• The State Agriculture Department shall be the nodal department for the implementation of the scheme. For administrative convenience and ease of implementation, the state governments may identify, or create an exclusive agency for implementing the scheme on the fast-track. Even where such an Agency is created/designated, the entire responsibility of ensuring that the RKVY is properly implemented, will be that of the Agriculture Department only. In a situation where the states notify a Nodal agency, the release of funds may be done by the Centre directly to the Agency. The costs of running the agency, however, have to be within the 1% limit and subject to conditionalities indicated in para 3.6. States may supplement any administrative expenditure in excess of the 1% limit, with their own resources.

• The nodal agency/Agriculture department will be responsible for the following:-
  
  
  • Preparing State Agriculture Plans (SAP) and ensuring the preparation of the District Agriculture Plans (DAP).
  • Effectively coordinating with various Departments and implementing Agencies, with respect to the preparation and appraisal of projects, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating them.
  • Management of funds received from the Central, and State Governments and disbursement of the funds to the implementing agencies.
  • Furnishing of utilization certificates and quarterly physical & financial progress reports to the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. The indicative proforma for submission of financial and physical progress and the utilization certificate, are at Annexure-III.
  • Establishing an effective Management Information System that is I.T. based as well as web enabled, within a definite time-line, in any event within the first year of implementation of the programme itself.

• The Nodal Agency will finalize the SAP and submit it to the State Planning Department for integrating with the overall State Plans. The State Planning Department will pose it to the Planning Commission as a part of its state plan exercise. Once the approvals are received, the Nodal Agency will place the Stream-I proposals before the SLSC for consideration, discussion, finalization, and sanction.

• The State Level Nodal Agency will forward the Agenda along with a gist of the projects, to the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC) so as to reach at least 15 days before the meeting of State Level Sanctioning Committee to enable their representatives to come prepared and to participate meaningfully in the SLSC meeting. The SLSC is vested with the authority to sanction the projects.

• Once the SLSC sanctions the projects, DAC will release funds either to the Nodal Department or to the Nodal Agency, as the case may be.