UPSC Articles
Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF)
Part of: Mains GS-II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes.
Context: Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) was implementing Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) Programme (District component) during the period 2006-07 to 2014-15.
- It provided financial resources for supplementing and converging existing developmental inflows into identified districts to bridge critical gaps in local infrastructure and other development requirements.
- BRGF Programme has been delinked from the budgetary support of the Central Government since 2015-16 consequent upon the implementation of the recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission.
- Earlier the share of States in the net proceeds of the Union taxes was significantly enhanced from 32% to 42% that allowed the States with greater autonomy for financing and designing the developmental schemes, especially for the backward regions.
Enters Aspirational Districts Programme
- Implemented by: NITI Aayog
- Aim: Rapid transformation of 112 Aspirational Districts which shows relatively less progress in key social and economic indicators such as Health and Nutrition, School Education and Basic Infrastructure, Agriculture etc.
- The broad strategy of the Aspirational Districts Programme rests on the 3 Cs
- Convergence (between Central and State Schemes)
- Collaboration (between Centre, State, District Administration, Development Partners and Citizens)
- Competition (between Districts)
- Every month, districts are ranked on the basis of progress made on the key performance indicators mentioned above, and this instills them with a sense of competition which results in rapid improvement.
News Source: PIB
