Flagship programmes of UPA suffering from implementation blues

NEW DELHI: The iconic projects and flagship programmes of the Manmohan Singh government are suffering from implementation blues. The delivery monitoring unit in the Prime Minister’s Office that assessed the performance of 18 schemes has found that only the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is doing well.

For the UPA II, which promised a break from the “business as usual” approach and a time-bound action plan, the report card must be disappointing. The Rajiv Awas Yojna has not been able to move beyond the drawing board as the state governments are yet to act on the proposal to give land rights to the urban poor.

The ministry of housing and poverty alleviation is yet to work out the guidelines for the scheme. If the goings on in the ministry and the state capitals are anything to go by, the promise for slum free cities by 2014 will remain just that —a promise.

Equally distressing is the performance of the railway ministry as it has failed to iron out problems in the western dedicated rail corridor. Despite the project being aided by the Japanese overseas development assistance (ODA), land acquisition issues are coming in the way of its implementation.

Ms Mamata Banerjee, whose primary consideration is to match her rhetoric with that of the obstructionist Left, has ruled out invoking of the “public interest” clause to acquire land. This would mean little progress on the iconic project.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which was started by the Vajpayee government, seems to be the only programme that has been working well. The big initiative of the UPA II, the Right to Education Act, will need more time to take off the ground as there is no clarity on the funding pattern. The states are insisting that the Centre foots most of the bill.

The involvement of Sam Pitroda in the education initiatives appears to be making some difference. The ministry is also working on a national regulator for higher education and the innovation universities.

The programmes for minorities are yet to take off as states such as Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are not taking sufficient interest. Even in the north eastern states, which have a large minority population, have evinced little interest.