FARAKKA-Muddied Waters

September 17, 1977 process are matters which do not appear to bother those who exercise real power and are running the affairs of the government under the benign wings of the new political leadership. In the case of the new innovation in planning methodology, it is being suggested that it will be for the planners to educate and train the state governments and other agencies in understanding it and its implications. It is doubtful, however, that those working in Yojana Bhavan will not require a lot of retaining themselves in the first instance. They still cling to the idea that they will have something to say about particular projects and programmes being formulated in the Ministries. When confronted with a series of initiatives in project clearance and investment decisions which the Ministries have taken in the past few weeks, they innocently suggest that they will have hard questions to ask about them when they are posed before them. They do not seem to realise that the old procedures with regard to appraisal of projects and programmes in terms of a plan-frame are no longer observed and will become totally irrelevant in the new planning system. The clearance of the super thermal power station for the Tatas in disregard of the Planning Commission's appraisal and without any fresh consultation with it is only one case in point.