TIOL-DDT 2418 · Tuesday, 19 August 2014 · story 3 of 7

Will Planning Commission go same way?

THE Planning Commission of India is another unconstitutional/non-constitutional body created by a Government resolution exercising enormous power and clout. Every Chief Minister appears before the Hon'ble Deputy Chairman of the venerable Planning Commission of India once in a year to get their annual plans approved. The Planning Commission was set up by a Resolution of the Government of India in March 1950 - nobody knows under what authority and under what law or which provision of the Constitution of India and it has grown into a monstrous extra constitutional authority.

The best planning the Planning Commission had done in the last 63 years was said to be renovating the toilets in Yojana Bhavan at a cost of Rs. 35 lakhs while telling the Nation that any Indian who earns more than Rs. 35 a day is above poverty line! And the Deputy Chairman is said to spend more than Rs. 2 lakhs a day on his foreign trips, which are absolutely necessary to do the planning for the poor citizens of India!

DDT 2360 26.05.2014

While on it, there are several dumping yards in Delhi for unemployed politicians, bureaucrats and economists - all of which cost us a fortune. They may be closed down, the Planning Commission is a good place to start with.

DDT 1844 26.04.2012

Anyway, according to the wise men in the Planning Commission, all that you need, to be called rich in India, is thirty rupees a day. To ensure that every Indian does not go beyond that level, you can do all your experiments.

DDT 1698 - 22.09.2011

I am really worried that soon we may not have any poor people left in the country and when there is no poverty, maybe there is no need for so much of governance and 75 per cent of the Government machinery can be closed down. Maybe, we can bring down the poverty level to one rupee a day and lo and behold, we can simply abolish poverty in India and declare India as a rich country - all that we need is a report from the Planning Commission. Prosperity anywhere seems to be a threat to poverty everywhere.

But do we really need a Planning Commission?

DDT 7 - 09 12 2004

Shourie calls the Planning Commission a parking lot - the whole purpose of the Planning Commission is as a dumping ground for people who are unwelcome as ministers or retired civil servants who refuse to go away.

cited in this story

  • TIOL-DDT 2360 · 26 May 2014 — “Mortified Government gives way to Modi-fied Governance”
  • TIOL-DDT 1844 · 26 April 2012 — “Are we Going Back to Pre 1991 Days?”
  • TIOL-DDT 1698 · 22 September 2011 — “Poor in India - an Endangered Species?”
  • TIOL-DDT 7 · 9 December 2004 — “Thought @ the speed of government THE GREEN INK CONTROVERSY”