Montek, other Planning Commission members resign

Planning Commission members, including its deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Monday submitted their resignations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"We have just handed over our resignations," Ahluwalia told reporters at the Yojana Bhawan here.

Members of the Planning Commission include Abhijit Sen, Kirit Parikh, Anwar-ul Hoda, V L Chopra, B Mungekar, Syeda Hameed, B N Yugandhar and B K Chaturvedi.

As a practice, the Planning Commission members, who are appointed by the Prime Minister, resign after completion of the term of the government.

The Commission will be reconstituted by the new UPA government and there is a possibility that the government might re-appoint some of the members.

Describing the outcome of elections for the 15th Lok Sabha as "very good", Ahluwalia said that he would not like to make any comments as he was quitting the Commission on completion of the five-year tenure of the present government.

Ahluwalia, who is also being talked about as the next Finance Minister, played a key role in formulation of economic policies of the country and also the government's response to the global financial meltdown.

Under the leadership of Ahluwalia, the Planning Commission formulated the ambitious Eleventh Five Year Plan that sought to raise the economic growth to 9 per cent during 2007-12.

However, the economic crisis that hit the economies of the world following collapse of America's iconic investment banker Lehman Brothers adversely impacted the performance of the Eleventh Plan.

The economic growth rate during 2008-09, the second year of the Eleventh Plan, slipped to around 6.5-6.7 per cent from nine per cent a year ago.

With the Reserve Bank projecting a growth rate of 6 per cent for the current fiscal, the 9 per cent growth target for Eleventh Plan would remain a distant dream.

The Commission, however, has initiated the mid-term review of the Eleventh Plan which will be completed by the new panel.

With the Congress-led UPA again forming the government, it is unlikely that there would be any change in the priorities of the Eleventh Plan, though some steps would be taken to realign the targets in view of the global economic crisis and its impact on the country.