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Chapter 23:
OTHER PROGRAMMES

Developmental programmes included under this head are ;rehabilitation, statistical schemes of the Department of Statistics and State statistical bureaux, statistical" schemes of the Registrar General's Office as well as DOS and D, information services and Plan -publicity, Research Programmes Committee, expansion of printing capacity, evaluation, State capital projects, special and backward areas, studies and surveys of natural resources, training in methods and techniques of economic" planning arid a few miscellaneous schemes. A total of about Rs.192 crores is being provided for theabbve'programnies.

23.2. The distribution of the total outlay of Rs. 192.31 crores among the Centre, States and Union Territories is:

Table 1 Other Programmes—Outlays
(Rs. crores)

Rehabilitation

23.3. The schemes of the Department of Rehabilitation cover displaced persons from Pakistan and repatriates from Burma and Ceylon. The items of expenditure under the schemes have hitherto included settlement in agricultural and non-agricultural occupations and provision for amenities like education and health. Provision for the maintenance of certain facilities in the colonies of resettled displaced persons was also part of Plan outlay. Only the expenditure on relief was to be met from outside the Plan.

23.4. A different approach is now being adopted. If has been decided that the development plan of the Department of Rehabilitation would include provision for only such items or activities as are strictly on a developmental character. The provision for the maintenance of existing services is to be met from the normal budgets of the Central and State Governments. The additional provision for services like education and health should also become part of the Plans of respective States. In accordance with this approach, an allocation of Rs.- <6 crores has now been made. This would provide for the resettling in agricultural and non-agricultural occuptions of repatriates from Burma and Ceylon, migrants from East Pakistan now in relief camps and also some families residing outside the existing camps in West Bengal. Provision has also been made for schemes in progress such as Dandakaranya area development, training of refugees and the Rehabilitation Industries Corporation. The special area development programme started in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands will also continue.

Research Programmes

23.5. Daring the Fourth Plan, the Research Programmes Committee of the Planning Commission will confine its sponsoring activity to studies on Plan formulation and implementation. The other research studies in social sciences will henceforward fall within the jurisdiction of the Council of Social Science Research, recently set up. Greater emphasis will be given to the study of the problems of small farmers, growth potential, industrial location, public enterprises and problems arising out of detailed local planning. An outlay of Rs. 60 lakhs has been provided for the various programmes of the Research Programmes Committee. Of this, a provision of Rs. 25 lakhs has been made for grants to four institutions, namely, the Institute of Economic Growth, the National Council of Applied Economic Research, the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and the Economics Department of Bombay University, for participating in research programmes. These along with the Indian Statistical Institute will undertake detailed studies on related problems such as technological change and productivity in industries, input-output analysis, manpower structure, wage differentials and forest resources. Rs. 10 lakhs has been provided for enlisting the services of consultants for short periods.

Special and Backward Areas

23.6. A number of States have identified special areas (hill and border areas, backward areas, other special areas) within their boundaries requiring measures for accelerated development, but only a few States have made specific provisions for this in their Fourth Plan. While all the State Governments will: wrk out in due course the specific outlays within their Plan ceiling for the development of such areas, provisions indicated by the States which have identified the areas and the problems aggregate to Rs. 43,55 crores.

Statistics

23.7. With the growth of economy, the problems of planning and ecnomic coordination are becoming increasingly complex. Correspondingly, the demands on the statistical system, which has to provide empirical data for analysis and policy making, have also greatly increased. Since the inception of planning, much has been done to improve the coverage and quality of the statistical system. This is illustrated by the establishment of a National Sample Survey for collection of socio-economic data on a nation-wide scale, strengthening of various statistical organisations in the States as well as in the Ministries at the Centre and the establishment of the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). This Organisation is responsible for ensuring uniform statistical standards, concepts and definitions, for providing guidance and coordinating the official statistical activities at various levels.

23.8. Between 1960-61 and 1968-69 over Rs. 10 crores were spent on schemes for statistical improvement under the Department of Statistics. In addition, Rs. 4.5 crores were spent on statistical schemes under various sectoral programmes for agriculture, industry and health. Among the more significant improvements achieved during this period are : revision of national income estimates on the basis to better data and more refined methods of estimation; progress towards compiling comparable estimates of income originating in different States for the commodities producing sectors refinements in the construction of the index numbers of industrial prouction and the cost of living; extension of the coverage of crop statistics to new area and more crops; introduction of a rationalised supervision of village agencies responsible for collecting area statistics and introduction of surveys to assess spread of improved agricultural practices. At the State level, the Third Plan included nine "crore schemes" to fill major gaps in small scale industries in the unorganised sector, distributive trade, goods tranport by road, housing statistics and estimation of the State income. In 1966 the Department of Statistics set up a computer centre in Delhi with thiee computers. Seven more computers have been installed in different regional centres. The establishment of these centres is designed to increase the efficiency of collation and analysis of the statistical data and to reduce the time lags in making the data available to the users.

23.9. Even in areas which are covered by the existing system, there is scope for improvement both in the quality of information and in the timely availability of such data. The Fourth Plan will make a continuing effort for improvement in this direction. To ensure rapid processing and systematic analysis of socio-economic data, collected regularly through the National Sample Survey (NSS), it has been decided to bring all aspects of work relating to NSS under one unified control. It will be entrusted to a single Government organisation located in the Department of Statistics, Cabinet secretariat. This organisation will be responsible for designing, field work and tabulation. It will have its own Governing Council consisting of officials and non-officials to secure a greater measure of autonomy in the collection of data, processing and publication of survey results.

23.10. Reliable and timely data on crop production are of crucial importance for agricultural planning and management of food distribution. The present system of reporting of crop areas and production does not adequately meet the needs of Government for purposes of policy. With a view to improving crop statistics and building advance estimates of area and production, it is proposed to introduce a scheme for 'timely reporting of crop areas' based on a complete plot-to-plot enumeration in respect of sample of villages with proper checks on the complete enumeration work of the primary reporting agency. The scope of crop surveys in the NSS will be expanded to provide estimates for all major food and non-food crops through centralised tabulation of data collected by NSS and the States which collaboiate in these programmes. These surveys will be integrated with the State crop estimation work so that the NSS sample of villages will form a part of the State sample for the scheme of 'timely reporting of crop areas'. The NSS sample villages for crop cutting will also be included in the State crop yield surveys. These arrangements are expected to provide independent estimates at the national level and improve the reliability of estimates at the State level.

23.11. The decennial census of population is an important source of demographic and economic data. Several improvements have been introduced in the programme of the 1971 census. These include a special schedule to list characteristics of manufacturing, trading and other establishments; additional questions on 'age at marriage' and 'children born during the last year' to provide data on current fertility; additional questions ^ on place of last residence and duration of residence to improve the quality of information on internal migration and some change relating to the classification of population into workers and non-workers designed to reflect '. better the employment status of the population. The census programme also provide for expeditious tabulation and publication of data. An important feature of the programme is the preparation of detailed notional maps of every village and every town, indicating the location of every house, together with comprehensive house lists. These are expected to serve as a good frame for any future sample survey.

23.12. The existing machinery for collection of data in different Ministries and Departments is being reviewed with the object of evolving a system which will make for better and timely availability of information relevant to Plan formulation and evaluation and for Government policy. The Planning Commission has made detailed suggestions to the States regarding collection and analysis of data relevant to sectoral planning at the district level.

23.13. The following main considerations have guided the formulation of the statistical schemes :

1. maintaining continuity in the implementation of important statistical programmes undertaken since the Third Plan;
2. extending statistical development to new areas of enquiry; and
3. undertaking projects on the basis of international statistical programmes.

The total Plan provision for the schemes under the purview of the Department of Statistics in the Fourth Plan has been placed at Rs. 8.74 crores, of which Rs. 4.95 crores are provided for the Central sector and the balance of Rs. 3.79 crores for States and Union Territories. The main objectives of statistical schemes in the Central Sector will be increasing the coverage and ensuring timely analysis of industrial statistics, improving crop statistics, promoting State income estimates and improving national accounts and strengthening of research and training facilities. Out of the outlay of Rs. 1.2 crores, for the various statistical schemes of the Indian Statistical Institute, a major portion is earmarked for capital expenditure on purchase and development of land and construction of building. The balance is intended to be spent on research activities. In the States' sector, stress will be placed on the implementation of 'core' statistical schemes, with a view to improving data on small scale enterprises, distributive trade and inter-State movement of goods. The Plan provisions for statistical schemes are :

Table 2 Statistics : Fourth flan Outlay

23.14. A provision of Rs. 280 lakhs has been made for the statistical schemes of the Registrar General's office. These schemes aim at progressive improvement of civil registration for collection, tabulation and consolidation of vital statistics, and for filling up gaps in vital statistics. These projects, initiated recently, are proposed to be pursued vigorously. A provision of Rs. 16 lakhs has also been made for the schemes of the Director General of Supplies and Disposals for improvement of purchase statistics.

23.15. In addition to the above provision, there are separate provisons for statistical programmes of different Central Ministries and State Departments. Statistical data relating to registered small scale industries are presently being collected under the Annual Survey of industries. Under a Centrally sponsored scheme, supported by a Plan provision of Rs. 60 lakhs shown under the Plan head: 'Village and Small industries', it is proposed to extend the coverage to the unregistered sector in a phased manner. As a first step all un-registered units employing five workers of more will be listed and information collected on a sample basis. As a part of the World Programme, it is proposed to conduct an agricultural census during 1970, partly by complete enumeration and partly on a sample basis with a view to collecting comprehensive data on various aspects of agriculture. The Fourth Plan allocation for agricultural census is Rs. one crore. Another important Centrally statistical scheme namely 'time reporting of crop areas' will have a Plan allocation of Rs. 1.50 crores. The working class family living surveys will be conducted in sixty factories, mining and plantation centres to derive an up-to-date weighting diagram for compilation of new series of consumer price index numbers.

Information Services and Plan Publicity

23.16. As a part of the total infrastructure, information services enable Government to put across facts and points of view and keep itself in the know of popular reactions and press opinion. This two-way traffic is important in extending understanding of Plan policies and participation in developmental activities. Information personnel and facilities have been established by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and by the Publicity Departments of State Governments and Union Territories. Coordination of their activities is necessary at three levels—Centre, Slate headquarters and districts. Information centres, radio transmitters, film production, mobile cinevans and other media are looked upon as different activities of a single servicing agency established for the use of all other departments and Ministries. Coordination is essential in order to mount multi-media campaigns on a concerted basis for programmes such as export promotion and family planning and thereby ensure better Plan implementation.

23.17. This servicing agency has to formulate the requirements of different departments in order of priorities and translate these requirements into effective publicity aimed at audiences whom the developmental programmes are intended to benefit. It is desirable that a single agency, either at the Centre or in each State and Union Territory, operates all the communication media such as films, printed literature mobile vans and press releases. It will need expertise and flexibility to serve different departments. At the Centre and in some States, information personnel and facilities have been set up severally and in isolation by developmental departments. This means avoidable investments, duplication of effort and unused capacity; hence the need for a single integrated servicing agency.

23.18. In the spread of information facilities, the imbalance in favour of urban concentrations and prosperous areas continues. Some corrective will result from the lesser imphasis on general publicity implicit in the linking of information programmes with developmental work. There is need for a deliberate attempt to inform the people in the rural areas and in particular those in backward regions about the specific scliemes in agriculture, forestry, road construction, marketing or the supply of credit and other inputs so that the benefits of these programmes are more widely spread. Even in a single region or homogenous areas, there will be more than a single audience to be approached. These will have to be identified and reached.

23.19. The Plan has provided Rs. 12.50 crores for information services and Plan publicity schemes. Out of this Rs. 5 crores is for the programmes of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Rs. 5.84 crores and Rs. 1.66 crores for those of States and Union Territories respectively. Additional outlays provided in the programmes of other departments, such as under Family Planning and Agriculture, will strengthen the basic facilities with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and State departments of publicity.

Evaluation Organisations

23.20. Evaluation units have been set up in almost all the States. To assist the States, training courses in evaluation techniques and methodology are. being organised at the Centre. The Administrative Reforms Commission had examined the evaluation organisation and recommended the creation of a separate evaluation wing in the Planning boards. The recommendations relating tŪ the Planning Commission are under' its consideration. The other recommendations have-been referred to the Union Ministries and State Governments. A provision of Rs. 86 lakhs has been indicated in their respective Plans by various States and Union Territories for strengthening the evaluation machinery in their areas.

Training in Methods and Techniques of Economic Planning

23.21. The object of this scheme is to provide knowledge and skills of advanced techniques in the general area of economic planning and investment planning. The training programmes under the scheme to be organised in collaboration with selected institutions will impart competence in latest techniques of formulation, implementation and evaluation of Plan programmes and projects.