Kerala opts for concurrent evaluation to ensure scheme money is well spent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 47 schemes undertaken by 11 key government departments will be subjected to concurrent evaluation and monitoring of schemes (CEMS) program for the ongoing financial year. The CEMS will ensure that the funds allotted for the schemes are 'well spent' and the physical outcome of the projects implemented by them are as expected.
The CEMS will also ensure that allocation and release of funds are made in an adequate and timely manner to utilize it economically and effectively in accordance with the scheme provision. "CEMS acts as a corrective force and offer real-time analysis of the selected schemes. Our team will visit the offices across the state and evaluate the utilisation of the funds allocated to them by conducting on-site verification and through interaction with the beneficiaries. Any correction required is intimated to the executing officers, on a real-time basis," said Rajesh Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary (finance).
The departments selected include agriculture development and farmers' welfare department, forests and wildlife, PWD, water resources, higher education, ports, scheduled castes development, scheduled tribes development, animal husbandry, harbour engineering and fisheries. The CEMS will be applied to five schemes from each department, barring harbour engineering and fisheries departments from which one scheme each will be selected for evaluation.
The finance department team incharge of CEMS will also serve as a liaison between the government and the implementing department or the agencies. As part of implementing CEMS, 11 designated officers from the 11 selected departments have been asked to furnish monthly progress report of the selected plan schemes to the performance budget section of the finance department on or before 10th of every month with the details of target, allocation and expenditure.
The finance secretary said that due to lack of manpower and time, all the schemes under all the departments cannot be covered and instead, the schemes under CEMS are selected based on the budget allocation of those schemes, scope of physical verification and social impact. Initially, CEMS was launched for six departments covering 30 schemes, to begin with. The report of the previous year's CEMS is presently under the consideration of the legislative assembly, along with other financial documents.