Dimapur, August 19 (MExN): The People for Democratic Rights (PDR) has asked the Planning Department of the Government of Nagaland to clarify on the amount released for UPSC aspirants and if the same could be made available to NPSC aspirants.
A press release from the PDR informed that the Nagaland State Finance Department (Budget and Monitoring Cell) has released a total of Rs. 45 lakh on two occasions as “financial assistance to UPSC candidates” who have cleared Prelims. According to the PDR, the amounts were released under Chief Minister’s Corpus Fund (CMCF) in favour of Planning & Coordination Department.
“Rs 20 lakh was released on March 18, 2017, for UPSC candidates for the year 2016-17 while Rs 25 lakh was released for the same purpose for the year 2017-18 on December 12, 2017. No break up regarding the list of beneficiaries of the CMCF has been mentioned,” stated the PDR.
The PDR also urged the Planning Department, and hopefully filed an RTI for the same, to inform how many UPSC candidates were financially assisted under CMCF and how much amount each candidate received during the two financial years and how many of them have cleared all exam stages of the UPSC.
“While such financial assistance encourages the UPSC candidates,” the PDR urged the Planning Department to “clarify whether any such assistance could be provided to those candidates clearing NPSC Prelims in order to encourage both UPSC and NPSC candidates alike.”
1.90 cr for 71, 50 L for 45
According to the PDR, Nagaland State’s Finance Department (B&MC) also released Rs 1.90 crore on December 6, 2017 as financial assistance to 71 beneficiaries and Rs 50 lakh on December 11, 2017 for 45 beneficiaries under CMCF 2017-18 against various projects.
“For the public to judge whether the beneficiaries deserved such financial assistance and whether the projects are being carried out,” the PDR provided the list of 71 beneficiaries to the newspaper, which this newspaper decided not to publish to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned.
The PDR stated that it ‘believed’ that the beneficiaries had “not undertaken the projects.” It was, however, not clear how it arrived at this conclusion and the organization could not be contacted for clarification.
It urged the Planning Department, and hopefully filed an RTI, to “provide the list of 45 beneficiaries and projects thereof for whom Rs 50 lakh was released.”
Rs 1 crore for 10
The PDR reminded the Planning Department to furnish, in public domain, the “list of 10 beneficiaries for whom Rs 1 crore was released by the Finance Department under CMCF through DA on March 20, 2017.” It also reminded the Department to clarify on the Double DA issued “in favour of Planning Department under Demand No. 27 dated November 3, 2017 and December 20, 2017.”
The PDR also asked for clarification as to “why DA dated March 30, 2018, amounting to Rs 1 crore was issued in favour of Planning Department when the works were carried out under Evaluation Department, which is a separate Department having its own Demand No 44, thus reducing Evaluation Department to a mere Corporation and government undertaking.”
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