A Hostage to Fortune


smooth relations between the Commission and the other Ministries which have often felt that their case before the Commission was going by default. A more effective and useful link than Minister-members is the numerous working groups through which so much of the Commission's work is done and on which the Central Ministries are among those represented. As for links between the Commission and the National Development Council, since the non-Congress State Governments now constitute a vital element in the Council, there are excellent political reasons for the Prime Minister not being a member of the Planning Commission, Of course, exclusion of Ministers from the Planning Commission will not by itself cure all the ills of planning. No one claims it will. But unless the identity of the Planning Commission is first firmly established, distinct from the Central Cabinet's, none of the other reforms will succeed. Among these the one most needed is a clear understanding of the Commission's functions. Once the political element is excluded from it, the general goals of the Plan would have to be set for the Planning Commission by the Central Government or the National Development Council