Instead of being defensive about the Left’s attack on ‘‘outsiders’’ in ‘‘committees’’ reviewing the Tenth Plan, the Planning Commission has fired back a counter-question: Can the panel rely solely on civil servants to review the work of other civil servants?Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, has spelt out his stand in a letter addressed to leaders of the Left parties who raked up the issue recently but conveniently glossed over the fact that their government in West Bengal has been using “foreign” consultants to push much-needed reforms in key sectors. .These leaders were upset that consultants like McKinsey and global bodies like the World Bank and the Asian development Bank would have their say on India’s planning process as part of a review panel.Ahluwalia has clarified that he was not setting up ‘‘committees of outsiders’’ but constituting 19 ‘‘consultative groups’’ to look at different facets of the Plan.‘‘The Planning Commission cannot do justice to the mid-term appraisal if it relies solely on the work of civil servants in the Commission commenting on the work of other civil servants in the Commission commenting on the work of other civil servants in the Ministries,’’ argues Ahluwalia. In the letter dated September 11 and sent to RSP’s Abani Roy, CPI’s A B Bardhan, Foward Bloc’s Debabrata Biswas and CPI-M’s Prakash Karat, the Planning Commission chief emphasises that no outsider is involved in preparing any of the Commission’s documents. At the same time, he added, there was ‘‘enormous expertise’’ outside the government and it was necessary for the Commission to make itself aware of these views. So outside experts were drafted to sit on groups that would be chaired by panel members and provide their inputs. Cleverly, the letter touches on the point that the consultative groups would represent a large spectrum of experts, not just from multinational consultancies but even from trade unions such as INTUC and AITUC.‘‘Representatives of the World Bank and ADB have included in four of these groups which deal with areas in which these agencies are actively involved in supporting Central government or state government projects,’’ explains Ahluwalia.‘‘By including individuals from outside the government in the consultative groups, we are not in any way handing over to them the critical decision making involved in the mid-term appraisal on policies and policy correctives that need to be introduced to achieve the objectives laid out in the National Common Minimum Programme.’’The Commission, he assures the Left leaders, would take inputs from both the Central and the state governments as also the outsiders. ‘‘We recognise fully that the individuals whom we hear have their own agendas, but I would like to assure you that we will subject the views expressed in our consultative process to careful professional scrutiny,’’ he adds. Almost in passing, Ahluwalia signs off by reminding the Left leaders that ‘‘the multilateral institutions in any case interact regularly with the Central and state government agencies and this has in the past also included the Planning Commission.’’
