Govt to view Planning Commission8217;s role in policy making

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 9: The Planning Commission is in for a major revamp -- from being merely an advisory body to having a role in the poli...

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 9: The Planning Commission is in for a major revamp 8212; from being merely an advisory body to having a role in the policy making in the post-liberalisation period.

The issue will be discussed threadbare at a meeting of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Krishna Chandra Pant on Friday.

The commission presently finalises annual plans and fund allocation to various states but has no role in policy making. 8220;We want to make the commission an influential body,8221; said a senior commission official on Thursday.

The restructuring of the Planning Commission was mooted by its then deputy chairman Jaswant Singh last year. His successor, KC Pant, seems to be pushing ahead the agenda.

The issue was discussed at two meetings of Finance Minister, Commerce Minister and deputy chairman of the commission with the Prime Minister last year. But progress was stalled with Jaswant Singh being shifted to the External Affairs Ministry.

Singh had then demanded that some departments be taken away from their respective ministries and handed over to the Commission. His proposal of taking off WTO negotiations from the Commerce Ministry and a merger of plan and non-plan budget was strongly resisted by the respective ministers and the plan was nipped in the bud.

He also wanted the commission to have a role in formulating exim policy, Defence and Foreign policy. Pant added that a role in resolving Centre-State dispute and any row between various sectors, in the long list of functions the commission wanted to assume.

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Pant also wants disinvestment of public sector to be handled by a nodal body to function in direct supervision of either Prime Minister8217;s Office, Finance Minister or the Planning Commission. He also want a similar expenditure commission to be controlled by the Planning Commission. All such issues are likely to be discussed at Friday8217;s meeting.

The commission officials believe that in the post-liberalisation era the commission can play a positive role in strengthening the economy. They want it to be much more than being made a mere dumping ground for senior bureaucrats.

They are also concerned over breaking out of a row between economists and bureaucrats working in the commission especially after an inter-office communique issued early this year specifying that economists would have to route all their correspondence through advisors bureaucrats. The memo had to be withdrawn following strong protest from the experts.