IMF-Evading the Issue

Round the Mulberry Bush A SUBJECT on which the states were more or less unanimous at the meeting of the Inter- State Council on October 15 was centrally- sponsored schemes. The Sarkaria Commission itself had felt that while these schemes may not be done away with altogether, they "should be kept to the minimum in relation to the central assistance for the state plans", with the ratio tobe determined by the National Development Council from time to time. According to the commission, while the union government may initiate pilot projects in state subjects with "inter-state, regional or overall countrywide significance but carrying high national priority", these projects should be formulated in prior consultation with the states and "once a programme has passed the pilot stage and has been accepted as desirablefor implementation on a larger scale, it should appropriately form part of the state plan". Also, centrally- sponsored schemes should not be normally started in the middle of a Five-Year Plan.