Consequent to the inception of Niti Aayog at the Centre, Government of India abolished the planning exercises by way of Five-Year Plans. However, Government of Kerala has resolved to proceed with the Five-Year Plan and hence, the State Planning Board has initiated steps for the formulation of 13th Five-Year Plan (2017-22) in the State. Accordingly, 43 working groups involving more than 700 members - scholars, administrators, social and political activists and other experts were constituted. Based on reports of the working groups, an Approach Paper of the 13th Five Year Plan was published. The Plan document will be released soon.
Being the 1st year of the 13th Five-Year Plan, Annual Plan 2017-18 was launched in the State. Scrupulous compliance of guidelines and appraisal of all ongoing schemes were ensured. Unwanted or non-productive programmes existed, if any, have been discarded and in view of better coherence, schemes of same or common nomenclatures were merged. New schemes have been incorporated on a priority basis as announced in the Budget.
In the Annual Plan (2017-18), the aggregate outlay was 34,538.95 crore which includes the State Plan of 26,500 crore and Central Assistance of 8,038.95 crore. The total State Plan outlay for 2017-18 was 26,500 crore, reflecting an increase of 10.42 per cent over the previous financial year’s outlay of 24,000 crore. Out of the State Plan outlay, 6,227.50 crore was earmarked for assistance to LSGIs and the remaining 20,272.50 crore was for State sector schemes. 2,599.65 crore was allocated to Special Component Plan and 751.08 crore was to Tribal Sub Plan. An outlay of 1,552 crore was proposed for the Major Infrastructure Development Projects. Around 11.4 per cent of State Plan outlay was exclusively earmarked for the benefit of girls/women.
The sector wise comparative statement on the outlays of Annual Plan 2016-17 and 2017-18 is given in Table 1.16.
| Sl.No. | Sector | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | % of increase over 2016-17 | ||||
| Outlay | CSS | Aggregate | Outlay | CSS | Aggregate | |||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| I | Agriculture and Allied activities | 1,332.66 | 347.48 | 1,680.14 | 1,571.65 | 408.38 | 1,980.03 | 17.85 |
| II | Rural Development | 844.76 | 2,733.66 | 3,578.42 | 973.72 | 3,522.71 | 4,496.43 | 25.65 |
| III | Special Area Programmes | 478.98 | 478.98 | 404.02 | 404.02 | -15.65 | ||
| IV | Irrigation and Flood Control | 491.47 | 86 | 577.47 | 676.21 | 86.02 | 762.23 | 31.99 |
| V | Energy | 1,622.70 | 1,622.70 | 1,629.29 | 1,629.29 | 0.4 | ||
| VI | Industry and Minerals |
658.93 | 658.93 | 888.77 | 888.77 | 34.88 | ||
| VII | Transport | 1,564.98 | 1,564.98 | 1,735.08 | 1,735.08 | 10.87 | ||
| VIII | Science, Technology and Environment |
881.44 | 72.50 | 953.94 | 994.89 | 68.10 | 1,062.99 | 11.43 |
| IX | General Economic Services | 3,095.83 | 84.34 | 3,180.17 | 2,383.71 | 32.08 | 2,415.79 | -24.03 |
| X | Social Services | 7,447.43 | 3,192.19 | 10,639.62 | 8,929.16 | 3,885.66 | 12,814.82 | 20.44 |
| XI | General Services | 80.82 | 18 | 98.82 | 86.00 | 36.00 | 122.00 | 23.45 |
| Total I to XI | 18,500.00 | 6,534.17 | 25,034.17 | 20,272.50 | 8,038.95 | 28,311.45 | 13.09 | |
| XII | LSGD | 5,500.00 | 5,500.00 | 6227.50 | 6,227.50 | 13.23 | ||
| Grand Total | 24,000.00 | 6,534.17 | 30,534.17 | 26,500.00 | 8,038.95 | 34,538.95 | 13.11 | |
1. Planspace – District Roll Out
As a measure to strengthen the Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism in the State, a software called “PLANSPACE – System for Progress Analysis and Concurrent Evaluation” was developed by the State Planning Board with the technical support of IIITM-K. It is a web based online management information system that can monitor and evaluate the progress of implementation of each and every Plan Scheme across all departments in the State on a real time basis.
The system captures the relevant details about a Plan scheme/project, its various components, physical/financial progress and implementation status at different levels and generates dynamic, customised reports for various stakeholders. By providing real time information, the system acts as a supporting tool for the Government, State Planning Board, Head of Departments, Secretaries and various departments to facilitate and improve the planning and decision making process. The Annual Plan proposals for the year 2017-18 were received online from Heads of departments and implementing agencies through Planspace. The system was also integrated with the Treasury Information System.
With a view to strengthen the District Level Plan Monitoring System, Planspace has been rolled out to all the Districts in the State during 2015-16. The system enables implementing officers at district and sub district levels to directly input data into the system, thus further enhancing its accuracy and timeliness. The integration of district level data to State level was done in 2017-18. As per the information available on Planspace, during the current financial year the total Plan expenditure is 33 per cent per cent as on September 30, 2017 that is expected to improve substantially by the end of the financial year.
2. MLASDF Monitoring Software
A software has been developed to improve the monitoring mechanism of various schemes implemented under MLASDF at District-level. It can capture information at any stage of implementation of works, right from the proposal by the MLAs to handing over the assets created to the local bodies concerned. Once the system becomes online, all proposals from MLAs, and issuance of Administrative Sanction, etc could be undertaken in a time bound manner. District-level trainings have been imparted to the implementing officers as part of introducing the MLASDF monitoring system in districts.