New Delhi: Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, and PM Kisan, are among nine of the Narendra Modi government’s flagship schemes that the government has decided to keep outside the ambit of the ongoing appraisal process for central sector programmes, Economic Times has reported. Speaking to The Wire, a former secretary in the finance ministry has called this a move by the government to block doors to a professional socio-economic appraisal of schemes.The report says that in a letter dated July 4, the Department of Expenditure asked the respective ministries and departments to exclude the schemes from the standard appraisal process. This exclusion will remain in place for the next five years, starting April 1, 2026, the report said.These schemes, the letter said, will be evaluated and appraised in detail by the planning think-tank NITI Aayog’s Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office.An unnamed senior official quoted by ET noted that this is because some of these schemes will need “some structural changes.”“Niti Aayog has been tasked to do the detailed exercise so there is no duplicity of efforts,” the official told ET.The full list of the schemes are:Ayushman Bharat,Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana,PM Kisan,Ujjwala Yojana,PM Jan Dhan Yojana,PM Stand Up India,PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana,PM Suraksha Bima Yojana, anda scheme under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade to refund central GST and integrated GST to industrial units in northeastern and Himalayan states.In addition, schemes related to the Department of Space and the Department of Atomic Energy and the National e-Vidhan scheme are also outside the ambit of the appraisal process.A former secretary in the finance ministry told The Wire that the NITI Aayog is no substitute for an established system of appraisal.The former bureaucrat said that the established practice is that a Public Investment Board (PIB) headed by the expenditure secretary appraises all new schemes that involve large investments.The erstwhile Planning Commission – under the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government – used to have a Project Appraisal Division (PAD) that had expertise in evaluating such schemes and projects. The PAD would give inputs to the PIB for appraisal. The PIB’s recommendations on the scheme would then be looked at by the Cabinet for a final decision.The former IAS officer, who headed the PAD and PIB, noted that PAD and PIB inputs added value to schemes.“While recommending a scheme to the Cabinet with improvements, I remember setting apart a small percentage of the investment for independent social audits to provide feedback during implementation,” he noted.He also added that NITI Aayog “woefully lacks the required expertise, as PAD used to conduct social-cost social-benefit appraisal, which NITI Aayog is not in a position to do.”“By doing away with such an appraisal process, and bringing in NITI Aayog, the government is blocking doors to a professional socio-economic appraisal of schemes – something that is essential,” he added.