Supplementary demand hike to help UPA flagship schemes

The government on Monday announced increased allocations under the supplementary demand for grants for 2008-09 to help finance big-ticket social sector programmes like National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGA) and upgradation of industrial training institutes (ITIs).

The government has also considerably hiked allocations under the non-plan category to help the ministries and departments take care of the additional expenses that they have to make while implementing the 6 th Central Pay Commission recommendations. The Human Resource Development ministry would get Rs 761.54 crore to create a corpus fund which would provide scholarships to students under the National Means ? cum- Merit Scholarship scheme. The allocation also includes the money required to meet the administrative costs of the scheme during 2008-09.

Under the non-plan expenditure, the ministry would get Rs 281.35 crore to pay the hiked wages and salaries following the 6 th Pay Commission?s suggestions. Another Rs 539.63 crore would be given to the autonomous bodies to help them meet the additional costs that would arise while adhering to the Pay Commission. The ministry would also get Rs 200 crore as grants-in-aid for school education. This money would go to the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and the National Bal Bhavan.

Trying to deliver on its commitments, the Centre has allocated Rs 50 crore for the states under plan funds to set up Centers of Excellence and for upgradation of ITIs. The ministry of labour and employment would also get Rs 625 crore to facilitate grant of free loans to institute management committees of the concerned ITIs across the country. The ministry of Rural Development would receive a total of Rs 10,850 crore for Indira Awas Yojana and the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme which will get the bigger chunk of Rs 10,500 crore of the total package. The ministry of health and family welfare would get around Rs 195 crore which would be spent towards meeting the additional expenses arising due to the increased pay packages under 6 th Pay Commission.