In a major initiative aimed at improving understanding and functional relationship with the States, Planning Commission is organising a day-long workshop on Friday July 6 with the Vice Chairpersons of the Planning Boards and Planning Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories of India. This first-ever collective meeting with the Commission and all its counterparts in the States is being done to improve our shared understanding of how to plan better, and work together, especially in the context of the 12th Plan. This workshop will be facilitated by ShriArunMaira, Member of the Planning Commission.
The meeting to be presided over by the Deputy Chairman, Mr Ahluwalia will aim at explaining the philosophy, content, and strategy of the 12th Plan to the States. This will be followed by a presentation on the different scenarios that the country could have—an exercise that the Commission has recently concluded. In the next session, selected states will make brief interventions about how they have improved their process of planning. This will be followed by an open discussion with all states. The last session will come up with specific ways in which the Commission and the States can work together to more effectively address the many challenging issues that the Union and the States face.
The discussion will be on four issues:
1) The “purpose” and “content” of planning required.
2) To fulfil this purpose and to produce the content, the “organization” required and the “processes” needed for better planning.
3) The human and knowledge “resources” required to perform these processes.
4) What can the Planning Commission do to improve its own processes and what can it do to better support States.