NEW DELHI: Taking umbrage at the fact that utilisation of budgetary allocation has not been good, a Parliamentary Committee has said the Information and Broadcasting Ministry failed to take effective steps for approval of the schemes at the beginning of the financial year 2012-13 which led to surrender of funds due to restrictions imposed by the midway, that is, in October 2012 to the Finance Ministry.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology said against the proposed sum of Rs 32.8 billion, the Ministry was allocated an amount of Rs 9.05 billion during the year 2012-13. This sum was further reduced to Rs 6.76 billion at the stage of revised estimates (RE), out of which the actual expenditure was to the tune of Rs 6.11 billion, that is 90.4 per cent of the RE allocation.

The Committee noted that for 2013-14, the I and B Ministry has been allocated a total amount of Rs 30.36 billion which includes Rs 9.05 billion as Plan outlay and Rs 21.31 billion as non-plan outlay.

The Committee was unhappy that even after overall reduction in allocation of funds in 2012-13, the same were not utilised fully. The Committee said it was not satisfied with the reasons advanced by the Ministry for under-utilisation of funds during 2012-13. These reasons are delay in approval of the schemes resulting in surrender of funds, and the guidelines issued by the Finance Ministry restricting expenditure to 33 per cent of the Budgetary Estimate in the last quarter and not more than 15 per cent of the BE in the last month, scheme wise, subject to RE ceiling.

The Committee noted, however, that the Ministry has initiated some steps to effectively utilise the funds during the year 2013-14 which include streamlining of the process of appraisal/approval of the schemes and obtain the clearances according to the revised/projected deadline during the year 2013-14 itself so that the targets set under various schemes are not shifted/deferred further.

The Committee also urged the Ministry to vigorously pursue the matter with the Planning Commission and the Finance Ministry to obtain clearances for 26 schemes initiated during the year 2013-14.
It said its concerns in this regard should also be communicated to both the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission and Committee be apprised of the action taken in the matter.

It noted that the position of utilisation of funds during 2011-12 was better as out of Rs 7.87 billion allocated at RE stage, the actual expenditure was Rs 7.63 billion.

The Committee noted that for the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17), the Ministry had proposed a total plan outlay of Rs 217.31 billion (including Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources - IEBR - of Rs 50 billion from Prasar Bharati) against which the approved outlay is Rs 85.83 billion (including IEBR of Rs 10 billion from Prasar Bharati).

NEW DELHI: The Bill to amend and consolidate the laws relating to press and registration of books and publications which would make entry of foreign magazines into the country "hassle free" has been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology.

The Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 16 December, was referred to the Committee early this year.

The Press and Registration of Books Bill 2011 seeks to convert into law various executive orders that have followed as a result of the review of the Print Media Policy of 1955 to keep pace with the phenomenal growth and changes in the media sector.

The Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 had been amended several times since its inception to 1983, but the existing provisions were still not adequate to cater to the fast changes in the media scene.

The Government said the Print Media Policy of 1955 had undergone many changes after liberalisation of the country. For example, this policy earlier prohibited bringing out of foreign publications in India, but today the print media was attracting foreign direct investment and there was wide availability of foreign scientific and technical magazines in the country.

Therefore, the policy had been reviewed from time to time and the issues of FDI, facsimile editions, Indian editions of foreign newspapers and syndication were now being regulated through executive orders which need to be supported with statutory provisions "to elicit optimum results and hassle free entry of foreign publications," according to the ?Statement of Objects and Reasons? appended to the Bill.

NEW DELHI: Dissatisfied with the under-utilisation of outlay in the Information Sector of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, a Parliamentary Committee has said various projects/schemes being implemented should be critically analysed and remedial action taken to effectively utilise the outlay.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology noted that out of the total Plan allocation of Rs 63.11 billion for the Eleventh Plan, the Information sector had been allocated Rs 3.14 billion, which works out to 4.9 per cent of the budgetary allocation.

During the year 2009-10, the revised budget allocation was Rs 760 million, which was enhanced to Rs 852.7 million and the actual expenditure was Rs 784.9 million which comes to 92.04 per cent.

During the year 2010-11, the budget estimates allocation was Rs 1.2175 million which was increased to Rs 1.2841 million at the revised estimates stage. But only Rs 742.1 million could be utilised up to February 2011, which works out to 57.79 per cent.

As compared to the year 2009-10, the performance during 2010-11 under the Information Sector is clearly unsatisfactory, the Committee said.