PLANNING, APPRAISAL, AND FUND FLOWS

UNDER SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN  

 PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES    

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan assigns greatest importance to the preparatory activities as these have been conceived as a necessary condition for quality implementation of the programme. Systematic mobilization of the community and creation of an effective system of decentralised decision making are part of the preparatory activities. A number of steps have already been taken in many states and it is expected that the State/UTs which have not yet decentralised powers to Village Education Committees/ Panchayats/ Urban local bodies, would do so as a part of the preparation for implementing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.    

Strengthening of the office of the District Elementary Education Officer has also to be undertaken in the preparatory phase in order to adequately equip it to handle the larger tasks during programme implementation. Setting up of an effective information system has therefore been highlighted, besides procurement of essential office equipment and computer hardware. More important than the hardware component would be the need to provide support for involving community leaders at all levels and orienting existing governmental functionaries in carrying out their activities more effectively. An assessment of the additional manpower needs has also to be made during this period. It must be emphasized that setting up of an effective MIS would require contractual engagement of data analysts and data entry personnel, as they are not available in most non-DPEP districts. Similarly, the need for experts on gender, children with disabilities, other disadvantages groups, civil works, pedagogy and community mobilization and planning will also have to be assessed in the light of the specific State/ UT.

The preparation of habitation level educational plans through effective community mobilisation for microplanning and school mapping is the greatest challenge of the preparatory phase. Since Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has the clear aim of universalisation of elementary education, it is mandatory to track the progress of each and every child in the 0-14 age group. Preparation of Village Education Registers on the basis of household survey, regular monitoring through Retention Registers and Pupil Progress Cards, would have to be developed in the preparatory phase itself. This calls for a focus on capacity building among the Panchayati Raj Institutions, members of Village Education Committees, School Management Committees, Parents' Teacher Associations, etc. The preparatory phase provides for a process and activity based constitution/organisation of such Committees and training of community leaders for better management of schools. Capacity building in the local community will also require a constant interface with the school and the teachers. This is being attempted through a large number of school based activities in the preparatory phase itself.    

Micro planning exercise will include the following:

Through a participatory process a core planning team will be constituted in each village at the habitation level including selected VEC members, selected community leaders, NGO representatives, Head Master, selected teachers and some selected parents, ensuring participation of women as well as persons from the deprived communities. Parents of children with special needs may be included in the team. The selection of this team is very critical for effective planning.  

A number of studies on the Base-line assessment in a district, in order to reflect the current situation with regard to learning achievements, retention, access, gender equity, social equity, physical infrastructure, etc. would also have to be undertaken as preparatory activities. Effort should be made to involve regional research institutions in this process. The reports must be diagnostic and should be able to feed into the planning process. Besides these locally relevant studies, baseline achievement tests would be taken up for the primary level in all non-DPEP districts by NCERT. Similarly, NCERT, in association with the States, will take up baseline studies for upper primary level in all the districts. Several available studies that are State specific may also be utilized to determine the base-line status in a State.

For planning to be need-based, it is important that the broad norms for improving school facilities are shared with habitation level planning team. The norms under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan provide the broad framework for such an exercise. The habitation level planning team would comprise of community leaders with a keen interest in the education of children. It must have a large number of parents whose children study in the school whose improvement is being attempted.

Identification of a team at District and Block level would also have to be undertaken during the preparatory phase. Efforts to identify teachers who could serve as Cluster and Block Resource Centre Coordinators could also be taken up during this period. These identified BRC/CRC Coordinators could then facilitate the planning process. Local level non-governmental organisation must also be associated in the planning activities and in the process of constitution of VECs. The management needs in a particular district would also have to be assessed by the State level Implementation Society, to determine the kind of additional support required to operationalize the team at District, Block and the Cluster level. In districts that have already operationalized Block Resource and Cluster Resource Centres, the formation of such teams would be easier. In other regions, efforts to make an objective assessment of manpower needs and the restructured command system for the education administration would have to be a priority. The National and State level Mission will facilitate this process of manpower planning for programme implementation through objective assessment by expert teams.

Tasks like rationalization of teacher units has also to be initiated during the preparatory phase in order that deployment of teachers is need based. This will facilitate assessment of additional teacher requirements as also a convergent planning process that appreciates the presence of private schools.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan highlights transparency in programme implementation. All efforts have to be made to ensure that expenditure on elementary education is a public domain subject. The School Display Board has to show all investments being made in the school. Teacher Attendance should be publicly displayed. For improving the quality of school-level data regarding Enrolment, Attendance, Retention, Drop out, etc., besides the mandatory maintenance of Village Education Registers, Retention Registers, and Pupil Progress Cards, any information sent to Cluster/ Block/ District level, has to be displayed on the School Display Board for public scrutiny. The seeds of a community based monitoring system can only be sown by acceptance of a Right to Information at the school level. Similar efforts at transparency should be made right up to the national level.  Copies of all sanction orders for pre-project/project activities would be pasted on the web-site of the Department of Elementary Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development.  

Organization of a large number of school based activities, cultural jathas, sports and festivals, have been suggested as preparatory activities under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Mobilization of the community can come about more effectively through a series of school-based activities that opens up the school as a social institution to the community. The objective of all these efforts is to ensure community partnership in the management of the school.

Opening of Bank Accounts of Village Education Committee/ School Management Committee/ Gram Panchayat Education Committee/ School level Committee in urban areas will also be monitored as a preparatory activity so that effective decentralization can be brought about. The financial norms clearly state that a number of interventions have to be carried out by the VEC (or its equivalent).

The preparatory activities must also ensure that the formation of the VECs (or equivalent bodies in urban areas) is process-based. Process-based implies selection through activities and participation rather than by official orders of nomination. Some States have accepted a system of election for School Management Committees and the same will be continued. There may be a need to reconstitute such Committees in many places where it had been done routinely in the past. Involvement of the teachers, representatives of women and other weaker sections, active community leaders, parents of children studying in that school/EGS, parents of out of school children from poor habitations, has to be ensured in a process based approach. The organization of school based activities and microplanning are ways of identifying active community leaders willing to give time for the educational reconstruction in a habitation. The planning team has to have a role in the process-based constitution of VECs. Involvement of NGOs will strengthen this community-based approach for organizing the preparatory activities.

In order to ensure an effective preparatory phase, up to Rupees fifty lakhs has been provided for such activities, based on the actual requirement in a particular district. Besides provision for training and orientation of community leaders and Education Department functionaries, the preparatory phase provides for the following:

§         office equipment as per need,

§         cultural activities for mobilization for SSA,

§         computer hardware and software for effective MIS at the district level,

§         School-based activities up to Rupees 1000 to a school,

§         household surveys and preparation of habitation Plans up to Rs. 3 per household,

§         a set of base line Studies, etc.

The preparatory phase is need-based and there is a lot of variation in the demand from districts. Districts that are already implementing DPEP/LJP would require limited resources for the preparatory activities. All districts are expected to prepare District Elementary Education Plans before the end of the IX Plan. During the preparatory phase, States will also make an assessment of manpower needs at the state level. A State component plan will also have to be prepared, highlighting these needs. Assessment of manpower needs would require serious efforts at restructuring of education administration, wherever it has not been attempted so far. State level Resource Groups are expected to facilitate programme implementation.     

The preparatory phase will be monitored by joint teams of resource persons sent by State/ National level mission. Support for planning activities will be provided by District/ State/ National level resource institutions. The districts can ask for resource support for carrying out planning activities and NCERT/NIEPA/SCERT/SIEMAT/TSG-DPEP would provide the capacity building support as per requirement. Besides this, the National and the State Mission will have an effective monitoring and operational support group to facilitate capacity building at all levels and to meet specific need of districts. Copies of all sanction orders for Pre-project and Project activities would be posted on the web site of the Department of Elementary Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

State governments will work out arrangements for professional and operational support at the State level in order to ensure that the capacity development needs of a district receive top most priority in the preparatory phase

The preparatory activities are expected to initiate a process of institutional development and capacity building for professional management of elementary education sector at the local level. The focus has to be on capacity building through training, rigorous planning processes, focus on community based data collection and its analyses, and most of all, a willingness to allow the local community to manage schools. It is expected that the preparatory phase will take anywhere from four to eight months.    

COMMUNITY-BASED PLANNING PROCESS  

The success of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will depend on the quality of the community based planning process. While SSA is formulated on the premise that the community can plan, it also accepts the tremendous requirement for developing capacities in communities to do so. The heterogeneity of local communities in many regions often poses problems of unanimity on proposed planning criteria. It is important to recognize a habitation, rather than a village as a unit of planning as most habitations have a higher degree of community solidarity. Similarly, in urban areas, a cluster of households in the same slum settlement has to be a unit of planning.

The starting point for planning activities has to be the creation of a core group of governmental and non-governmental persons, entrusted with the task of implementing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The State level Implementation Society has to exercise utmost caution and care in ensuring that the core team at the District and Block level is carefully selected and is committed to the task of Universal Elementary Education. Besides Education Department functionaries, these teams could comprise of faculty members of DIETs, BRCs, CRCs, NGO representatives, representatives of Teacher Unions, representatives of Women’s Groups, representatives of Self Help Groups, retired and serving National and State Award winning Teachers, local literary figures, Panchayati Raj/ Autonomous Council representatives, etc. This list is illustrative as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan recognizes the diversity across regions. The objective is to make district level and Block level core teams competent to take the community along in its agenda for educational reconstruction. The starting point of the planning process should be an orientation of the District and Block level teams.

These core teams should then undertake an extensive visit of the district, covering every habitation/village/urban slum. The funds provided under the preparatory activities for cultural activities and school based activities could be taken up to build advocacy for elementary education. These events could be occasions to identify individuals and community leaders willing to undertake the educational activities in the region. Constitution of Mahila Samoohs and Prerak Dals could also be taken up as a preliminary step towards the constitution of the VEC. These identified individuals, with large representation of women and weaker sections, should then be oriented for managing the affairs of the school. The National/ State level Mission could extend operational support in building capacities for such activities.

The District team must also work out its information needs and steps to develop formats for household and school surveys should also be taken. This would require capacity support from National/State level institutions. The local context must reflect in all such activities.

The school has to play a critical role in the planning process and efforts to bring community leaders to the school should be encouraged. This will be facilitated by regular activities in the school. The Head Master and his/her team have to function like the local resource team for planning.

After orientation of community teams, the process of microplanning should be undertaken. This would involve intensive interaction with each household to ascertain the educational status and the educational need. The requirements have to be discussed at the habitation level before they are finalized. The broad financial and physical norms regarding school infrastructure, teachers and teaching learning materials will have to be the basis of the planning exercise.

Requirement of incentives like Scholarship and uniforms will have to be worked out on the basis of State norms. These would be part of the SSA framework but not the SSA programme as funding would be from the State Plan. The planning for mid day meal should also be discussed in the planning process, even though it will continue as a distinct scheme.  

The habitation level plans should be drawn up on the basis of the microplanning exercise. The Blocks and the Districts should also undertake an exercise to see that all requirements can be fulfilled by redeployment or by schemes under which unspent balances are available with the State governments. For example, teacher deployment could come by rationalization or Teaching Learning Equipment could come from sanctions already provided earlier under Operation Blackboard but not utilised so far. As far as possible, a new upper primary school would be opened by upgrading an existing primary school. The final District Plan will take note of such investments and would also reflect the process of redeployment of facilities, wherever required. The habitation level educational plans will be appraised by the Cluster level units, in consultation with the Block teams. The District unit will appraise the Block level plans. Due care should be taken to ensure that the demand for teachers, classrooms, etc. are as per the broad norm for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.    

The community-based planning process has to result in the effective enrolment and retention of the hitherto out of school children in school/ an EGS centre/ or a Bridge Course. This calls for a child specific monitoring by the local community. Community planning processes must also result in a specific Action Plan.  

PERSPECTIVE PLANS AND ANNUAL PLANS    

Each district will prepare a perspective Plan and an Annual Plan. The perspective Plan will be a Plan for universalisation within the time frame of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. It will be based on the existing position with regard to attendance, retention, drop out and learning achievement. It will work out the total requirement for universalisation, spread over a number of years. A clear Plan for improving access, increasing retention and ensuring achievement will be a part of the perspective Plan. The Perspective Plan will also be a dynamic document rather than any blue print and would be subject to modifications based on the feedback on the programme implementation. It will also work out the requirement of school infrastructure and teaching learning materials based on these assessments. The perspective plan will follow the broad financial norms set out in an earlier section. The perspective Plans will also take note of the presence of the non-governmental sector and its contribution towards UEE. The perspective plan will not rule out modifications in the Annual Work Plans based on field experience. The projections of the perspective Plan are tentative and departures on possible interventions may be made as per need.    

The Annual Plans have to be based on a broad indication of resource availability to a district in a particular year. The National and State Mission will try and finalise the resource likely to be allocated to a particular district at least six months before the first instalment is released to a district. The district would undertake a prioritization exercise in the light of the likely availability of resources. The Annual Plan will be a prioritized plan in the light of the likely availability of resources. The National/ State Mission will appraise these Annual Plans and changes in keeping with resource availability could be effected by the National/ State Mission.

While the objective of the Perspective Plan is to assess and Plan for the unfinished UEE agenda in a particular district, the Annual plan is an exercise in prioritization. The perspective Plans of districts would be the basis for placing demand for additional financial resources for UEE in the years to come. As stated earlier, these Plans have to be as per broad norms under SSA. The appraisal teams would ensure that planning is as per nationally/ State accepted norms.

Preparation of Perspective and Annual Plans require creation of capacities at all levels. Besides the teams of resource persons from the National/ State mission, efforts to develop State specific institutional linkage for planning support will also be explored. Consultation with research institutions for undertaking State specific educational agenda has already been initiated. The same would be finalised in consultation with the State governments. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would require support of institutions of proven excellence for research, evaluation, monitoring and capacity building.

The quality of the planning exercise will depend on the efforts at capacity building and the supervision of the planning process. Institutions like Cluster Resource Centres and Block Resource Centres, already established under DPEP and being established under SSA in non-DPEP districts, have to be carefully nurtured to provide capacity for effective planning. The starting point in any such exercise is for the States to accept the need for careful selection of personnel from the existing governmental functionaries and also to deploy experts on contract from the management costs provided under the SSA. The National/ State Mission will have a role in selection of personnel in order to ensure objectivity in such processes. It must be reiterated that quality planning process will require institutional reforms that allow local communities to participate effectively in the affairs of the school. The involvement of the teaching community in the planning process would also be necessary to ensure that the school system emerges as the principal institution for community partnership.

The District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) have a Planning and Management unit. These units have to become fully operational. The effort at entering into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with State governments under the scheme of Strengthening Teacher Education is a step in that direction. As stated in earlier sections, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan encourages institutional capacity development at all levels. Ultimately, no amount of external supervision by monitoring teams or capacity building teams is a substitute for institutional capacity development at all levels. The CRCs, BRCs and DIETs have a large role in the preparation of perspective and Annual Plans and their systematic capacity development has to be a priority in programme implementation.

ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES AS PER APPROVED PLANS    

As mentioned earlier, the allocation of resources will depend on the following: preparation of District Elementary Education Plans and their appraisal; commitment of the State government with regard to the State share; performance of the State government regarding resources made available earlier; institutional reforms in states to facilitate decentralised management of education; reports of supervision teams regarding the quality of programme implementation; and availability of financial resources in a particular year. The actual allocation of resources will depend on all these factors. It is likely that districts with poor infrastructure will require more resources. However, the release will also be performance linked. If an educationally backward district does not utilise the resources in the manner intended, it is unlikely to continue to receive a priority. All the districts of the country will be covered before the end of the Ninth Plan.  Their Plans will also be appraised and resources made available as per the conditions mentioned above. There are no fixed criteria for allocation of resources, as the actual allocation will depend on a large number of factors, including the availability of resources.    

As mentioned earlier, the resources will be allocated in two installments in a year: Once in April and then again in September. The objective is to allow states to fully utilise the allocation for elementary education. The utilization certificates, however, will only become due one year after the release of an installment. Further release will be stalled if utilisation certificates are not submitted as per the schedule.

The expenditure of a State /UT has to be maintained at the level in 1999-2000. The State share for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has to be over and above the expenditure already being incurred at the 1999-2000 level in a particular State. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will not substitute State funding for elementary education. In fact, it is expected to encourage states to invest more on elementary education along side a higher allocation by the Central government. The State level Implementation Society for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will certify that the level of investments are being maintained in the state, at the time of seeking further allocation of resources from the Central government. The National level Mission will also monitor expenditure on elementary education. NIEPA will provide professional support for regular monitoring of expenditure on elementary education  

WHAT A DISTRICT PLAN MUST HAVE ... 

         i.            Large scale participation of women and other disadvantaged groups in the planning process.

       ii.            A clear gender focus in all the activities under the plan. Every intervention must be gender sensitive.

      iii.            Large scale evidence of school-based activities like Bal melas, Jathas, sports, Maa – beti sammelans, etc.

      iv.            Evidence of

                                 ·            interface with elected representatives at all levels

                                 ·            process based constitution of committees at each level

                                 ·            institutional arrangements for decentralized decision making

                                 ·            consultation with teachers

                                 ·            community contribution for universal elementary education

                                 ·            school mapping and micro planning habitation wise/ village wise/ cluster wise/ urban

                        slum wise/ ward wise

                                 ·            joint Bank accounts in each school/VEC/School Committees to receive community

                       contribution and to spend government grants

                                 ·            focus on making education relevant to life.

        v.            Survey of

                                 ·            available school facilities, including non-governmental educational institutions;

                                 ·            0-6 age group children and facilities for their education and development;

                                 ·            6-14 age children through preparation of Education Registers and identification of

                       institution for schooling.

      vi.            Relocation of teacher units taking into account the presence of the non-governmental sector

            and its impact on school attendance.

     vii.            Assessment of

                                 ·            training needs and survey of capacities for orientation and training with existing

                        institutions;

                                 ·            needs, school-wise/habitation-wise of additional school facilities, teachers, etc.;

                                 ·            school wise/EGS centre wise incentives of meals, scholarships, uniforms, free

                        textbooks and notebooks, etc.;

                                 ·            teaching-learning materials;

                                 ·            Information System;

                                 ·            available financial resources and priority of needs.

   viii.            Community ownership of the district plan.

  ix         A plan for quality education including a plan for

                                 ·            early childhood care and education;

                                 ·            children with special needs.

      x.            Incorporation of issues like local specific school timings, etc.;

       xI.            Reflection of all investments in Plan and Non Plan being made in a particular district for

             elementary education.

APPRAISAL OF DISTRICT PLANS    

Appraisal of District Plans is critical to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The National/ State Mission will undertake Appraisal of plans with the assistance of resource teams constituted by the operational support unit of the National/ State Mission. These resource persons will be fully oriented for undertaking the task of appraisal. The Appraisal Missions will undertake regular visits to districts in order to monitor the quality of preparatory activities. The cost of the Appraisal teams will be fully borne by the National/ State Mission. The monitoring and operational support teams at the National/ State level Mission will constitute the Appraisal teams.    

Appraisal teams will be jointly constituted by the National and the State level Mission. One of the National Mission nominees could be a representative of the research institution that undertakes responsibility for that state. The National Mission will circulate a list of resource persons on the basis of past experience gathered under the DPEP and Lok Jumbish Project. The nominees of the State Mission will also have to be approved by the National Mission. A checklist of activities will be prepared for the guidance of the Appraisal team.

For non-governmental representatives in appraisal teams, besides the TA/DA as admissible for government servants, a modest honorarium will be available.

A few salient features of the Appraisal process will be as follows:  

§         q   To be conducted jointly by central and state government representatives in the initial phase, along with experts to be selected by NIEPA/NCERT/SCERT/SIEMAT  

§         States to undertake appraisal after sufficient institutional capacities are developed through networking with national level institutions  

§         Assessment to ensure that mobilization has been the basis of planning and plan reflects participatory planning process  

§         Level of community ownership to be the critical factor in appraisal of plans  

§         Participation of NGOs, institutions, individuals, Panchayati Raj Institutions and urban local bodies  

§         Assessment of community contribution in school activities  

§         Assessment of institutional arrangements for decentralised decision making and capacity building in local resource institutions  

§         Assessment of involvement of teachers in the planning exercise  

DETERMINING THE BASE LINE STATUS  

Many State specific evaluation studies have been carried out in recent months. The National Evaluation of the Operation Blackboard scheme has generated State specific findings on a large number of parameters regarding elementary education. The Evaluation of the District Institutes of Education and Training have similarly generated State specific Reports. In a manner these studies give a broad base line picture with regard to the school system and the effectiveness of the teacher training institutions. The National Sample Survey 52nd Round (1995-96), the National Family Health Survey - I and II (1992-93 and 98-99) also gives us insights on 6-14 age children attending schools in various states. These studies serve as a State specific baseline for the launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Besides these, provision for base line studies focussing on the local context has been provided as part of the preparatory activities. Base line achievement tests would be undertaken by the NCERT in the non-DPEP states on a priority, to ascertain the current levels. The National and the State Mission will monitor on the basis of these established base lines.    

Besides the State level Baselines, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan provides for conducting Base line assessment Studies as a part of the preparatory activities in each district to be covered under SSA. These studies have to be diagnostic in nature so that these studies contribute to the planning process by taking note of the local context. NCERT will provide technical guidance.  

SUPERVISION OF ACTIVITIES     

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan requires regular supervision of activities. Ideally, the CRCs, BRCs. DIETs have to be developed effectively to carry out supervision activities.  Supervision teams will be periodically sent by the National/ State Mission usually once in six months.  Such supervision visits would also include the State specific resource institution that has undertaken the task of research and supervision in that State/ UT. Theme specific supervision visits besides the overall assessment visits would also be undertaken. Classroom observation by resource persons has also been provided for. States will work out their supervision/ appraisal/monitoring and research Plans, based on the indication of resource availability as per the norm approved for such activities under the SSA (Rs. 1500 per school per year). This amount would be divided among the National/ State and District mission under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Rs. 100 per school will be spent at the National level. The State government will decide regarding the balance amount to be spent on monitoring, research, supervision and evaluation at the various levels, from the school to the State level.  

 Two supervision visits of at least three days each would be undertaken by the National/ State level Mission each year, to each of the programme districts. Initially these supervision teams will be constituted by the National Mission in partnership with the States. Subsequently, States will constitute their own supervision teams. Each Supervision team will have four Members, two from the State Mission and two from the National Mission. Representatives of National Resource institutions, State specific research institutions and University Departments of education would be encouraged to participate in the supervision team. The non-governmental representatives who undertake supervision visits will be entitled to a modest honoraria, over and above the TA/DA.

The visits will be coordinated by the State and the National Mission of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Suitable supervision formats will be designed through special workshops to be organised by national /state level resource institutions. Resource persons involved with training teachers will also undertake classroom observation. A modest honoraria may be provided for non-governmental/ retired resource persons involved in this work. Members of DIET will be entitled to TA/DA for such visits.

PROCEDURE FOR RELEASE OF FUNDS    

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is conceived as a long-term partnership between the Central and the State/UT governments. The procedure for release of funds incorporates this idea of a partnership. Under the programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the districts will prepare their proposals through a community owned Pre-Project phase, based on the Broad Framework for Implementation. The State level Implementation Society for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will forward these proposals to the National Mission of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for release after appraisal by a joint team. The Central government will release funds to the State government. The State government would be expected to transfer this to the State Implementation Society within thirty days. The State governments have to give written commitments regarding its contribution towards the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.  

After preparation of the District Elementary Education Plans, the perspective as well as the Annual Plans will be jointly appraised by a team of experts constituted jointly by the National and the State level implementation Society. The National Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Mission will approve the Annual Plan on the basis of the appraisal report, the recommendation of the State Implementation Society, the availability of Central Plan funds, and the commitment of the State government regarding financial resources. The recommendation of the State level Implementation Society must also be accompanied by a commitment of the State government to transfer its share to the State Society within thirty days of the receipt of the Central contribution, as per the approved sharing arrangement. The release of the first instalment to the State/UT will be processed after receipt of these written commitments. The appraisal and approval of Plans should be completed in time for the first instalment, to meet the proposed expenditure of the first six months, to be released by 15 April. Some departure from this norm would be necessitated in the first year of programme implementation.

There would be two instalments each year: one in April for expenditure between April and September and the second in September for expenditure between October to March. A supervision visit to the programme implementation districts will be undertaken by a pool of resource persons selected by the National/State Mission, before the second instalment is processed. The second instalment will be based on the progress in expenditure and the quality of implementation. The utilization certificates from the districts to the States and to the national Mission for funds released in the first instalment would become due at the time of the release of the first instalment in the subsequent year.