New Delhi, December 8 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, at meeting of chief ministers on the restructuring of the Planning Commission, called for a new set-up to help India take “a big leap forward” in the spirit of cooperative federalism.
“There should be a suitable body to replace Planning Commission so that strengths of the country can be suitably harnessed. It is impossible for country to develop unless states develop; policy planning process has to change from top to bottom to bottom to top,” Modi said at the meeting.
He said the need for relook at Planning Commission has been raised since 1992. He described “Team India” as a combination of PM, CMs, Union Council of Ministers and bureaucracy in Centre and states.
“Can we develop a new mechanism, that plans according to India’s strengths, empowers states, and brings on board all economic activity, including that which happens outside the government?” he asked the CMs.
Chief Ministers of all states, except Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal and Omar Abdullah of Jammu and Kashmir, did not attend the meeting that took place at the prime minister’s residence.
In his closing statement after the meeting, Modi said the meeting was fruitful and all Chief Ministers offered significant suggestions. He also referred to remarks made by former PM Manmohan Singh on April 30th, 2014 regarding the Planning Commission.
He said Manmohan Singh, who had been associated for a long time with the Planning Commission, noted that the body has no futuristic vision in the post-reform period and that the commission would have to reinvent itself to remain more effective and relevant in the present situation.
Modi had told parliament Friday that the government had consulted experts and economists in detail and also held discussions within the Planning Commission on its restructuring. The Planning Commission was conceived by country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was formed March 15, 1950 — and with it was born the Five-Year Plans.
-INDIA TODAY
