‘Gujarat and TN best performers’

The Congress-led UPA, which is already on the backfoot this election season, was in for a rude shock when the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the Centre put Gujarat and Tamil Nadu on the top of the list as best-performing states in implementing two of its flagship programmes — MGNREGA and JNNURM.
The ruling parties in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, the BJP and AIADMK, respectively, are pitched against the Congress both in the states and at the Centre.
The report, which has also indicated that at the national level both programmes have failed to deliver the intended benefits to the people, appears to have given a jolt to the Congress campaign, as the party and its leadership have been harping over the success of these two schemes to garner support.
The IEO, a body under the Planning Commission, has begun a detailed impact assessment study of MGNREGA and JNNURM, intended to improve urban and rural infrastructure, respectively.
Ruing the fact that the two schemes, named after two of India’s biggest icons, have failed to live up to their ideals, IEO director-general Ajay Chhibber said, “Progress on project implementation under JNNURM is best in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat and worst in Bihar. Similarly, on account of policy reforms, Gujarat tops the list of states with Bihar being at the end of the bottom.”
Claiming that wages to MGNREGA workers have not been paid in Rajasthan since July last year, Mr Chhibber said, “The programme had mixed results due to poor implementation, corruption and leakages. There is also a question over the quality of assets created under the scheme.”
Notwithstanding the fact that the UPA government has spent about `2,00,000 crore on MGNREGA so far and attributed it to be one of the main reasons for its return to power in 2009, the IEO has found that it has not been able to improve the rural economy. Commenting on the JNNURM, Mr Chhibber said, “It has a basic design flaw. There was no relation between the urban reform being sought and the projects being approved if the reforms were implemented.”