In September 2009,members of the newly reconstituted Planning Commission met outside the Yojana Bhavan premises symbolically to break free from the past to candidly discuss the institutions role and functions over the next five years. The members present at the offsite individually wrote down their vision for the Planning Commission,along with their expectations of it,on a small piece of paper. Clearly,none of them wanted the Plan panel to be a stodgy organisation,playing the daddy-like role of allocating funds and picking holes in the proposals of states or Central government departments. There was consensus that it must change. More than two years later,all and sundry have kicked the Planning Commission,questioning its very raison detre . But the bureaucracy of which its deputy chairman,Montek Singh Ahluwalia,is very much a part has shown little urgency in pulling the Planning Commission out of its institutional morass.
All that has been achieved so far is a mediocre facelift for the Yojana Bhawan building,but the silos that Ahluwalia famously said must break,have remained silos. In fact,it has become worse there are factions within the Planning Commission working at cross-purposes. While differences within can lead to constructive dialogue,unfortunately,here it is not so. What we have today is a deeply divided Planning Commission,with the top bureaucracy blissfully unaware how many officers punch in their cards every day to mark their presence. This is not a joke the Planning Commission member secretarys office actually sent a note recently to all members and division heads asking them for a headcount of their staff.
Ahluwalia asked Arun Maira,former India head of management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group,and now a member of the Planning Commission,to work on a transformation strategy. He found out that the organisation had become a parking lot for IAS officers between assignments,and naturally,they have little stake in institution-building. The middle management (the level below the members) provides no cohesion,and has dangerously weakened the organisations structure. And the lower-level staff comprises long-timers with little experience of real life outside the organisation. No wonder Central departments and states get little value from their interactions with the Planning Commission.
Interaction with officials and members in the Planning Commission suggests that there is internal consensus for change. Of course,some members may be working overtime to effect a transformation,while some others may be just chugging along. But change they all want because it is about restoring pride in the work they undertake. A committee chaired by C. Rangarajan also recommended that the Plan panel must look beyond just fund allocation. Without saying so in as many words,it said the Planning Commission must be a think-tank,give strategic direction to states and the Centre,and in general look at the big picture. This is something the Planning Commission has internally discussed in the past and also presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Singh,in turn,suggested that the organisation must change into a systems reforms commission. While it is nobodys case that the Planning Commission dump its current responsibilities and become a strategic think-tank,it must bemore of what it should be in the future and less of what it is today.
So what stops Ahluwalia from systematically going about reforming the Planning Commission? This is his seventh year at the helm. But it is business-as-usual since he first talked,two years ago (at the beginning of his second term) about the imperative to change. Of all people,he knows that revamping a corporation has to be necessarily led by the CEO himself. The CEO can be guided by consultants,but must be willing in the first place. So is the case with the Planning Commission. Ahluwalia must take charge and ask his bureaucracy to initiate the process of internal reorganisation. This is undoubtedly complex,but then he needs to set the ball rolling. Surely he doesnt want the government to set up a committee to suggest ways to make the Planning Commission more relevant.
pv.iyer@expressindia.com
