Reverting to Old Ways

A Correspondent writes:
THE well publicised meeting of the Planning Commission earlier this month was ostensibly intended to check and rectify the imbalances which had allegedly crept into the implementation of the Fourth Flan, In fact, the real purpose of the meeting was as much to give a boost to the drooping prestige of the Commission itself. Members of the Commission emphasised, at the meeting, that the manner of functioning of the various Central Ministries and State Governments was threatening to throw the Fourth Plan into disarray; the Ministries were scrambling for projects not included in the Plan while dragging their feet over Plan programmes; the implementation of the new licensing policy was holding up private investment; and, as for the State Governments, their plans were being chopped and changed to suit the whims and political sensitivities of individual ministers. The Prime Minister's attention was drawn to all this and the warning was sounded that unless the Planning Commission stepped in and took remedial action with the Government's full support, the economy would soon be in a shambles.