That institution, whose policies have shaped much of everybody’s lives has once again planned. But this time, they are asking for the public’s opinion.Their web prescence is a dowdy site which is —> http://www.plannincommission.nic.in
To be fair, they have uploaded quite a bit of information. A large amount of raw data is available. Finally. A progress. A small one no doubt. Neverthless a good first step. In past, anybody who would have asked for data, would have been looked upon with suspicious eyes, the individual’s background scrutinzed.
What else can you expect from an institution perceived in the Soviet era? As the cookie baked in the socialistic utopian oven crumbled, heralding the death of the Soviet Union, the Indian Planning Commission had its work cut out. Change or perish. It has taken it a staggering 19 years, since the fall of USSR, to come on its own.
With the Indian economy galloping at a very fast clip, think tanks like this one, which pretty much oversees quite a bit of federal projects, has had to shape its functioning. And hence the 12th five year plan has been hatched. This time, they are asking for the citizen’s inputs. Commendable in a way.
The problem in India is unique. A good number of its citizenry goes without a meal a day. That is right. A sizable middle class exists with an equally large number of people who cannot afford a decent meal. For that you can blame it on this one institution.And the current head of this department is Prime Minister Singh.
I have downloaded a white paper on the 11th plan. My causal perusal of its 16 pages out of 109 reads like talking points of the present administation headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh.
I will continue this post after reading up on this data. Till then…
