2017 Service Delivery And Budget Implementation Plan: Fill & Download for Free

What are your views on the Union Budget of India (2017–18)?An implicit question in this one is if it is a good budget overall or not. I feel that a better approach towards this year’s budget would be a comparative one. Let’s see how the budget highlights fare against what was done earlier. Let’s also try to uncover some of the stuff in the budget which have not been highlighted but which are, nevertheless, important.Agriculture:Long term irrigation corpus has been doubled from Rs. 20,000 crore to Rs. 40,000 crore.A micro-irrigation fund of Rs. 5000 crore is also to be setup. This is supposed to help in drought mitigation as only 40% of the total cultivated land in the country is irrigated. However, there are rising requests to streamline and efficiently implement the subsidy scheme that is already present for micro-irrigation. Normally, farmers want to set up the micro irrigation systems, after the monsoon season is over. However, the pre-sanction can take very long. Many a times, the subsidy disbursal is delayed by two to three years after the farmer submits his application. [1]A special fund for dairy processing and infrastructure development of Rs. 8000 crore will be created. This is a good step to bring sustainability to agriculture. Farmers have shown abilities to manage inclement weather and market vagaries by investing in dairy as an alternate source of income. The fund is supposedly enough to modernize India’s dairy processing infrastructure which is 30–40 years old and also create new milk processing cooperatives of the size of Amul. [2] [3]The govt. will set up mini labs in the Krishi Vigyan Kendras for soil testing.The farmer credit has been increased from Rs. 9 lakh crore in FY 2016–17 to Rs. 10 lakh crore in 2017–18. Increased focus will be given to Eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir since they have been under-served.Rural Population:Allocation for MGNREGA has been increased from Rs. 38,500 crore last year to Rs. 48,000 crore, the highest ever allocation. This comes in spite of the current govt. not being an advocate for the scheme. Two years of drought has forced the govt. to bailout the rural sector using the scheme which, though is a money guzzling monster, has wide reach and deep ground work in rural India. It’d be interesting to see how the govt. performs.The budget allocation for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana has remained the same at Rs. 19,000 crore. However, according to govt. reports, the rate of road construction has increased from 70–80 kms per between 2011–14 to 100 kms per day in 2014–16. Now it stands at 139 kms per day. [4][5]Targeting to complete 1 crore houses for the rural homeless, the allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Awaas Yojana has been increased from Rs. 15,000 crore to Rs. 23,000 crore. [6]Mr. Jaitley has claimed that the country was well on its way to provide 100% rural electrification by March 2018. However “The Hindu”, has done some investigative journalism and has found that the earlier claims by the govt. regarding rural electrification to be grossly exaggerated. Hence we can take Mr. Jaitley’s claim with a pinch of salt. [7] [8]The govt. is planning to make 50,000 gram panchayats out of 2,50,000 total gram panchayats in India to be poverty free. The problem is the definition of the poverty line. Since the NITI Aayog has been formed, there hasn’t been any clear definition of the poverty line. There was a news report claiming that the Aayog supported the Tendulkar Poverty line of Rs. 33 a day. But later another news report claimed that the Aayog is likely to form another committee to cautiously determine the poverty line. [9] [10] [11]Poor and the under-privileged:Rs. 500 crore has been allocated for setting up Mahila Shakti Kendras in the 14 lakh Anganwadis across the country. It will be a one stop convergent service for empowering rural women with opportunities for skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition. But the problem is that Rs. 500 crore divided by 14 lakh anganwadis comes to Rs. 3,571 per anganwadi. I don’t know what can be achieved with this amount. Another problem is that the Anganwadis have been set up under the ICDS which has seen budget cuts to the tune of 50% (Rs. 8000 crore) in the past two years. [13] [14]The total outlay for the development of women and children across ministries is Rs. 1.84 lakh crore. This forms 8.57% of the total estimated budgetary expenditure of Rs. 21.47 lakh crore. It is also an increase of over 0.5% from last years budget where Rs. 1.56 lakh crore out of Rs. 19.78 lakh crore was budgeted to spent on women and children development schemes across ministries.The amount budgeted for Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana saw a four times jump with Rs. 2,700 crore being set aside this year as compared to Rs. 634 crore in 2016-17. Under this scheme, Rs. 6000 will be provided to all pregnant women who seek institutionalized delivery and vaccination. [14]The allocation for Scheduled Castes is Rs. 52,393 crore, an increase of 35% from the allocation previous year which stood at Rs. 38,833 crore. But we must take it with a pinch of salt. In 2014–15 the budgetary allocation was Rs. 50,548 crore. It was reduced by 40% the next year. Also, according the Jadhav committee recommendations, budgetary allocations for the SC’s should be 4.62% of the total expenditure, which comes out to around Rs. 97,000 crore in 2017–18 and Rs. 82,000 crore in 2014–15 when the actual allotment was Rs. 50,548 crore.Same goes for the allocation for Scheduled Tribes. It stands at Rs. 31,295 crore, a jump of 30% over the previous allocation of Rs. 24,005 crores. But the Jadhav committee recommends allocating Rs. 49,992 crores for 2017–18. Interestingly, here too, in 2014–15, against the committee recommendation of allocating Rs. 42,141 crores, the actual allocation was Rs. 32,387 crore, higher than the present allocation. [15] [16] [17]Aadhar based smart cards will be issued to senior citizens to monitor health.Railways and infrastructure:The budgetary allocation for infrastructure stands at a whopping Rs. 3.96 lakh crore. This is close to 80% increase from the previous budgetary allotment of Rs. 2.21 lakh crore.The budgetary allocation for railways has also been increased to Rs. 1.31 lakh crore from Rs. 1.21 lakh crore previous year.The budgetary allocation for highways too continued the upward trend. Rs. 64,000 crore was allocated as against Rs. 55,000 crore last year. It was Rs. 28,881 crore in 2014–15 and Rs. 42,913 crore in 2015–16.Finance:The allocation for lending under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, a scheme for funding non corporate small businesses, has been increased from Rs. 1.80 lakh crore to Rs. 2.44 lakh crore.For big-time offences - including economic offenders fleeing India, the government will introduce legislative change or introduce law to confiscate the assets of these people within the country. This is especially important considering the Vijay Mallya episode.Digital India - BHIM app will unleash mobile phone revolution. The government will introduce two schemes to promote BHIM App - referral bonus for the users and cash back for the traders. This plan is consistent with the push to digitization. However, we are missing a huge point. For digitization, we need cellphones, which in turn need cellphone towers, which in their turn need electricity. Where is electricity? In an earlier point I mentioned about the lapses in the claims of the govt. regarding rural electrification. In my view, the push to digitization should continue, however, rural electrification and cellular infrastructure are a must if this is to succeed. [7] [8]Taxation:There is some cheer for the salaried class. The tax rate for income between Rs. 2.5 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakh has been slashed by half. And those earning higher will see a tax benefit of Rs. 12,500 per year.10% surcharge on individual income above Rs. 50 lakh and up to Rs 1 crore to make up for Rs 15,000 crore loss due to cut in personal I-T rate. 15% surcharge on individual income above Rs. 1 crore to remain.The Income Tax Act to be amended to ensure that no transaction above Rs 3 lakh is permitted in cash.Under the corporate tax, in order to make MSME companies more viable, there is a proposal to reduce tax for small companies with a turnover of up to Rs. 50 crore to 25%. As compared to bigger corporations, they don’t enjoy a lot of exemptions. Hence while a corporation earning a profit of Rs. 500 crore would effectively pay a tax rate of 24.67%, the MSME’s had to pay full 30% corporate tax. [18]Fiscal situation and miscellaneous:Total budgetary expenditure is Rs. 21.47 lakh crore.Fiscal deficit of 2017-18 pegged at 3.2% of the GDP. Will remain committed to achieving 3% in the next year.The defence sector gets an allocation of Rs. 2,74,114 crore, excluding pensions. It is a modest 6% increase which may not even be able to meet the impact of inflation, depreciation of the rupee and the imposition of customs duty on military imports from last year. [19] [20]Political parties and funding:The maximum cash donation that a political party can receive from a single source is reduced from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 2,000. People are quoting it as a step towards greater political transparency. In reality however, it is a complete hogwash. As long as anonymous donations are allowed, black cash will keep flowing into the coffers of the political parties. Earlier they’d say donations worth Rs. 2,00,000 have come from 11 donors, all anonymous. Now they’d say the same amount has come from 101 donors, all anonymous. [21] [22]Where is the increased push towards education?Overall, this budget focuses a lot on agriculture, which has been neglected for a very long time. This is something which is really heartening. It also reflects the mood of the current govt. to keep up the boost towards infrastructure.However it does miss out or gloss over or simply carry on what was already there in important fields such as education, health care and defence.In terms of allocations towards SC/ST’s and political funding, this budget has been a colossal disappointment.Links:Budget 2017: Micro-irrigation industry demands better implementation of subsidiesUnion Budget 2017: Nabard hails higher fund allocation for irrigation, dairy sectorIndia to add ‘two Amuls’ milk capacity in 3 years - Times of IndiaRural roads' construction pace increases to 139km/day - The Economic TimesBudget 2017: Government aims to bring 1 crore households out of poverty by 2019Union Budget 2017: 53 per cent more funds for rural housesOn paper, electrified villages — in reality, darknessRural electrification: Centre’s claim exaggeratedNiti Aayog task force backs ‘Tendulkar poverty line’Niti Aayog to set up panel to draw up a new poverty line - Times of IndiaDefining a poverty line for IndiaWhat to expect from the budget's Mahila Shakti Kendras: Not much, say activistsMahila Shakti Kendras to boost skill development - Times of IndiaBudget 2017: Allocation to women and child development ministry up by 20%Union Budget 2017: Over 30 percent hike for SC-ST welfare in budget allocation‘Budget a major disappointment for SC/STs’The 2017 Budget Is Taking SC/ST Welfare BackwardsBudget 2017: Corporate tax for MSMEs with revenue under Rs 50 cr at 25%Budget 2017: Arun Jaitley raises defence budget by 10 per cent to Rs 2,74,000 croreDefence Budget 2017-18: Chugging AlongWhy Modi Government's Political Funding Reforms May Just Be a Smokescreen₹2,000 ceiling for cash donation to parties

What are the highlights of the Indian Union budget 2017-2018?An implicit question in this one is if it is a good budget overall or not. I feel that a better approach towards this year’s budget would be a comparative one. Let’s see how the budget highlights fare against what was done earlier. Let’s also try to uncover some of the stuff in the budget which have not been highlighted but which are, nevertheless, important.Agriculture:Long term irrigation corpus has been doubled from Rs. 20,000 crore to Rs. 40,000 crore.A micro-irrigation fund of Rs. 5000 crore is also to be setup. This is supposed to help in drought mitigation as only 40% of the total cultivated land in the country is irrigated. However, there are rising requests to streamline and efficiently implement the subsidy scheme that is already present for micro-irrigation. Normally, farmers want to set up the micro irrigation systems, after the monsoon season is over. However, the pre-sanction can take very long. Many a times, the subsidy disbursal is delayed by two to three years after the farmer submits his application. [1]A special fund for dairy processing and infrastructure development of Rs. 8000 crore will be created. This is a good step to bring sustainability to agriculture. Farmers have shown abilities to manage inclement weather and market vagaries by investing in dairy as an alternate source of income. The fund is supposedly enough to modernize India’s dairy processing infrastructure which is 30–40 years old and also create new milk processing cooperatives of the size of Amul. [2] [3]The govt. will set up mini labs in the Krishi Vigyan Kendras for soil testing.The farmer credit has been increased from Rs. 9 lakh crore in FY 2016–17 to Rs. 10 lakh crore in 2017–18. Increased focus will be given to Eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir since they have been under-served.Rural Population:Allocation for MGNREGA has been increased from Rs. 38,500 crore last year to Rs. 48,000 crore, the highest ever allocation. This comes in spite of the current govt. not being an advocate for the scheme. Two years of drought has forced the govt. to bailout the rural sector using the scheme which, though is a money guzzling monster, has wide reach and deep ground work in rural India. It’d be interesting to see how the govt. performs.The budget allocation for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana has remained the same at Rs. 19,000 crore. However, according to govt. reports, the rate of road construction has increased from 70–80 kms per between 2011–14 to 100 kms per day in 2014–16. Now it stands at 139 kms per day. [4][5]Targeting to complete 1 crore houses for the rural homeless, the allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Awaas Yojana has been increased from Rs. 15,000 crore to Rs. 23,000 crore. [6]Mr. Jaitley has claimed that the country was well on its way to provide 100% rural electrification by March 2018. However “The Hindu”, has done some investigative journalism and has found that the earlier claims by the govt. regarding rural electrification to be grossly exaggerated. Hence we can take Mr. Jaitley’s claim with a pinch of salt. [7] [8]The govt. is planning to make 50,000 gram panchayats out of 2,50,000 total gram panchayats in India to be poverty free. The problem is the definition of the poverty line. Since the NITI Aayog has been formed, there hasn’t been any clear definition of the poverty line. There was a news report claiming that the Aayog supported the Tendulkar Poverty line of Rs. 33 a day. But later another news report claimed that the Aayog is likely to form another committee to cautiously determine the poverty line. [9] [10] [11]Poor and the under-privileged:Rs. 500 crore has been allocated for setting up Mahila Shakti Kendras in the 14 lakh Anganwadis across the country. It will be a one stop convergent service for empowering rural women with opportunities for skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition. But the problem is that Rs. 500 crore divided by 14 lakh anganwadis comes to Rs. 3,571 per anganwadi. I don’t know what can be achieved with this amount. Another problem is that the Anganwadis have been set up under the ICDS which has seen budget cuts to the tune of 50% (Rs. 8000 crore) in the past two years. [13] [14]The total outlay for the development of women and children across ministries is Rs. 1.84 lakh crore. This forms 8.57% of the total estimated budgetary expenditure of Rs. 21.47 lakh crore. It is also an increase of over 0.5% from last years budget where Rs. 1.56 lakh crore out of Rs. 19.78 lakh crore was budgeted to spent on women and children development schemes across ministries.The amount budgeted for Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana saw a four times jump with Rs. 2,700 crore being set aside this year as compared to Rs. 634 crore in 2016-17. Under this scheme, Rs. 6000 will be provided to all pregnant women who seek institutionalized delivery and vaccination. [14]The allocation for Scheduled Castes is Rs. 52,393 crore, an increase of 35% from the allocation previous year which stood at Rs. 38,833 crore. But we must take it with a pinch of salt. In 2014–15 the budgetary allocation was Rs. 50,548 crore. It was reduced by 40% the next year. Also, according the Jadhav committee recommendations, budgetary allocations for the SC’s should be 4.62% of the total expenditure, which comes out to around Rs. 97,000 crore in 2017–18 and Rs. 82,000 crore in 2014–15 when the actual allotment was Rs. 50,548 crore.Same goes for the allocation for Scheduled Tribes. It stands at Rs. 31,295 crore, a jump of 30% over the previous allocation of Rs. 24,005 crores. But the Jadhav committee recommends allocating Rs. 49,992 crores for 2017–18. Interestingly, here too, in 2014–15, against the committee recommendation of allocating Rs. 42,141 crores, the actual allocation was Rs. 32,387 crore, higher than the present allocation. [15] [16] [17]Aadhar based smart cards will be issued to senior citizens to monitor health.Railways and infrastructure:The budgetary allocation for infrastructure stands at a whopping Rs. 3.96 lakh crore. This is close to 80% increase from the previous budgetary allotment of Rs. 2.21 lakh crore.The budgetary allocation for railways has also been increased to Rs. 1.31 lakh crore from Rs. 1.21 lakh crore previous year.The budgetary allocation for highways too continued the upward trend. Rs. 64,000 crore was allocated as against Rs. 55,000 crore last year. It was Rs. 28,881 crore in 2014–15 and Rs. 42,913 crore in 2015–16.Finance:The allocation for lending under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, a scheme for funding non corporate small businesses, has been increased from Rs. 1.80 lakh crore to Rs. 2.44 lakh crore.For big-time offences - including economic offenders fleeing India, the government will introduce legislative change or introduce law to confiscate the assets of these people within the country. This is especially important considering the Vijay Mallya episode.Digital India - BHIM app will unleash mobile phone revolution. The government will introduce two schemes to promote BHIM App - referral bonus for the users and cash back for the traders. This plan is consistent with the push to digitization. However, we are missing a huge point. For digitization, we need cellphones, which in turn need cellphone towers, which in their turn need electricity. Where is electricity? In an earlier point I mentioned about the lapses in the claims of the govt. regarding rural electrification. In my view, the push to digitization should continue, however, rural electrification and cellular infrastructure are a must if this is to succeed. [7] [8]Taxation:There is some cheer for the salaried class. The tax rate for income between Rs. 2.5 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakh has been slashed by half. And those earning higher will see a tax benefit of Rs. 12,500 per year.10% surcharge on individual income above Rs. 50 lakh and up to Rs 1 crore to make up for Rs 15,000 crore loss due to cut in personal I-T rate. 15% surcharge on individual income above Rs. 1 crore to remain.The Income Tax Act to be amended to ensure that no transaction above Rs 3 lakh is permitted in cash.Under the corporate tax, in order to make MSME companies more viable, there is a proposal to reduce tax for small companies with a turnover of up to Rs. 50 crore to 25%. As compared to bigger corporations, they don’t enjoy a lot of exemptions. Hence while a corporation earning a profit of Rs. 500 crore would effectively pay a tax rate of 24.67%, the MSME’s had to pay full 30% corporate tax. [18]Fiscal situation and miscellaneous:Total budgetary expenditure is Rs. 21.47 lakh crore.Fiscal deficit of 2017-18 pegged at 3.2% of the GDP. Will remain committed to achieving 3% in the next year.The defence sector gets an allocation of Rs. 2,74,114 crore, excluding pensions. It is a modest 6% increase which may not even be able to meet the impact of inflation, depreciation of the rupee and the imposition of customs duty on military imports from last year. [19] [20]Political parties and funding:The maximum cash donation that a political party can receive from a single source is reduced from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 2,000. People are quoting it as a step towards greater political transparency. In reality however, it is a complete hogwash. As long as anonymous donations are allowed, black cash will keep flowing into the coffers of the political parties. Earlier they’d say donations worth Rs. 2,00,000 have come from 11 donors, all anonymous. Now they’d say the same amount has come from 101 donors, all anonymous. [21] [22]Where is the increased push towards education?Overall, this budget focuses a lot on agriculture, which has been neglected for a very long time. This is something which is really heartening. It also reflects the mood of the current govt. to keep up the boost towards infrastructure.However it does miss out or gloss over or simply carry on what was already there in important fields such as education, health care and defence.In terms of allocations towards SC/ST’s and political funding, this budget has been a colossal disappointment.Links:Budget 2017: Micro-irrigation industry demands better implementation of subsidiesUnion Budget 2017: Nabard hails higher fund allocation for irrigation, dairy sectorIndia to add ‘two Amuls’ milk capacity in 3 years - Times of IndiaRural roads' construction pace increases to 139km/day - The Economic TimesBudget 2017: Government aims to bring 1 crore households out of poverty by 2019Union Budget 2017: 53 per cent more funds for rural housesOn paper, electrified villages — in reality, darknessRural electrification: Centre’s claim exaggeratedNiti Aayog task force backs ‘Tendulkar poverty line’Niti Aayog to set up panel to draw up a new poverty line - Times of IndiaDefining a poverty line for IndiaWhat to expect from the budget's Mahila Shakti Kendras: Not much, say activistsMahila Shakti Kendras to boost skill development - Times of IndiaBudget 2017: Allocation to women and child development ministry up by 20%Union Budget 2017: Over 30 percent hike for SC-ST welfare in budget allocation‘Budget a major disappointment for SC/STs’The 2017 Budget Is Taking SC/ST Welfare BackwardsBudget 2017: Corporate tax for MSMEs with revenue under Rs 50 cr at 25%Budget 2017: Arun Jaitley raises defence budget by 10 per cent to Rs 2,74,000 croreDefence Budget 2017-18: Chugging AlongWhy Modi Government's Political Funding Reforms May Just Be a Smokescreen₹2,000 ceiling for cash donation to parties

Warm regards to readers,#1 Delhi Jan Lokpal BillFULFILLEDPromise: Aam Aadmi Party resolves to legislate the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill after coming to power. This will ensure a time-bound investigation in matters of corruption. The Delhi Lokpal will have the power to initiate investigations and prosecution against those charged with corruption. Whistleblowers will be provided protection and awarded for their contribution toward creating a just systemStatus: AAP promised to "legislate" the Jan Lokpal Bill, and indeed, the bill was cleared in the Delhi Legislative Assembly on 4th December, 2015. The Jan Lokpal can issue necessary orders for full protection for whistleblowers, protect confidentiality, provide security, and initiate criminal action against the person involved in the harassment of whistleblower. However, the legislation's fate remains unclear as it is yet to get the approval of Lieutenant Governor and Centre.#2 Citizens' CharterFULFILLEDPromise: A Citizens' Charter shall be introduced in all government offices in Delhi.Status: The Delhi legislative assembly passed the Delhi (Right Of Citizen To Time Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill. Among other provisions, the Bill prioritizes each government department to put out a "comprehensive citizens charter" within 30 days of its notification, and that responsibility lies with the Heads of Department.#3 Swaraj BillBROKENPromise: Aam Aadmi Party will legislate the Swaraj Act to devolve power directly to the people.Status: The Swaraj Bill was prepared during the AAP's 49 day governemnt in 2014, but is yet to be tabled in the assembly. In the manifesto, it was mentioned: "One of the first things that AAP will do after forming the government is to legislate the Swaraj Bill that will devolve power directly to people and contain provisions for the formation of Mohalla Sabhas". The government has certainly missed their deadline, but on the other hand, attempts have been made to incorporate the spirit of Swaraj by setting up Mohalla Sabhas in 11 constituencies.#4 Local GovernanceFULFILLEDPromise: Decisions affecting the local community will be taken by citizens and implemented by their Secretariat.Status: The concept of Mohalla Sabhas has been piloted in 11 constituencies. In the next financial year, the concept will be scaled to all 70 constituencies of Delhi.#5 Citizen Local Area Development FundFULFILLEDPromise: A Citizen Local Area Development (C-LAD) Fund will be given to every Mohalla Sabha and Resident Welfare Association, ensuring funds and functions in the hands of the community.Status: "Swaraj Fund" was announced in the budget to enable the citizens in selection and implementation of programmes prioritized by them for the development of their area. Rs. 253 crore under the Swaraj Fund Scheme was provisioned. In the first year, this is being implemented in 11 constituencies, where Mohalla Sabhas were organized to know the requirements of the citizens. To meet these requirements, Rs. 20 crore has been allocated to these 11 constituencies while for the remaining 59 constituencies, Rs. 50 lakh was allocated.#6 Full Statehood For DelhiWISHLISTPromise: Acting within the constitutional framework, our government will use its moral and political authority to push for full statehood for Delhi. This will ensure that institutions such as the DDA, MCD and Delhi Police will be accountable to the elected government of Delhi. This way land will be made available for the common man, there will be greater synchronization and shared purpose among civic services with regard to service delivery and the law and order machinery will be accountable to the citizens.Status: Though the Delhi government has constantly demanded for full statehood, the decision lies with the Central government.#7 Electricity Bills to be Reduced by HalfFULFILLEDPromise: An Aam Aadmi Party government will keep its promise of reducing electricity bills by half. A more efficient, transparent and accountable system to regulate and audit the power generation and distribution companies is the need of the hour and AAP will do everything within its command to achieve that. Discoms should purchase power from economical sources and wriggle out of expensive and unsustainable Power Purchase Agreements. AAP will take measures to provide relief from rising power bills, namely generating cheaper electricity, improving transmission efficiency, fixing billing defects and correcting meter defectsStatus: Within days of coming to office, the Aam Aadmi Party government slashed power tariff by 50 per cent for households which consume up to 400 units per month, with effect from March 1, 2015. However, if the power consumption crosses 400 units, a consumer will have to pay for the entire number of units used and no subsidy would apply. The government had set aside Rs.1,477 crore annually for the power subsidy.#8 CAG Audit of Power DiscomsSTALLEDPromise: We will conduct a comprehensive performance audit of discoms by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Discoms shall also be brought within the ambit of the RTI act. We will ensure that the citizens of Delhi do not have to bear the burden of soaring power tariffs. Initially we will provide subsidy that would go not to the power discoms but to Delhi Transco, a state-owned transmission company which has unpaid bills of Rs 3,500 crore to be paid by the discoms. This money will help Delhi Transco upgrade and augment its transmission capacity, which is in a bad state at present. The lack of funds at Transco's disposal is one of the main reasons for the frequent power outages in the state. After the audit results are tabled in the assembly, power tariffs will be restructured.Status: In January 2014, AAP government (before resigning from the previous term), announced audit of discoms by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India starting from 2002. In August, a leaked report in Times of India claimed that discoms inflated dues by Rs. 8000 crore. Discoms have been revolting this order from the very beginning, terming it as unconstitutional and moved to the High Court back in January 2014 itself. In October 2015, the High Court gave a verdict that CAG can't audit discoms, because they are outside the purview of a CAG audit as they come under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). Following this, the Delhi Government moved to the Supreme Court. Very recently, in January 2016, the Supreme Court has seeked explanation from all three discoms as to why they can't be audited by CAG. The case has been posted for hearing on March 2.#9 Introduce Competition Amongst DiscomsSTALLEDPromise: AAP reiterates the promise made in its December 2013 Delhi manifesto of providing consumers the right to choose between electricity providers. We will introduce competitive distribution, which will provide better services and lead to lower tariffs.Status: The promise can be fulfilled only if CAG audit of power discoms is permitted. The matter is subjudice.#10 Delhi's Own Power StationYET TO STARTPromise: We will put up Delhi's own power station at the pithead and comprehensively solve Delhi's electricity problem in the long run by being able to meet peak power consumption of 6200 MW. We will also ensure that the Rajghat and Bawana plant are efficiently utilized.Status: A new power station is not the main focus of the government at the moment. However, Delhi would bid in Center's coal block allocation.#11 Water As A RightYET TO STARTPromise: AAP will provide Water as a Right. It will provide universal access to clean drinking water to all citizens of Delhi at an affordable price. The Delhi Jal Board Act will be amended to make clean drinking water a right of the people.Status: Work on expanding access is ongoing, but there has been no amendment in the act.#12 Piped Water Availability For AllUNDER PROGRESSPromise: AAP will make a time bound plan of action for covering all residents of Delhi with piped water and sewage network in all parts irrespective of their legal status. There will be no discrimination between planned/non-planned; authorized/ non-authorized; regularized/ non-regularized; city or village. Within five years piped water connections will be made available to as many as 14 lakh households (50 lakh people) in Delhi that do not have a piped water connection at present.Status: Action plan has been drawn up. Delhi Jal Board expects to cover the entire city by December 2017. Currently, 82% of households are covered by piped network. This year, 120 km of new water supply pipelines were laid (taking the total to 14,000 km) and another 70 kms of pipeline were replaced. 205 of 1105 unauthorised colonies have piped water connection; eight of them were added recently.#13 Free Lifeline WaterFULFILLEDPromise: AAP will ensure free lifeline water of up to 20 kiloliters (20,000 liters) to every household per month through a Delhi Jal Board's (DJB) metered water connection. This scheme will be extended to group-housing societies.Status: Within days of coming to office, the Aam Aadmi Party government decided to provide 20,000 litres of free water to every household, with effect from March 1, 2015. However, no subsidy would apply for metered consumers using over 20,000 litres of water per month. The government had set aside Rs.250 crore annually for the water subsidy. In January 2016, government conveyed that despite the subsidy, the DJB earned Rs.178 crore more in 2015 compared to the previous year.#14 Abolishment of mandatory 10 percent hike in water tariffsYET TO STARTPromise: AAP will provide universal access to potable water to all citizens of Delhi at a sustainable and affordable price. The mandatory annual 10 percent hike in water tariffs will be abolished and any further hike will be made only after due consideration.Status: The mandatory annual hike of 10% was introduced in 2009 by the then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Apart from 2013 and 2015, water tariffs had automatically gone up on January 1 every year. For 2015, the hike had been deferred by the DJB till an elected government could take a call on it. Though AAP was against the automatic hike, as mentioned in the manifesto, the financial reality of the water utility necessitated the hike and therefore, water tariffs in Delhi went up by 10%.These were some highlights of AAP govtThanksAryan