Finance Minister P Chidambram on Tuesday asked the Planning Commission to prioritise expenditure and focus on weeding out irrelevant centrally-sponsored schemes in the short-term. | |
| Schemes that are important from the point of view of the common minimum programme should be the focus, while those which are 'nobody's priority' should be weeded out, he said. |
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| Significant changes would be effected in the Budget for 2005-06, but for now, minor adjustments would be made in the schemes, he told reporters after an hour and a half long meeting with members and officials of the Planning Commission. |
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| Schemes that are of national importance, especially welfare schemes, are likely to be retained at the Centre, while the rest will be transferred to states over a period of time. |
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| Indications are that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is under flak for lack of absorptive capacity, while the mid-day meal programme is likely to be shifted to states. |
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