Need to check role of Planning Commission

Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh underlined the need for streamlining the role of the Planning Commission, the country's apex policy making body, which is yet to be reconstituted by the new government.

“As far as the role of the Planning Commission is concerned, it needs to be made more streamlined. The states should not take this institution as a hindrance,” Singh said in his Facebook post.

Questions are being raised about the role of the Planning Commission as the government has been moving towards market-linked development process since 1991.

The Narendra Modi government is yet to reconstitute the Planning Commission, the term of which is co-terminus with the government. The Prime Minister is the Chairman of the Commission.

In a recent interview, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that Modi would make an announcement about the role of the Commission.

On the issue of Rangarajan committee report on poverty, Singh said, “the recommendations are still being considered by the government.”

Rangarajan’s report, which was submitted to the Planning Commission earlier this month, dismissed the Tendulkar Committee report on estimating poverty. It had said the number of poor in India was much higher in 2011-12 at 29.5 per cent of the population.

As per the report, persons spending below Rs 47 a day in cities would be considered poor, much above the Rs 33-per-day mark suggested by the Suresh Tendulkar Committee.As per Rangarajan panel estimates, poverty stood at 38.2 per cent in 2009-10 and fell to 29.5 per cent in 2011-12.

Singh said that the unique identification number issued by Unique Identification Authority of India  would continue to remain under the Planning commission and the NPR (National Population Register) under the purview of Ministry of Home Affairs.