New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government is reportedly planning to replace the decades-old 5-year plans with 15-year vision documents that will include internal security and defence as well.
According to a report in Economic Times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week cleared a blueprint which seeks to replace the existing 5-year plan. The new blueprint will come into effect after the completion of the last of the five-year plans. The current 12th 5-Year Plan will end in 2017.
Interestingly, the mid-term appraisal of the 12th Plan was also not done. Besides, the NITI Aayog has been asked to prepare a vision document at the earliest keeping in view the development goals and needs of the country.
The first 15-year vision document will start from next fiscal. A shorter seven-year action plan ‘National Development Agenda’ will also be prepared to lay down the schemes and strategies to achieve the long-term vision.
The report, while citing the blueprint, mentioned that a review within three years for any course correction will be done. Under the current Five-Year Plan system, the review of implementation is done mid-way through the plan and sometimes targets are revised.
For the first time, internal security and defence have been included in the plan process. These subjects were traditionally not part of the plan process.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had already announced in his Budget speech about doing away with the classification of Plan and Non-Plan expenditure in the backdrop of 2016-17 being terminal year of the 12th Plan period (2012-17).
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya had said that the last two years of the 12th 5-Year Plan (2012-17) will be used as transition.
