Shri Sriram Chauhan 7. Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan 8. Shrimati Malti Devi 9. Shri Ramkrushna Suryabhan Gavai 10. Shri Mitha Lal Jain 11. Shri Akbar Ali Khandokar 12. Shri Vinod Khanna 13. Shri Subhash Maharia 14. Shri Bir Singh Mahato 15.' Snri Subrata Mukherjee 16. Shrimati Ranee Narah 17. Shri Chandresh Patel 18. Shri Rameshwar Patidar 19. Shrimati Jayanti Patnaik 20. Shri Mullappally Ramachandran 21. Shri Gaddam Ganga Reddy 22. Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy ·Nominated w.e! 18.3.1999 (iii) (iv) 23. Shri Ramjidas Rishidev 24. 5hri Chatin Singh Samaon 25. Shri Nikhilananda Sar 26. Shri I.M. Jayaram Shetty 27. Shri Daya Singh Sodhi 28. Shri Vithal Baburao Tupe 29. Dr. Ram Vilas Vedanti 30. Shri K. Venugopal Rajya Sabha 31. Shrimati Shabana Azmi 32. Shrimati Vyjayantimala Bali 33. Shri Nilotpal Basu 34. Shri Jhumaklal Bhendia "35. Dr. M.N. Das 36. Shri N.R. Dasari 37. Shri John F. Fernandes 38. Shri C. Apok Jamir 39. Shri Onkar Singh Lakhawat 40. Prof. A. Lakshmisagar 41. Shri Jagdambi MandaI 42. Shri 0.5. Manian 43. Dr. Mohan Babu 44. Shri N. Rajendran 45. Shri Suryabhan Patil Vahadane SECRETARIAT 1. Shri G.c. Malhotra Additionlll Secretary 2. Shri S.c. Rastogi Director 3. Smt. Sudesh Luthra Under Secretary "Nominated w.ef. 17.7.1998. INTRODUCTION I, the Chairman of Standing Committee on Urban &: Rural Development (1998-99) having been authorised by the Committee to submit the Report on their behalf, present the Twenty-Fifth Report on action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Fourth Report of the Standing Committee on Urban &: Rural Development (Twelfth Lok Sabha) on Demands for Grants (1998-99) of the Department of Rural Development of the Ministry of Rural Areas &: Employment. 2. The Fourth Report was presented to Lok Sabha on 14th July, 1998. The replies of the Government to all the recommendations contained in the Report were received on 21st December, 1998. 3. The replies of the Government were examined and the Report was considered and adopted by the Committee at their sitting held on 26th March, 1999. 4. An analysis of the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Fourth Report of the Committee (Twelfth Lok sabha) is given in Appendix-II. NEW DELHI; KISHAN SINGH SANGWAN, April 12, 1999 Chairman, Chaitra 22, 1921 (Salaz) Standing Committee on Urban & Rural Development. (v) CHAYTER I REPORT This Report of the Committee on Urban &t Rural Development (1998-99) deals with the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Fourth Report on Demands for Grants for the year 1998-99 of the Ministry of Rural Areas &t Employment (Department of Rural Development) which was presented to Lok 5abha on 14th July, 1998. 2. Action taken notes have been received from the Government in respect of all the 37 recommendations which have been categorised as follows :- (i) Recommendations/Observations which have been accepted by the Government:- 51. Nos. 3.19 to 3.27, 3.29, 3.31, 3.33, 3.35,3.37,3.38,4.13 to 4.16, 5.15, 5.16, 5.17, 6.6, 6.15, 7.6, 7.7, 8.6 and 9.3. (ii) Recommendations/Observations which the Committee do note desire to pursue in view of the Government's replies:- 51. Nos. 2.13 to 2.15, 5.20 and 6.9 (iii) Recommendations/Observations in respect of which final replies of the Government are still awaited :- 51. Nos. 5.18, 6.7, 6.8 and 9.4. 3. The Committee will now deal with action taken by the Government on some of these recommendations in the succeeding paragraphs. 2 A. Under-utilisation of funds under ARWSP Recommendation (Para No. 3.22) 4. The Committee while examining the underspending under ARWSP observed as below:- "In some of the States the reasons for underutilisation as found by the task force is time-consuming procedural formalities. The Committee urge that guidelines should be issued by the Centre to all the States/UTs to simplify their implementation and monitoring procedure for the effective implementation of the schemes." 5. The Government in their reply have stated "The powers have been delegated to the State Governments to plan and implement all Rural Water Supply Schemes. A team of officers visited North Eastern States Bihar and revealed that due to time consuming procedures and formalities, the funds are not released to the implementing organisations in time. The State Governments have been prevailed upon to revamp the procedural formalities to ensure timely and smooth flow of funds to the implementing agencies. Monthly and quarterly monitoring reports are prescribed to keep close watch on progress of implementation of the schemes. The State Governments have been requested to simplify their implementation and monitoring procedure for effective implementation of the scheme and to issue guidelines accordingly. " 6. While appreciating the steps taken by the Government to check underutilisation of funds under Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme, the Committee would like that the matter regarding implementation and monitoring procedure with regard to the said scheme should further be punued with the State Governments and the Committee should be apprised of the feed back obtained in this regard. 3 B. Problem of Contaminated Water Supply Recommendation (Para No. 3.25) 7. The Committee recommended as under:- liThe Committee note the problem of contaminated water as explained by the Secretary during his evidence and would like that the Government should pay adequate attention towards this and the outlay for the sub-missions working in this field should be increased. Besides it is also recommended that water testing kits should be made available at Block leveL" 8. The Government in their reply have stated:- liThe Government attaches great importance to quality of safe drinking water. District level laboratories have been established in respect of 254 districts in the country. It is proposed to establish water testing laboratories in the remaining districts in due course. A Task Force has been constituted to examine reliability of field testing kits presently available and recommend the suitable field package which would be used at the grass root level. On receipt of recommendations of task force, evolution of a programme will be considered to supply field kits to the block level. It is proposed to institutionalise water quality monitoring and surveillance system by adopting catchment area approach. It is also proposed to strengthen the grass root level institutions like schools, etc. with suitable field kits to undertake water quality testing at the grass root level." 9. While noting the steps proposed to be taken to solve the problem of contaminated water in rural areas, the Committee would like to know as to when the proposed steps are likely to be implemented. C. Disbursement of Old Age Pension Scheme Recommendation (Para No. 5.18) 10. The Committee recommended as under:- "The Committee note that different States are disbursing money to the beneficiaries by different modes like through Banks/ 4 Panchayats/Money Orders etc. The Government should conduct a sample survey to find out as to what mode of payment was more effective and efficient enabling the pension amount to reach the beneficiary without involving any middleman or getting reduced. As a result of such survey, the Government should consider to apply the best suited mode of payment to all States." 11. The Government in their reply have stated:- "The Government have selected some reputed institutions for quick evaluation studies regarding implementation of NSAP schemes covering aU aspects. As soon as the reports are received, the desirability of unifonn mode of payment will be examined in consultation with the States." 12. The Committee hope that the reports of the quick evaluation studies regarding implementation of National Security Assistance Programme scheme will be finalised expeditiously.

Load more