Planning Commission may defer National Development Council meet over poverty debate

The Planning Commission is all set to defer the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC),the apex body that approves Five Year plans,by a week.

The move,according to sources,is a bid to overcome the dissent within the Plan panel over the poverty debate and resolve the growing tussle with the Nandan Nilekani-headed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). There has been a furore over the Plan panels move for stating that people spending more than Rs 32 per day in urban India are exempt from the below poverty level criteria.

Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia is currently abroad ever since the Commission filed the affidavit on estimation of poverty with the Supreme Court.

Ahluwalia has called a meeting on Monday to discuss the future course of action on the matter. Only those Planning Commission members who went public in expressing their dissent over the issue have been asked to join. Members Abhijit Sen and Mihir Shah along with Soumitra Chaudhari who drafted the affidavit have been also asked to be present at the meeting. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh who had floated an alternate model to measure poverty have been invited to participate.

Sources in the Commission said that Ahluwalia would try and forge a consensus on the issue before reporting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Sources reasoned that postponement of NDC has been sought also because the Commission is unsure of the stand Chief Ministers will take in the originally slated October 15 NDC meet as any change in numbers will have a major impact on the approach to the next Plan. They said that accepting the global estimate of $2 per day norm would meet nearly 80 per cent population becoming eligible for state support and would need major cut in the Plan on infrastructure development programmes.

The Commission is also perturbed on its mounting differences with the UIDAI. The Plan panels desire to make UIDAI come under its ambit has not gone well with the Authority.

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Officials in the Commission have also opined that Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan- headed committees report on abolishing the distinction in plan and non-plan expenditure is bound to dilute the planning bodys say in allocation of plan-funded schemes.