Montek plans to reshape Plan panel

The newly-appointed deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said his priority would be to revamp the body and initiate steps to implement the promises made in the common minimum programme (CMP) of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

"The priority of the Planning Commission will be to give shape, in terms of specific Plan proposals, Plan allocations and policy restructure, to the implementation of the common minimum programme," Ahluwalia, currently on a visit to China, said.

Ahluwalia, a noted economist, currently working as director the independent evaluation office of the International Monetary Fund, said he would resign with immediately to join the the Planning Commission by July 1.

"I was very thrilled to hear that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had decided to appoint me as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. I am looking forward to joining the team," he said.

"I have worked with him before and also with Finance Minister P Chidambaram. It is an honour and a privilege. It is an extremely challenging task, which I am looking forward to taking up now," said Ahluwalia, a former commerce and finance secretary and member of the Planning Commission.

"I would like to meet with the new members and reshape the work of the Planning Commission to that end," he said.

"I am trying to get back to Delhi, cutting short my visit to Beijing. I intend to reach Delhi by 19th morning and will then resign from the IMF," he said.

He said the IMF appointment was for another year, up to July 2005, which in principle could be extended for another three years. "But I will resign with immediate effect. I had mentioned to the Prime Minister that I would try to join by July 1. So, I will effectively have to go back to Washington, resign, and get back by July 1," he said.

Ahluwalia was the first occupant of the newly-created "office of the independent evaluator" in the IMF where his task was to oversee how successful various IMF programmes had been in different countries. He joined the IMF on July 9, 2001.

The government reconstituted the Planning Commission yesterday, appointing Ahluwalia as its deputy chairman along with seven new members.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the chairman of the Commission.