KCR, Naidu agree on one issue, at last

Both bat for scrapping the Planning Commission

Hyderabad: The Chief Ministers of the two Telugu-Speaking States, who have been differing on various issues, on Saturday agreed on one issue i.e., the need to scrap the Planning Commission. Both of them expressed the view that the Commission had become irrelevant.

AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that the government had some bad experiences in the past as the Commission did not cooperate with his government. He said the Centre should consider setting up a committee of Chief Ministers and take all of them into confidence before deciding on the priority sectors for release of funds.

Naidu suggested that the Centre come up with a vision 2050 document for the country. He said the alternative body which is being proposed in place of the Commission should work out focus areas, based on the changing economic trends once every five years. He also spoke about the initiatives taken up by his government to implement the best practices both from across the country and globe. He informed that AP was emulating Odisha in disaster management, and Karnataka for development of IT sector.

Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao said that the development of India lies in the development of States. The country cannot be strong if States remain weak. Rao welcomed the proposal to form “Team India” with the Council of Chief Ministers and the Prime Minister as the chairperson to weave the economic agenda of the country together.

On the PM’s call for cooperative federalism, Rao said, “so far, there has been no effective platform to enable the States to express their views at regular intervals and to participate in the formulation of national policies. For effective interaction and to promote a sense of involvement, the Council of Chief Ministers under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister may participate as members of “Team India” to deliberate and decide on all the general and important policy issues concerning the entire country.”

However, for issues specific to a region or a few States, such as the ‘Ganga Action Plan’ or ‘Left Wing Extremism’, Chief Ministers of the States concerned may be grouped into Sub-Groups to deliberate on issues specific to them, observed the Telangana CM.

He also proposed a Permanent Secretariat, with representation from each State, to assist “Team India” in its deliberations. The Secretariat may seek policy briefs and expert advice from the proposed “Think Tank” or even co-opt other experts. The present plan cycle of five years does not look beyond the short and medium term and the Plan gets prepared only after the completion of one or two years in the five year cycle, he said.

“The needs of States differ widely depending on the levels of development in different sectors. In addition, there are state-specific problems which need to be addressed at the State level. In view of this, States may be given the freedom to prepare their action plan within the broad parameters laid down in the Perspective Plan,” he said.