Montek calls for innovative planning

Stressing on the need for innovative policymaking, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said evidence-based analysis of policies and their formulation are necessary to achieve robust economic growth.

Releasing the book, 'India 2039: An Affluent Society in One Generation', Ahluwalia said: "We need to accommodate 150 million people in urban areas in the next 20 years. So, we have to think that way."

"We need to have different set of policies and avoid unnecessary presumptions that the new kind of policies will not work," he said.

The book paints a bold and inspiring scenario of the country becoming an affluent society by 2039, that is, within a generation from now. It makes a persuasive case as to why such a scenario could be plausible.

The book also highlights the interesting concept of middle-income trap, which means that when there is a saturation of economic growth, the middle income gets stuck at a certain level and does not grow further.

The book, authored by 16 people including former RBI governor Bimal Jalan, is published by Sage Publications.