Concerned over the progress of the government’s flagship programmes, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed the Planning Commission to embark upon a fact finding mission if these are benefiting the people in states.

The government has budgeted a whopping Rs 1,00,000 crore for flagship schemes. Singh is keen that states do their best in ensuring efficient implementation of the schemes. He has now asked the Planning Commission to depute senior officers to visit states where results are not forthcoming, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said.

"We will depute advisors to visit a particular state once every three or four months to review the implementation of 15 flagship programmes and other Centrally Sponsored programmes," an official in the Planning Commission confirmed. The first round of visit by Plan panel officials is expected in November first week. The Plan panel, on its part, has asked all social sector ministries to make real-time presentations highlighting the status of the on-going flagship programmes in different states.

“We expect the Planning Commission to submit the first set of reports by November end,” an official said. It is expected that the Plan panel will critically examine the performance of the schemes. “The report must tell us what people on the ground or the intended beneficiaries feel about the flagship schemes. We can then assess how the functioning of these schemes can be improved,” he said, stressing on the need for people feedback in the planning process.

The officials said advisors would visit remote villages to understand implementation challenges in rural India, where the government’s monitoring process may not be thorough. The main thrust would be to ascertain the progress made in the job guarantee scheme NREGA, which is believed to have enabled the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance get a second term.