Under the 14th Central Finance Commission (CFC), Odisha will receive basic grants to rural local bodies worth Rs. 7,965.28 crores across a five year period during 2015-2020. In addition to the basic grants, Odisha will get Rs. 885.03 as performance grant to rural local bodies during 2016-2020. Gram Panchayats have to prepare plans to utilise these funds, and the Department of Panchayati Raj has issued operational guidelines on the preparation of GP plans, titled as the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP). The Ministry has also supported state governments in developing guidelines for preparation of the GPDP. It is envisaged that these plans, funded by the CFC and State Finance Commission (SFC) funds would help GPs to address issues pertinent to women and children as well as various related aspects like poverty, health, education, nutrition, water and sanitation.
Against this context, CBPS conducted a study with the following objectives:
- How and whether the devolution of funds under 14th CFC and Fourth State Finance Commission (FSFC) has impacted prioritisation for social sector with a focus on poverty, health, education, nutrition, water and sanitation on the one hand and on women and children on the other.
- Whether adequate and proper implementation and monitoring mechanisms are in place at the panchayat, sub-district, district and state levels to achieve better outcomes of social sector expenditure incurred out of funds devolved by Fourteenth CFC and FSFC.
As a part of the project's outputs, a dissemination-cum-advocacy workshop was conducted and a report was published, along with two policy briefs.