Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 1
Nagaland is yet to integrate Information Technology (IT) system of the State’s treasury with the Union Public Financial Management System (PFMS), which is an initiative of the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
According to a PIB report, except for Nagaland, the rest of the North Eastern states namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim have already integrated its IT system with the Centre’s PFMS.
The PFMS, also known as Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS), tracks fund disbursement and ensures that state treasuries are integrated with the Centre to ensure money is send as and when required.
It provides the Centre and State Governments with a real time, reliable and meaningful Management Information System and an effective Decision Support System (DSS) as well as track fund flow in respect of Central Sector (CS) and Central Assistance to State Plan (CASP) schemes.
This also means that the Centre would be able to track down each penny allocated to the beneficiary (s) - or not. The PIB report stated that the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has been taking several initiatives in the area of Public Expenditure Management in the North Eastern States with special focus on capacity building of the State Government officials and integration of the State Treasuries with the PFMS in order to improve the efficiency and transparency of public expenditure.
These initiatives were reviewed recently by Ashok Lavasa, Finance Secretary & Secretary (Expenditure) in a meeting with the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) and Director, National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) on August 1, 2017.
The ministry has set a target to integrate PFMS with all state treasuries in current fiscal and implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for welfare and scholarship schemes.
