States' views to be sought on Plan panel replacement

The Centre is expected to seek the views of state governments soon on the organisation that will replace the Planning Commission. Officials said the views would be sought because the new body would have strong representation from state governments, including a few chief ministers, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of making states equal partners in growth.

"The Planning Commission used to act an interface between the central government and states. Much of this function will now be handled by the finance ministry, but it does not mean that the new entity will fully hand over that role," a senior official said. He also said the Centre might call a meeting of all chief ministers in Delhi or seek their views through other means.

Modi in his maiden Independence Day speech had announced the winding up of the five-decade-old Planning Commission. The government thereafter held a series of meetings with experts on the structure of the new body that will replace it.

The role of the commission has been gradually eased. A recent circular directed all major ministries and departments to furnish their plan budget estimates for 2015-16 directly to the finance ministry, marking the formal shift of responsibility of determining annual plan expenditure from the Planning Comm- ission to the ministry.

Ministries and departments are no longer waiting for a nod from the commission before sending their programmes and schemes for Cabinet approval. The programme evaluation office, an attached office of the commission created just a year ago, has been wound up. There is talk that the Unique Identification Authority of India, which too is an attached office of the Planning Commission, will be shifted to the department of electronics. The fate of the over 1,800 staff of the commission is unclear.

"There is no clarity when the new body will take shape, but I feel it should be formed by the end of the current financial year," another official said.