12th Plan document to be ready by this year end

"The 12th Plan document will be placed before the country's apex decision making body, National Development Council (NDC), by this year end for approval, " a senior Planning Commission official said.

He further said the Commission would be able to bring the voluminous document before the Union Cabinet for its approval by September. The new plan period began in April this year.

It will take at least six weeks after Union Cabinet approval to place the 12th Plan document before the NDC, which is headed by the Prime Minister, he added.

After the finalisation of the Plan document, it is placed before the full Planning Commission, the Union Cabinet and the NDC.

As far as progress of the 12th Plan documentation is concerned, the NDC had approved the 'Approach Paper' on August 20 last year. The paper provides a broad framework of the government policy to be pursued in the five-year period to achieve the desired growth rate.

The Approach Paper, which aims to raise growth rate to 9 per cent in the current Plan from about 8 per cent in the 11th plan, would be the basis for running the various government programmes and schemes till the new Plan is unveiled and implemented.

The documents for 10th and 11th Plans too were finalised much later after the commencement of the respective Plan periods.

The 11th Plan which began in April 2007 was approved by the NDC in December, 2007. Similarly, the 10th Plan which began in April, 2002, was cleared for implementation by the NDC in December, 2002.