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ii.
iii.
Planning Commission should restrict
itself to the formulation of perspec-
tive fi ve years and annual plans, re-
source assessment and evaluation and
should not interfere in the implemen-
tation of the plans which should be
the exclusive responsibility of execu-
tive agencies. It has also been argued
since long that the Planning Commis-
sion has encroached upon the au-
tonomy of the states under the fed-
eral system. This encroachment is
seen in terms of the Planning Com-
mission’s acceptance, modifi cation or
rejection of the states proposal for
development programme for which
central fi nancial assistance is sought
and which can be granted only on the
recommendation of Planning Com-
mission.
The Planning Commission is not a
statutory body and it does not fi nd
any place in the Constitution. But
that’s the case with all ministries.
Over the years with the expansion in
the scope of planning, its function
have extended substantially and have
enveloped almost the entire sphere of
administration excluding only de-
fense and foreign affairs. It has been
alleged that because of its powerful
position by virtue of the chairmanship
of Prime Minister it has even en-
croached upon the functions of con-
stitutional bodies such as fi nance
commission and yet not accountable
to parliament. Even the National
Development Council (NDC) which
is a body responsible for the approval
of plans envisaged by Planning com-
mission approved it without any
critical analysis of the same.
The Planning Commission is built
upon a heavy bureaucratic organiza-
iv.
tion. The Commission which was ini-
tially a small body of serious thinkers
had turned into government department
with a crowd of secretaries, directors
and big buildings. Neither the
Planning Commission has been able
to apply an integrated approach and
actions nor coordination has been
emphasized, which results in the
overlapping among and duplication
of efforts of various organizations,
resulting in wastage of resources.
There are overlapping responsibilities
between the Planning Commission
and Finance Commission. Perhaps,
the constitution maker could
not anticipate the setting up of an
extra constitutional authority in less
than a couple of months after the
promulgation of the constitution.
Since there can be no neat distinction
between plan expenditure and nonplan
expenditure, so unambiguous
distinction between the role of two
bodies cannot be made.
The votaries of liberalization and free
market have been more critical to the
whole concept of Planning Commission.
According to them the Planning
Commission should be shut down as
the Finance Ministry already has a
pool of talented experts. The Planning
Commission only creates duplicity
and lengthy procedures. Instead of
Planning Commission there should
be Implementation Commission
which should be created under some
act of Parliament. The Planning
Commission has only multiplied the
T RANSFORMATIVE PLANNING
The Govt agreed with the view of
the ARC that the Planning Commission
should be a compact body
schemes but has completely failed to
monitor those schemes. The Planning
Commission is an unnecessary burden
on line ministry. It has outlived
its utility. The fi nance ministry and its
various offi ces and Independent
regulators like Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) have enough talent to suggest
and formulate policies.
v. The Planning Commission was ini-
tially set up under an executive order,
probably with the aid of Article 73,
which envisages that the executive
powers of the union shall extend to
the matters with respect to which
Parliament has power to make laws.
Thus Planning Commission has legal
status though the constitutional status
was never given.
vi. Contrary to the provisions of Consti-
tution, Planning Commission has
started dealing with devolution of
huge funds for investment of a capital
nature while Finance Commission
concentrated in the fi elds of revenue
expenditure with of course some
over-lappings. The new terms of ‘plan
grants’ and ‘non-plan grants’ were
then got introduced with no provisions
and much less indication in the
Constitution of India.
vii. If we assume the whole scenario as
contemplated therein, the only thing
that comes to mind is that the economy
of the Nation must be looked as a
whole. Following the example of human
eyes, one can deduce a principle
that there must be convergence of
vision in an unifi ed manner to have a
THE INDIA ECONOMY REVIEW
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