READ ALSO: Plan panel needs reorientation, not burial, Cong says
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who discussed the role of the Planning Commission with chief ministers, had announced the government's intent to replace the plan panel with a new entity in his Independence Day address. On Sunday, he made it clear that there was a need to replace the top down approach in planning with a "bottom to top" approach with states given a key role. He argued for cooperative federalism and strengthening "Team India".
READ ALSO: PM calls for closer Centre-state cooperation at CMs meeting
Amid stiff resistance from Congress chief ministers, who questioned the need to wind up Planning Commission, Modi invoked his predecessor Manmohan Singh, also a former deputy chairman on Planning Commission. "He said that Manmohan Singh, who had been associated for a long time with the Planning Commission, had noted that the body has no futuristic vision in the post-reform period. He had also noted that the Planning Commission would have to reinvent itself to remain more effective and relevant in the present situation," said an official statement, quoting Modi.
Although finance minister Arun Jaitley said there was no deadline for a revamp, there are indications that the new structure will be in place over the next few weeks and will include a select group of CMs, some central ministers and experts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union home minister Rajnath Singh, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and chief ministers and governors of various states after their meeting on Planning Commission revamp, in New Delhi, on December 7, 2014. (PTI photo)
Telangana, TN, Odisha team up against plan panel
Sunday's meeting came in the backdrop of the NDA's opponents trying to step up protest against the government, and holding up Parliament last week. But it did not turn into a meeting of continuing hostility between the Centre and the opposition, with regional parties deciding to focus on the interests of their states, leaving the Congress with support mainly from the Bihar government, while Uttar Pradesh too backed change.
Although Nitish Kumar was critical of limited space that states enjoyed in policy formulation, his nominee and Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's stance reflected the realities of the new alliance that his party JD(U) has crafted with bitter rival Lalu Prasad's RJD and the Congress.
READ ALSO: Modi scraps Plan panel, vows to fix broken govt
Official sources said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi was the most vocal critic of the Planning Commission and suggested that it should be done away with immediately, a stand that found support from J Jayalalitha's AIADMK-led Tamil Nadu government and Biju Janata Dal, which is in power in Odisha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with chief ministers during a meeting on Planning Commission revamp, in New Delhi on Sunday. (PTI Photo)
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who did not attend the meeting, had written to the PM arguing in favour of strengthening the states and ending discretion in fund transfer. She, however, suggested that the powers of the Planning Commission be transferred to the Inter-state Council, which is a constitutional body, and the National Development Council comprising chief ministers be subsumed within it.
Akali Dal and Telugu Desam Party, which are BJP's allies, also supported the move to scrap the Planning Commission.
"There was larger consensus that the context has changed and there is a need for decentralization of both power and planning and states need to be strengthened," Jaitely told reporters after the meeting.
He said most chief ministers, barring "three-four" from Congress-ruled states, were critical of the "one size fits all" approach and suggested that the requirements of each state were different. He added that some CMs wanted the number of central schemes to be radically reduced as they argued that the state governments knew what would be the best structure for these programmes.
http://ift.tt/1p12HAA commission,Plan Panel
Stay updated on the go with The Times of India’s mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
from Top Stories - Google News http://ift.tt/1qg3cry
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment