Why finance panel may ask the govt to overhaul, reduce central schemes

Centrally sponsored schemes are funded by Centre and states combined, as opposed to central sector schemes which are funded wholly by the Centre

The government needs to radically overhaul centrally sponsored schemes by either making them 100 per cent centrally funded or transferring them to states with untied grants. In order to make them more effective, their design and implementation should also go for a complete rejig.

These are the findings of one of the multiple studies commissioned by the Fifteenth Finance Commission as part of work in preparing its own report.

The studies have been carried out by various think tanks. There are 26 reports.

Two reports, by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), focus on development expenditure