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The share of capital expenditure in the budget submitted by the finance minister of the federal government to the parliament on May 15 every year is low, even if we look at the calculations of the current financial year, when the budget of 18 trillion 60 billion has been presented, only 3 trillion 52 billion has been allocated for development.
Thus, 19 percent of the total budget is just like the tradition of capital allocation. The competition to spread the development budget is also going on. There is public criticism that the federal government has allocated a budget for construction from Swagat Gate to Smriti Bhawan.
Federal government's interest in ward-level programs has also been hampered in the practice of federalism. In order to control this trend, the government has issued 'National Project Bank Standard-2081'. According to this standard, it has been arranged that projects worth less than 30 million cannot be entered in the National Project Bank and projects that are not in this bank cannot be included in the federal budget. If this standard is honestly implemented, it will help to reduce financial chaos and strengthen federalism.
Whether the National Project Bank Standard-2081 will be implemented or not, that will also be decided on the 15th of June. Even in 2080, it was decided by the Council of Ministers that projects worth less than 3 crores will not be kept from the federal budget. However, the said decision was not implemented. Instead, projects up to 1 lakh rupees were also kept in the federal budget. In the budget of the current financial year, funds have been allocated at the rate of 1/1 lakh for the construction and upgrading of small buildings, roads, canals, parks, memorial gates, temples and monasteries, access road studies, irrigation plans, environmental tests, and studies for master plans.
Many such projects are under the Ministry of Development including Urban Development, Physical Infrastructure, Transport. Only 99 projects under the Ministry of Urban Development are worth one lakh. Such plans are targeted by the ministers in their constituencies and kept in the budget. At the same time, people with access also initiate such schemes to show their influence. Many MPs run to the ministry with a list of small projects to show the budget to the voters of their constituency or to establish their political influence. Later, the budget is dispersed for small projects even with the intention of transferring the budget amount.
After the practice of federalism started through the new constitution, state government and local government also exist. Local government is discussed as the carrier of development. In the schedule of the constitution, "local level development projects and projects" are in the list of single rights of the local level. But it is considered that the federal government is not able to accept the new constitution and system because it is interested in the plans that are within the authority and capacity of the local government.
Such a trend is only a manifestation of the federal government's arrogance and 'I am supreme'. If this trend that has been expressed so far can be improved, it will play a role in strengthening federalism. At the same time, capacity building of state and local governments, practical assessment of plan selection, management and budget allocation skills, local concern and monitoring will be enhanced. Increases local people's commitment to development plans.
Why is the strict implementation of the standards brought now inevitable, if the budget of around 100,000,000,000,000, there is little chance of completing any plan. For some schemes, the budget is insufficient even for pre-feasibility studies. In other words, funds are allocated in the budget but there is no study of the plan and no construction.
On the other hand, because the politicians with access plan the budget with the aim of 'engaging' workers in their constituencies, there is a high possibility of misappropriation of such funds. As a result, the quality of the respective plan remains uncertain. At the same time, there is duplication with the provincial and local government budgets in the small schemes allocated by the federal government. Such a trend leads to the decentralization of the federal government. Manpower also cannot be utilized, instead it leads to scarcity.
If the 'National Project Bank Standard-2081' can be fully complied with, the budget allocated by the federal government for small projects can reach the state and local governments. They can show their influence. which can further strengthen federalism. Simultaneously, the federal government can integrate its energies into larger and strategic plans. In that case, the effectiveness, timeliness and quality of such work can increase.
Therefore, the government and the stakeholders should be honest to improve the shortcomings of the past. In particular, the government should abandon the attitude of showing its influence by making small schemes part of the federal budget. Parliamentarians should also be able to show their influence by being active in making useful laws rather than running ministries to plan in their constituencies. The people should also evaluate the MP not on the basis of how many plans he rushed to bring, but on the basis of his activism for law and policy making, on the basis of what issues he raised in the House. A practice of rewarding and punishing should be initiated.
