Plan panel likely to be replaced by year-end

NEW DELHI: A body of technocrats, industrialists, chief ministers and development experts will likely be set up by the year-end to serve as the government’s primary policy advisory council, replacing the planning commission.

The multi-member think-tank would have sufficient state representation in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on “cooperative federalism” in long-term perspective planning, a source said.

The new institution will likely be modelled on the lines of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

In his Independence Day speech, Modi had announced the government’s intent to replace the planning commission with a new body, bringing the curtains down on the 64-year-old institution founded on the former Soviet Union’s command-style development model. The panel had in recent years come under increased scrutiny with experts questioning its role in a marketeconomy model where private

THE CENTRE IS KEEN TO FILL THE BODY WITH EXPERTS FROM OUTSIDE THE GOVERNMENT, AND NOT BUREAUCRATS

enterprises are the primary growth engines.

Under the new structure, the National Development Council, which was set up in 1952 and acts as the apex body for all development matters and centrestate relations, could undergo a change.

The finance ministry will likely take the final call on annual gross budgetary support for various central schemes and the states’ annual plans, which till last year was decided by the plan panel.

The new think-tank will be “truly” national with three to four expert members nominated by the Centre and the rest by the states. Its functions, however, will be limited to preparing a long-term plan for the country and recommending policy changes to the government to improve the outcome of the huge welfare expenditure.