Opposition Parties should be Committed to Re-establishment of Planning Commission

COMMUNICATION

With the passage of time the serious vacuum left behind by the sudden and arbitrary dismantling of the Planning Commission is being felt more and more. The Niti Aayog was neither meant to fulfill the important role of the Planning Commission nor can it be expected to do so. Hence the demand for the re-establishment of the Planning Commission should be raised strongly by more and more Opposition parties, and they should include this demand and issue firmly in their future agenda.

With the dismantling of the Planning Commission the possibilities of all manners of vested interests being able to implement their narrow agenda in a regime of crony capitalism have increased. At the same time the possibilities of integrated development, keeping in view the interests of the common people with special emphasis on the weaker sections and environment protection, have decreased.

In this time of climate change and related uncertainties the need for the Planning Commission has increased, not decreased. It is becoming increasingly clear that the sudden dismantling of the Planning Commission was very harmful for the longer-term development of our country and was taken at the prompting of strong vested interests.

Hence it is time for the Opposition parties to raise strongly the demand for re-establishment of the Planning Commission and for renewal of the process of planned economic development and Five-Year Plans. The Planning Commission should be reformed and improved to include more closely the concerns of environment protection.

Bharat Dogra

C-27, Raksha Kunj, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi-110063, Tel.: 25255303