At Rs 7.18 crore, Lokpal budget sees three-fold jump, but still nothing on ground

New Delhi: A sum of more than Rs 7 crore has been earmarked for anti-corruption body Lokpal to meet its expenditures in 2015-16, showing a three-fold hike over the allocation made for the ongoing fiscal. The provision of Rs 7.18 crore for the next fiscal is for establishment and construction-related charged expenditure in respect of Lokpal, according to Demand of Grants of the Ministry of Personnel. [caption id=“attachment_2129801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Social activist Anna Hazare had led a nation-wide campaign for the Lokpal bill. Reuters[/caption] A token outlay of Rs 2 crore was made for the anti-corruption body for the 2014-15 fiscal year. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, provides for the establishment of a Lokpal for the Union and Lokayuktas for the states to inquire into allegations of corruption against public functionaries. President Pranab Mukherjee had given his assent to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill on January 1 of last year. The government is still in the process of appointing the chairperson and members of Lokpal. Presenting the Union Budget for 2015-16, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday announced an increase of about Rs 7 crore in the outlay for the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for the next fiscal, taking it to Rs 27.68 crore. The allocation for CVC, which acts as the government’s nodal agency for checking corruption and ensuring transparency, includes Rs 25.68 crore to meet establishment-related expenditure and Rs 2 crore for “extension work of capacity-building”. The CVC had got Rs 20.35 crore for 2014-15. Over Rs 208 crore has been allocated to the Ministry of Personnel for 2015-16 to augment its training facilities for bureaucrats. A total of Rs 208.91 crore has been earmarked for the ministry to meet establishment-related expenditure for the Institute of Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM) here and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) at Mussoorie. Both ISTM and LBSNAA arrange various training programmes, including foundation courses, refresher courses and mid-career training, to equip all levels or grades of secretarial functionaries with adequate exposure to the latest rules and regulations and aptitude. The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension had got Rs 205.66 crore for 2014-15 but the allocation was revised to Rs 179.48 crore. The Finance Minister has also proposed to increase by over Rs 13 crore to Rs 43.55 crore the budgetary allocation for Central Information Commission (CIC) and Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) for 2015-16. The Finance Ministry had given Rs 30.32 crore for the CIC and PESB in the ongoing fiscal which was later revised to Rs 24 crore. PTI