Shared Services Canada - Reports on Plans and Priorities 2014-2015
Analysing District Plans
1. Evaluating District Plans
Rationale
Planning is defined as the process of setting goal, developing strategies & outlining
tasks & schedules to accomplish the goals. Planning for development or development
planning implies planning of any organised endeavour that aims at promoting
development.
India has taken the path of development through planning since independence which
gets translated in the form of five year plans. Planning Commission in consultation
with state governments & other ministries chalks out priorities across various sectors
& accordingly availability of resources are ensured. State governments in turn arrive
at this stage by consolidating district level plans in consultation with State Planning
Boards.
As district level plans form the basis of five year plans & annual plans, hence while
preparing the same utmost care should be taken so that efficient use of allotted
resources is made, though plan ceilings are determined by State Planning
Commission. In this regard SPC’s letter no- F-2-8/2000/23/Plan-2 dated 16th
Aug
2000 becomes a landmark wherein directions have been given to districts for
processes of preparation of district plans as well as plan itself. Moreover, in the light
of decentralisation-a potent tool for local level planning, the efficacy of such plans
increases manifold. In it in this context that the relevancy, prudency & effectiveness
of District Level Plans have been tried to assess.
District Planning is the process of preparing an integrated plan for the local
government sector in a district taking into account the resources (natural, human and
financial) available and covering the sectoral activities and schemes assigned to the
district level and below. The document that embodies this statement of resources and
their allocation for various purposes is known as the District Plan. (Source- Adapted
from Guidelines for District Plans in 11th
five year Plan, Planning Commission)
Basis of Assessment
The above mentioned letter forms the basis of assessment of plans for the year 2009-
10 from which majority of the parameters have been drawn. Since districts have been
considered a viable unit (for economic, political & spatial reasons) for overall
development of an area, therefore this fact was central to the exercise. Accordingly
the exercise was divided into two parts - district facts & department facts. Presence of
a particular fact/parameter has been assigned 1 point while absence 0. While district
facts are based on 10 variables (10 marks) under 5 heads, department facts on 5
variables (25 marks).
District Facts are based on the premise that economic development of a spatial area
(here district) depends on one or few sectors/industries whose rapid expansion is
going to supply drive to the rest of the system. So, in planning, one looks first for 2 or
3 such industries/sectors which have most fruitful production possibilities for
exploitation of potentials which otherwise might escape.
2. Department Facts are based on two principles - first alignment with district facts &
secondly follow of department’s cardinal practices. Five departments were taken from
each district for arriving at a fair decision making level. It is pertinent to mention here
that selection of five departments were based on certain factors like - priorities spelt
out by district, proposed outlays etc. However selection of departments was left at the
discretion of individual evaluator, so uniformity in selection may be missing. The tool
for analysis is given below as Annex-I.
Operational Uses
I. District Facts
History - A particular region’s history has direct bearing on socio-cultural & political
practices & pattern. Thus, deciding a particular industry or class may gain strength
from it.
Peculiarities & Potentials - it refers to specificity, favourable factors/aspects in
relation to one or a range of industry/sector for economic development.
District Map - refers to administrative map of a district with superimposition of
important variables and may include application of software like GIS for tracking of
progress & proposal.
Vision - means what the district would like to achieve given freedom & choice of
taking the course of development on their own with sufficient resources, taking first
two factors into consideration.
Perspective Plan - means plan for the district for next 5 or few years within the state
& national plan framework.
Prioritization - means listing of needs/sectors based on vision, perspective plan.
Analyses of Outlays - mean review of current sectoral/inter sectoral proposed outlays
over last year & justification in case of any major departure.
Convergence with Other Departments - means sharing of resources across
departments at district level for common purposes (services).
Mobilization - means raising of resources (cash, kind) from beneficiaries/local
bodies/VOs/NGOs/any other body as matching grant to avail service/services.
Basis of sectoral/departmental proposal - means the logic forwarded for
increase/decrease across departments/sectors & their relation with NABARD’s
Potential Link Plan (PLP).
Provision of Contribution for Banks - means as matching grant by departments to
avail credit facility by various banks & thus percentage share in achieving bank’s
annual target in relation to PLP.
3. Training & Self Employment - is based on the principle that human resource
development is must for economic development to take place for beneficiaries as well
as implementing agency. Therefore, inclusion of this component shows seriousness of
departments at both levels. Again, quantification/ascertaining of entrepreneurship
oriented beneficiaries under different programmes linked to self employment exhibits
success or failure of this component.
II. Departmental Facts
Percolation of District Vision - implies that vision, priorities & proposed amount
under a particular department are consistent or not. So, a department listed on top
must have highest proposed outlay.
Operational & Strategic Plan - means how a department intends to achieve its goal
under given circumstances.
Clarity in Physical & Financial Progress Reports - means absence of ambiguity in
units, targets, congruency between narrative & formats & justification with special
notes in case of sudden increase/decrease or decrease in subsequent years.
Clarity in Physical & Financial Unit Cost - means presence of uniformity in costs
over the years where it is fixed while differential increase in especially infrastructure
related programmes, trainings, congruency between narrative & formats.
Full Utilization - means average utilization of allotted amount during last 2 years.
Score Card - has been provided as Annex-II & III.
Analysis of District Facts
Table -1
District Facts Score No of Districts
0-2 20
3-5 23
6-8 06
9-10 00
Total 49
Note- Anuppur district’s plan was not received till this exercise was completed.
Table -1 gives overall score of various districts. As can be seen from Table-2 that
majority of districts (around 90%) fall in 0-5 score range. District fact 4 i.e. inclusion
of PLP by NABARD was absent in all 49 districts followed by District fact 3 i.e.
resources locally mobilized in 7 districts only. District specific information i.e. fact 1
is totally absent in 7 districts only while fact 2 i.e. vision, perspective plan is totally
absent in 21 districts & District fact 5 is absent in 27 districts. It is important to notice
that absence of fact 2 in more than half of districts is a matter of major concern which
is essential for district level planning. However, absence of facts 3,4 & 5 are not
considered desirable at this stage but may be expected only afterwards.
4. Department Facts
Table -2
Department Facts Score No of Districts
0-4 8
5-9 16
10-14 17
15-19 5
20-24 3
Total 49
Department score of various districts have been presented at Table-3. In Table-4 it can
be seen that nearly half of districts come in 0-9 range while less than 10% of districts
come in top 20-24 range. Half of districts coming under low performing range are
again a matter of concern reflecting absence of basic tenet of reporting.
5. Annex-I
Evaluation Sheet - Katni
Dist - KATNI
I. District Facts
1. District Specific Information
2. Perspective Plan, Vision
3. Resources Locally Mobilized
4. Inclusion of Potential Link Plan (PLP) by NABARD
5. Training Component & Self Employment
Factors Presence
1. History Y(historical background beautifully described)
2. Peculiarities(favourable aspects) &
Potentials (in one particular or
range of sectors) Y
3. District Map with necessary data,
Resource Map, Spatial map with important
Indicators Y (Map+ Socio-Eco. Indicators)
Total Present Facts 3
ota
8
Factors Presence
1. Vision of the district Y
2. Perspective Plan aligned
with national & state 5 year plans Y(mentions about 11th
five yr plan)
3. Prioritization (sectors/programmes)
& Analysis of proposed Outlays (Sector
& Inter Sector) N
Total Present Facts 2
Factors Presence
1. Provision of convergence with other
Departments N
2. Provision of mobilization from beneficiaries/
local bodies/other than govt sources N
Total Present Facts 0
Factors Presence
1. Basis of proposed amount (sector/department
Wise) & Provision of contribution in N
Making Bank’s annual credit target achieve
Present Facts 0
6. 5. Training & Self Employment Component
II. Department Facts.
a) Department 1 – Women and Child Dev. Deptt.
b) Department 2 – Education Deptt.
Factors Presence
1. Emphasis on provision of training Y (Horticulture,Fisheries, Khadi, SJSRY)
(beneficiaries & staffs) & quantification of
trainees linked to Self Employment
Present Facts 1
Factors Presence
1. Percolation of district vision Y
to this level
2. Operational & Strategic Plan Y
3. Clarity in a) Physical & b) Financial
Progress reports N
4. Clarity in unit cost of a) physical &
b) financial, rationality thereof, time
value of money Y
5. Full utilization of allotted amount during
last 2 years N (approx.70%)
Total Present Facts 3
Factors Presence
1. Percolation of district vision N
to this level
2. Operational & Strategic Plan N
3. Clarity in a) Physical & b) Financial
Progress reports Y
4. Clarity in unit cost of a) physical &
b) financial, rationality thereof, time Y
value of money
5. Full utilization of allotted amount during Y(approx.80%)
last 2 years
Total Present Facts 3
2 years Y/N
Total Present Facts
7. c) Department 3 – Rural Dev.
d) Department 4 –Social Justice (as per the document the budget provision increased
from Rs 5.60 lakh (07-08) to Rs 5.14 crores in 2009-10)
e) Department 5 - PWD
Factors Presence
1. Percolation of district vision to this level Y
2.Operational & Strategic Plan Y
3.Clarity in a) Physical & b) Financial Progress reports Y (BRGF included)
4. Clarity in unit cost of a) physical &
b) financial, rationality thereof, time
value of money Y
5. Full utilization of allotted amount during
last 2 years Y
Total Present Facts 5
Factors Presence
1. Percolation of district vision to this level Y
2.Operational & Strategic Plan Y (strategies need to be clearly mentioned)
3. Clarity in a) Physical & b) Financial
Progress reports Y
4. Clarity in unit cost of a) physical &
b) financial, rationality thereof, time value of money Y
5. Full utilization of allotted amount during last 2 yrs Y
Total Present Facts 5
Factors Presence
1. Percolation of district vision to this level Y
2. Operational & Strategic Plan N
3. Clarity in a) Physical & b) Financial
Progress reports Y
4. Clarity in unit cost of a) physical &
b) financial, rationality thereof, time
value of money Y
5. Full utilization of allotted amount during
last 2 years Y
Total Present Facts 4
8. Total no of present Facts
District
Fact 1
District
Fact 2
District
Fact 3
District
Fact 4
District
Fact 5
Total District Fact
Present out of 10
3 2 0 0 1 6
Departm
ent 1
Score
Depart
ment 2
Score
Depart
ment 3
Score
Depart
ment 4
Score
Depart
ment 5
Score
Total Department Present facts
out of 20
3 3 5 5 4 20
