Twenty-Point ProgrAmme

• The Twenty Point Programme (TPP) is the second Central Plan which was launched in July 1975.
• The programme was conceived for coordinated and intensive monitoring of a number of schemes implemented by the Central and the state governments.
• The basic objective was of improving the quality of life of the people, especially of those living below the poverty line. Under this, a thrust was given to schemes relating to poverty alleviation, employment generation in rural areas, housing, education, family welfare and health, protection of environment and many other schemes having a bearing on the quality of life in rural areas.
• The programme was restructured in 1982 and 1986. The programme, known as the ‘TPP- 86’ has 119 items grouped into 20 points which are related to the improvement in the quality of life in rural areas. Among the total items, 54 are monitored on the basis of evaluatory criteria, 65 against pre-set physical targets and rest of the 20 important items on monthly basis.
• The targets are fixed by the Ministries at the Centre in consultation with the states and the UTs. The allocation for the programme is done under the various Five Year Plans.
• The ‘TPP-86’ was restructured and named ‘TPP-2006’ keeping in view the challenges of the 21st century with particular reference to the process of economic reforms. This was in harmony with the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the UPA Government. This was the first programme which had ‘direct attack’ approach on rural poverty.
• The forthcoming five year plan (i.e., the 6th Plan, 1980– 85), launched with the slogan “Garibi Hatao”, was based on the experiences of the TPP—a right mix of economics and real politic. Over the years, the programme has been implemented uninterrupted by all political parties which came to power at the Centre.
• By mid-2015, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), which monitors the programme, in a report to the Prime Minister’s Office, had advised to wrap it up as it has outlived its utility.
• While the PMO decided to ‘restructure’ it on the recommendations of the Inter-Ministerial Group, which is presently working on it. It should be noted that the Government has restructured the existing 50 Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) into 30 under the active participation of the Governing Council of the NITI Aayog.

MPLADS

• The Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) is the last of the Central Plans and latest to have been launched, too. The scheme was launched on December 23, 1993 with only Rs. 5 lakh given to each MPs which was increased to Rs. 1 crore in the year 1994–95. When the MPs did put a demand to increase the sum to Rs. 5 crore in 1997–98, finally the government enhanced it to Rs. 2 crore since 1998–99.
• In April 2011 the corpus was enhanced to Rs. 5 crore while announcing the new guidelines for the scheme.Basically, in the early 1990s there came a demand from the MPs cutting across party lines for such a scheme so that the fruits of development could directly reach the masses via their representatives. The government of the time decided to go in for such a scheme and the MPLADS came.
• Under this scheme the Members of Parliament recommend some works (i.e., creation of fixed community assets, based on locally felt developmental needs) to the concerned District Magistrate. The scheme is governed by a set of guidelines, which have been comprehensively revised and issued in November 2005. Its performance has improved due to proactive policy initiatives, focus monitoring and review.

In recent years, many criticisms of the scheme came to the public notice, which concerned either misappropriation of the funds or non-use of the funds, especially from the backward states. The people’s representative at the PRI level have been demanding scrapping of the scheme as it infringes the idea of decentralised planning. In it’s place, they want the funds to be given to the local bodies directly for the same kind of works specified by the MPLADS.

In May 2014, MOSPI issued the revised guidelines for the scheme which is simple, clear and understandable to all concerned. The fine points of the guidelines are as given below:
- It provides not only the list of prohibited items under the scheme, but also that of permissible items.
- In order to encourage trusts and societies to work for the betterment of tribal people, the ceiling of Rs. 50 lakh, stipulated forbuilding assets by trusts and societies in areas occupied by tribals, has been enhanced to Rs. 75 lakh.
- Further, to promote cooperative movement and rural development, the Cooperative Societies have also been made eligible under the MPLAD Scheme.
-The abandoned or suspended MPLAD work to be completed by the states.
-Natural and man-made calamities can also be allocated funds under it.
- Now the funds can be allocated by a MP outside of Constituency/State/UTs, too.
-It can converge with the other approved Central (like MGNAREGA) and State Government schemes.
-Funds from local bodies can be pooled with MPLADS works.
-Public and community contribution is made permissible in the scheme.
-‘One MP–One Idea’, an annual competition for best innovation in solving local problems.
-A proper mechanism for its implementation and auditing have also been put in place.

To provide MPs a greater choice under the scheme, the list of indicative and illustrative shelf of projects has been expanded touching the fields of infrastructure development, drinking water, education, roads, health, sanitation, natural calamity, etc. The scheme has been given more dynamism and flexibility.

MultI-Level Planning
It was by the late 1950s and early 1960s that the states demanded the right to plan at the state level. By the mid-1960s, the states were given the power to plan by the Centre, advising them that they should promote planning at the lower levels of the administrative strata, too, i.e., at the district level planning—via the municipalities and corporations in the urban areas and via block level through panchayats and the tribal boards. By the early 1980s, India was a country of multi-level planning (MLP) with the structure and strata of planning as follows:

first strAtA: centre-level PlAnning
At this level three types of Central Plans had evolved over the years—the Five Year Plans, the Twenty-Point Programme and the MPLADS.

Second strAtA: State-level Planning
By the 1960s, the states were planning at the state level with their respective planning bodies, the state Planning Boards with the respective CMs being their de-facto Chairman. The plans of the states were for a term of five years and parallel to the concerned Five Year Plans of the Centre.

Third Strata: District-level PlAnning
By the late 1960s all the districts of the states were having their own plans with their respective District Planning Boards89 with the respective District Magistrate being the de-facto chairman. The district-level plans are implemented now via municipalities or corporations in the urban areas and the panchayats via the blocks in the rural areas.

Fourth strata: block-level PlAnning
As a part of the district-level planning the block level planning came up which had the District Planning Boards as their nodal body. Below the blocks, India developed the planning at the local level, too.

Fifth strata: local level planning
By the early 1980s, plans were being implemented at the local level via the blocks and had the District Planning Boards (DPBs) as the nodal agency. Due to socio-economic differentiations among the population, local-level planning in India developed with its three variants,90 namely:
(i) Village-Level Planning
(ii) Hill Area Planning
(iii) Tribal Area Planning