New Delhi: Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on scrapping the Planning Commission, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has started working on an ambitious plan to set up a National Development Authority that will eventually replace the plan panel.
PMO sources claimed that the National Development Authority will also introduce significant changes in the way the Planning Commission had been working since its inception. Most significantly, the new agency will focus on mobilisation of resources and funds for states through a public-private partnership model rather than merely allocating resources to them from the central pool, sources said.
The new authority will also encourage states to have greater participation in Centrally-sponsored schemes and will work jointly in collaboration with them rather than just giving financial assistance. It will help states with greater expertise on mobilisation of resources by involving private investments, better implementation of schemes in a time-bound manner and help provide financial assistance linked to the progress of a particular scheme or project.
“Till now, the Planning Commission would merely have discussions with the states at the time of allocating them a financial package and then there would be virtually no dialogue between the Centre and the state as to how the money was being utilised. Now, this will change," a senior government official said.
Sources claimed the PMO is working on a plan where states will be "technically equipped" to further increase their own financial resources so that its dependence on the Centre also reduces.
