Panel for lesser Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) like plans

NEW DELHI: The Planning Commission has characterised the special schemes under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana ( RKVY) as pay-offs and asked the agriculture ministry to reduce such schemes, the proportion to overall allocation of which has touched a whopping 30% over the past two years.

The size of the special component is the real problem with RKVY, a senior official of the Planning Commission told ET. "The states have been complaining that what is distributed as per the formula to them is that part of RKVY which is not covered already by the special components. Since the size of special components has gone up over the last two years, the states end up getting less for agricultural development and the scheme itself has become diluted," said the official.

Some of these schemes do not make sense as these are basically pay-offs to different parts of country during the finalisation of the budget each year, the official said, adding, "Consequently, it was decided that the agriculture ministry would come up with a revised structure of RKVY wherein the special schemes have a substantially lower component and at least 80% of the overall allocation under RKVY is given to the states."

However, since the allocations for the current fiscal have already been made, the modified structure of RKVY will come into effect from the next financial year, once it is prepared by the concerned ministry and approved by the Cabinet. The RKVY was launched in 2007 to incentivise states to invest in agriculture and achieve 4% growth during the 11th plan period.