Rs 500 cr saving from NRLM to be allocated for Naxal-hit areas

The Rural Development Ministry has decided to allocate a saving of Rs 500 crore from National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) to Naxal-affected districts with an aim to give enhanced focus to these areas.
The development follows Finance Minister P Chidambaram asking the Planning Commission in August to locate savings by over Rs 1000 crore within the gross budgetary support for 2013-14 for a scheme named Additional Central Assistance (ACA) for Left wing extremism affected districts.
"Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has agreed to the proposed savings of Rs 500 crore from the NRLM being shifted to the ACA for LWE affected districts," Planning Commission Deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said in a letter to Chidambaram.

The remaining Rs 500 crore would be provided from the savings in the Backward Regions Grant Fund component.
Ahluwalia said Ramesh has also agreed to support the shift of additional Rs 1000 crore from Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) programme for the second phase of the rural road project for road constructions in the Naxal-hit areas.
More funds could also be allocated for the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) on Ramesh's proposal for constructing more houses under the programme.
Ramesh had sought increased allocation for IAY for 2012-13 to construct 30 lakh houses for the fiscal instead of 24.80 lakh houses. He had suggested that the increased allocation of Rs 3000 crore could be offset by a reduction in the budgetary allocation of PMGSY.

He reasoned that some states are not in a position to prepare suitable projects under PMGSY to absorb the amount provided in the budget estimate.