Examine the challenges in Centre-State coordination in implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, with reference to police modernisation.

Q. Examine the challenges in Centre-State coordination in implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, with reference to police modernisation. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Police and public order are State subjects (Entry 2, List II), yet capital-intensive modernisation runs largely on central money through the Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) umbrella scheme. The Centre's admission before the Supreme Court that a fresh modernisation scheme still awaits Finance Ministry clearance [1] exposes the coordination deficit in Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).

Design asymmetry: Centre funds, States implement - MPF was continued for 2021-22 to 2025-26 with a central outlay of ₹26,275 crore, of which ₹4,846 crore is for assistance to States/UTs [2]. - Components are decided centrally — mobility, weaponry, communication, forensics [3] — while State priorities (housing, recruitment, local policing needs) may differ, producing one-size-fits-all conditionalities.

Procedural and fiscal friction - The new umbrella proposal moved to the Department of Expenditure on July 8, 2026 and remains pending in-principle approval [1]; multi-tier clearance stalls State budgeting cycles. - Matching-share obligations strain fiscally weak States, delaying release of the central tranche.

Weak absorptive capacity - Utilisation of modernisation funds swung between 14% and 86% across 2009-10 to 2015-16 [4] — money allotted is not money spent. - A shortfall of nearly 21% against sanctioned police strength [4] means equipment arrives without personnel to use it; the Standing Committee accordingly urged MHA to press States on recruitment drives [5].

Monitoring and last-mile compliance - The CCTV mandate in Paramvir Singh Saini (2020) [6] remains patchily implemented; non-functional cameras compelled judicial suo motu monitoring [1] — courts substituting for administrative supervision.

The problem is thus not scarcity of funds but the machinery linking sanction to outcome. A single-window inter-ministerial clearance, multi-year assured allocations, flexible State-specific components, outcome-linked release with a centralised monitoring dashboard, and human-resource augmentation alongside infrastructure can convert MPF from a transfer scheme into genuine cooperative federalism — securing both effective policing and the Article 21 guarantees it must protect.

(~325 words)

Sources: 1. Police modernisation scheme awaits Finance Ministry's nod, The Hindu (Aug 6, 2026) — proposal sent to Department of Expenditure on July 8, 2026; SC suo motu monitoring of CCTV compliance 2. PIB: Government approves continuation of umbrella scheme of Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) — 2021-22 to 2025-26 period, ₹26,275 crore total and ₹4,846 crore State/UT assistance outlay 3. Ministry of Home Affairs: Modernisation of State Police Forces (MPF) Scheme — scheme components: mobility, weaponry, communication, forensics 4. PRS Legislative Research, Police Reforms in India (2017) — modernisation fund utilisation of 14%–86% (2009-10 to 2015-16); ~21% vacancy against sanctioned strength 5. PRS Summary: Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Police – Training, Modernisation and Reforms (2022) — recommendation on recruitment drives and removal of administrative bottlenecks 6. Paramvir Singh Saini vs Baljit Singh, Supreme Court of India (Dec 2, 2020) — mandatory CCTV installation in police stations and central agency offices