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Unit 9: CPM /PERT
Notes
Caselet PERT Moots steps to Rectify National Fiscal Situation
Chennai, July 1
A LONG-TERM fiscal outlook coupled with a national fiscal consolidation mission is the
country’s imperative need, according to a Chennai-based think-tank, Public Expenditure
Round Table (PERT).
PERT has proposed a time-frame for Central and State governments to set right the fiscal
situation. The time-frame is broken into two parts: from the present juncture to 2010 and
from 2010 to 2020.
A recent PERT-Madras University seminar resulted in a report, “FISC2020: India’s Long-
term Fiscal Outlook.” The report highlighted measures that need to be taken to rectify the
country’s fiscal situation.
The report set reference points for PERT’s time-frame to improve the fiscal situation. For
instance, by 2020, the tax-GDP ratio should be stepped up by 3 per cent to stand at 18 per
cent and social sector spending by at least 2 per cent of GDP.
Among the key measures suggested are a halt and subsequent reversal in the trend of the
falling tax-GDP ratio. PERT’s report added that the solution is not restricted to calibrating
tax rates, but that legal and administrative structures needed correction and consolidation.
Public-private partnerships would be needed on a larger scale, and off-budget resources
and institutional credit would also have to be harnessed in a more significant way added
the report.
PERT’s report addressed the issue of transfer of resources between the Centre and the
States. The report said that States needed to be empowered with greater taxation powers,
as they had to bear the lion’s share of expenditure commitments on education, health and
urban development.
The PERT Chairman, Mr K. Venkataraman, said the think-tank would monitor actions
taken by the Central Government and the States. He added that PERT would even form
small expert groups to suggest concrete and specific administrative actions.
9.5 Summary
CCPM puts more emphasis on the resources required to execute project tasks in contrast to
the more traditional Critical Path and PERT methods, which emphasize task order and
rigid scheduling.
The difference between traditional and Critical Chain scheduling is in how uncertainty is
managed.
In traditional project scheduling, uncertainty is managed by padding task durations, starting
work as early as possible, multi-tasking, and focusing on meeting commitment dates.
The CCPM approach is identical to the TPM approach up to the point where the project
network diagram is defined and the critical path is identified.
The traditional project manager would next conduct a resource leveling exercise targeting
resource usage on the critical path.
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