The Hindu Business Line : Finalising State Plans — Plan panel to hold talks with CMs soon

THE Planning Commission has signalled its desire to continue its newly instituted strategy of completing State Plan discussions with the Chief Ministers on Plan priorities and determine the overall size of the State Plans ahead of the advent of the fiscal year so as to embed the Plan priorities in the Budgets of the States for 2006-07 too, the final year of the 10th Five-Year Plan (2002-07).

A senior official in the Plan panel told Business Line that the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has sent missives to Chief Ministers to the effect that though the gross Budgetary support for annual plan 2006-07 has not yet been decided between the Plan panel and the Finance Ministry, States have been directed to proceed with the preparation of the draft State Plan for 2006-07 on the assumption of an increase of 10 per cent over the Central assistance provided in 2005-06.

The States have been told that Mr Ahluwalia would hold talks with the Chief Ministers beginning this month till February 2006 to discuss Plan priorities and issues for the annual plan 2006-07 and to work out the appropriate resource-based Plan size for the coming year's annual Plan.

Taking on the principle of co-operative federalism and decentralisation of planning process to the grassroots level, the Plan panel has said that it has been emphasising on the need to build up State Plans from below through a participative process that gives ample scope for the articulation of the felt needs at the taluk and local levels.

Accordingly, the Planning Commission would be separately sending guidelines as to how participative process in local planning could be accomplished.

The Planning Commission, while drawing attention to the special component plan and the tribal sub-plan, has urged the States to take special care in ensuring the fulfilment of constitutional guarantees and entitlements enjoined for the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities.

The sources said that in deference to the Prime Minister's directive that the Plan panel should pay due attention to monitoring progress on this front for the Central Government, the Planning Commission has proposed to do the same at the State level.

Stating that the holding of the Working Group meet immediately after the meeting of the Deputy Chairman and the Chief Ministers facilitated early finalisation of the sectoral composition of the Plan and issue of the Approved Annual Plan outlay, the sources said that it has therefore been proposed to hold a two-day meeting with the State governments for finalisation of Annual Plan 2006-07.

Once the two-day meeting is through, the Plan panel would issue the Scheme of Financing and Approved Sectoral Outlays within 10 days of the completion of the two-day meeting, they added.

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