Prithviraj Chavan warns against scrapping Planning Commission
Chavan termed the decision as handing over the Indian economy's reins to the free market
Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday termed the decision to scrap the Planning Commission as a handover of the reins of the Indian economy to the free market, and warned that this may prove dangerous for the country’s economy.
Chavan was speaking at a function organized by the employees of the cooperative department in Pune on Monday. In his maiden Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said he would replace the Planning Commission with a new body.
“We envision the proposed institution as one that caters to the aspirations of 21st century India and strengthens participation of the states," Modi said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday. “Let the ideas flow."
Addressing Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Mumbai on Saturday, finance minister Arun Jaitley had defended the decision. He said the Planning Commission was a relic from the command-and-control economy of the past and did not reflect the economic realities of the current Indian economy.
“It may have been necessary to direct state governments on how they should spend scarce national resources in the 1950s and 1960s, but it is no longer the case," Jaitley said. “State governments should have freedom to decide how they want to spend national resources."
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