Click to play videoNew Delhi: When it comes to utilising the funds allocated under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an MP from Assam, is setting an example of sorts.
During last year's elections, the PM made a promise to the people of Assam — no child will be deprived of education — and as a Rajya Sabha MP from the state, he is doing his bit to keep it.
"In the next four years, there will not be a single child in this state who is deprived of education," says Dr Manmohan Singh.
Dr Singh is one of those very few MPs who has consistently spent about 85 per cent of his MPLADS money on education.
"He insists that a note be sent to him and he monitors his schemes very closely," says Collector, Kamrup Metropolitan authority, Avinash Joshi.
All MPs are alloted Rs 2 crore every year for the development of their constituency. The Prime Minister's funds have been used in the Kamrup Metropolitan Area, which is Guwahati, over the last four years.
About Rs 7 crore out of the total of Rs 8 crore have been utilised in providing education infrastructure this financial year.
The PM's funds have also gone towards providing separate toilets for the girl child. Dr Singh, unlike most other MPs, spends his MPLADS money on select schemes, which he funds extensively.
"Being an economist, he knows the economies of scale. If there is adequete spending, the benefits are certainly substantial," says media advisor to PM, Sanjay Baru.
But as the Prime Minister focuses on education, ironically, Assam has not been doing particularly well in the field.
The state's performance under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, the flagship government scheme on primary education, for the last so many years has been far from satisfactory.
(With Deborshi Chaki in Guwahati)
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