Ahluwalia: People power

New Delhi, Sept. 7: Planning the course of the economy is set to break free from the cloistered world of government officials and economists. In a first-of-its-kind exercise, just about anyone will be able to contribute to the formulation of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

The Planning Commission, which has started work on the approach paper to the Twelfth Plan, will set up a portal inviting public comments on the issues and concerns that should be focused on.

“It’s what you call more inclusive planning,” Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told The Telegraph. “We’re using technology to increase outreach.”

Till now, the plan panel had been going into huddles, setting up working groups and steering committees with economists and sectoral experts for recommendations. “Most of them would be people we know, who tend to be of our generation,” Ahluwalia said.

This is set to change with this portal, which will be linked to the Planning Commission website. The portal is expected to come up around October-end.

Work is underway on setting up a matrix, where sectors will form the rows and things that affect them — markets, global developments, governance, innovation and technology — will fill up the columns.

The matrix will be put up on the commission’s website.

The plan panel will first put in its ideas in the cells and upload it on the portal. People will be free to write in any one of the cells thus created.

“The sum total of that will give us a very good idea of the big issues in the Twelfth Plan,” Ahluwalia said.

The comments will also get displayed on the portal and can set off an online debate on issues.

The Twelfth Plan button on the website guides visitors to a page that lists the goal of the plan (faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth) and the sub-themes.