Days after announcing that a new institution is required to replace the Planning Commission - a relic of the Socialist era - Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday invited ideas from the common man on what kind of a body could be put in place instead of the plan panel.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the suggestions have been invited on the recently created open forum called mygov.nic.in for setting up a new body.
Reacting on the development, the Congress accused the NDA Government of tampering with the federal structure of the nation by dismantling the Planning Commission. In his Independence Day speech, Modi had said that time had come to give the Planning Commission, which is a 64 year old body, a new shape.
"We need a new body with a new soul....We will have to think about giving a new shape to the Planning Commission.... Very soon this new institute will start working in place of the Planning Commission," Modi had said on August 15. The new institution will address the current economic challenges and strengthen the federal structure, as the internal situation of the country has changed and so has the global environment. Government is no longer the centre of economic development, Modi had said in his speech last week.
The Planning Commission was set up to cater to the needs of earlier times and has participated in its own way in the development of the country, he had added. Meanwhile the PMO statement said that "the Prime Minister has invited ideas from people on what shape the new institution to replace the Planning Commission can take".
"We envision the proposed Institution as one that caters to the aspirations of 21st century India and strengthens participation of the States.... let the ideas flow," the Prime Minister said in the statement. Criticising the move, former Commerce Minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma said since the policy involves welfare of states hence Prime Minister Modi should have called a meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) to discuss the matter before taking a decision.