Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the proposal for :-

(i) continuing the Special Plan for Bihar in 2012-13 with an allocation of Rs.1500 crore, based on the enhanced level of cost of Rs.9985.54 crore of all existing projects, revised cost of existing projects, and the cost of new projects, if any, that may be approved by the Empowered Committee, 

(ii) continuing the Special Plan for the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) districts of Odisha in 2012-13 with an allocation of Rs.250 crore, and 

(iii) continuing the special package for implementing drought mitigation strategies in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in 2012-13 with an Additional Central Assistance of Rs.1400 crore. 

The Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), which aims to catalyze development in backward areas, was approved by the CCEA in August, 2006. In its present form, the BRGF has two components, namely, District Component covering 272 backward districts in 27 States (including 22 additional districts covered in 2012-13) and State Component which includes Special Plan for Bihar, Special Plan for the KBK districts of Odisha, Special Plan for West Bengal (covered in 2011-12), Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Selected Tribal and Backward Districts (covered in 2010-11) and Bundelkhand Package (covered in 2009-10). 

The implementation of the programmes is being done by the State Governments. The aim of the programme is to accelerate socio-economic development in the States concerned. 

Through the continuation of the Special Plan for Bihar, Special Plan for the KBK districts of Odisha and the Bundelkhand package in 2012-13, accelerated socio-economic development of backward areas covered under the programmes is expected to take place. 

The backward areas of the States covered under the State Component of BRGF will benefit. All the 38 districts of Bihar, eight districts of the KBK region and 13 districts of Bundelkhand region are covered. 

These programmes are continuing programmes and were under implementation during the Eleventh Five Year Plan. 
Background: 

The Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) is being finalized. The possibility of restructuring the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) including the District Component as well as the State Component for the period 2013-14 to 2016-17 is being considered. Pending completion of this exercise, it is necessary to continue the BRGF (District Component and State Component) in its present form in 2012-13. The district component of BRGF as well as the special plan for West Bengal and the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for selected tribal and backward districts under the State component of BRGF are already approved for continuation in 2012-13. Since the present approval to the special plan for Bihar, special plan for the KBK districts of Odisha and Bundelkhand package is valid only for the Eleventh Five Year Plan period i.e. 2011-12, it is now proposed to continue these programmes in 2012-13 in its present form. 

Q) write shorts note on Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) ?

Ans: BRGF was launched by the Prime Minister at Barpeta in Assam on 19th February 2007.

The programme subsumed the Rashtriya  Sama Vikas Yojana (RSVY), a scheme  earlier being administered by the Planning Commission.

The BRGF Programme  covers 250   districts in 27 States, of which 232 districts fall under the purview of Parts IX and IX-A of the Constitution dealing with the  Panchayats and the Municipalities, respectively. The remaining 18 districts are covered by other local government structures, such as Autonomous District and Regional Councils under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and state specific arrangements as in the case of Nagaland and the hill areas of Manipur.

Objectives

The Backward Regions Grant Fund is designed to redress regional imbalances in development by way of providing financial resources for supplementing and converging existing developmental inflows into the identified backward districts, so as to:

a) Bridge critical gaps in local infrastructure and other development requirements that are not being adequately met through existing inflows,
b) Strengthen, to this end, Panchayat and Municipality level governance with more appropriate capacity building, to facilitate participatory planning, decision making, implementation and monitoring, to reflect local felt needs,
c)Provide professional support to local bodies for planning, implementation and monitoring their plans,
d)Improve the performance and delivery of critical functions assigned to Panchayats, and counter possible efficiency and equity losses on account of inadequate local capacity.


Three unique features of BRGF:


i)the approach of putting the Panchayats and the Municipalities at the centre stage of planning and implementation;
ii) no Central funding stream is as ‘untied’ as the BRGF – the funds can be applied to any preference of the Panchayat/ Municipality, so long as it fills a development gap and the identification of the work is decided with people’s participation;
iii) no other programme spends as much funds, nearly 11 percent of the total allocation, for capacity building and staff provisioning.

BRGF  contains  a specific component for the capacity building of Panchayati Raj Institutions of Rs. 250 crore per year.

The  planning  process  under BRGF is based on the guidelines for district planning issued by the Planning Commission in August 2006 and January, 2009.