For the first time, during the year 2002-2003 an exercise was undertaken by the Ministry of development of the north eastern region, in conjunction with the concerned Ministries/Departments and Ministry of Finance to calculate the shortfalls in the stipulated expenditure norm of 10% by each central ministry/department. A series of meetings were held and  the shortfalls in the stipulated expenditure and thereby the accruals to Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources were reconciled. Though the provisions for the North Eastern States in Central Plan of various ministries / departments has steadily increased from Rs. 3211 crore in 1998-1999 to about Rs. 5016 crore during 2002-2003, the actual expenditure in North Eastern States rose from around 6% to 7.29%.  Through this series of exercises it was ascertained that the total amount accrued to the Non-lapsable Pool during the last four financial years (1998-2002) was Rs. 5806.07 crore. With the concurrence of the Ministry of Finance to these figures, the department was finally able to give a size and shape to the Non-Lapsable Pool. The year-wise, department-wise accruals is given  below: