This refers to the report "Battered and bruised, Planning Commission loses more of its teeth" (November 3). While it is true that a socialist era promoted the formation of heavy industry and in turn its feeder small-scale units, economic policies looked inward and did not focus on competition. Board meetings in public enterprises were held more as a matter of formality without suitable budgetary challenges for manufacturing and marketing. Agricultural yield was left to nature. Further, multiple bureaucratic channels with inter-ministerial clashes on decisions rendered the implementation of framed policies of the Planning Commission ineffective. Industry and agriculture survived on government subsidies and lacked the fruitful deployment of resources and enterprise. Infrastructure was restricted and growth was more localised.
However, a modern economy demands market expansion to meet global challenges. Single window bureaucratic clearance will ensure the speedy movement of goods. Technological advancement and infrastructural development has helped promote private entrepreneurship with improvement in the quality of labour. Rapid market expansion by private enterprises coupled with more competition has reoriented the economic approach, rendering the Planning Commission to be an even more meaningless institution.
C Gopinath Nair Bangalore
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