Govt working on new norms to refine MPLADS to suit post Covid-19 needs

The Union government on Wednesday approved the restoration and continuation of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) till 2025-26 amid increasing demands from MPs. It is also working on additions to the existing guidelines to make it more suited to the needs of a post Covid-19 world.

Information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur announced the restoration of the scheme at the Cabinet briefing and said that from next year, ₹5 crore - the fund enlisted for the scheme - would be made available to MPs. The government had suspended the MPLAD scheme during 2020-21 and 2021-22, to use the funds to manage health services and control Covid-19.

The government had started examining ways to refine MPLADS a while ago at the ministry of statistics and programme implementation to include digitally empowering tools such as smartphones as durable assets that can be recommended by MPs under the scheme, officials said.


"MPLAD is governed by guidelines, which are revised from time to time based on the needs of the community with emphasis on creation of durable assets. But we have made the scheme demand-driven and the guidelines reflect the needs of the local population that change with circumstances. Last year, we made changes to include Covid-19 related testing and facilities, and now there is an increasing number of requests to look at, including laptops, tablets and laptops," a senior official said. The government is in the process of going through suggestions and drafting additions to the guidelines.

Reports have shown that Covid-19 pandemic-induced online learning has adversely impacted the education of children from poor families who have no access to digital tools such as laptops or smartphones.