'Copy editor' Montek struggles with badly-worded drafts

NEW DELHI: Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is doubling up as a copy editor these days, correcting drafts and adding value.
Ahluwalia and his team are running behind schedule. They were supposed to have got approvals for their mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the 10th five-year Plan last month. But if it wasn''t for the bad quality drafts, the Plan panel would have been closer to the deadline.
There are several technical reasons that have delayed the MTA.Bad drafts being one.
Sources said the idea behind the exercise was to conduct a thorough review of progress in the first two-and-a-half years of the 10th plan, but some of the drafts prepared by the panel lacked that kind of depth. Once finalised, the MTA papers have to go for Cabinet approval before they are put up before the National Development Council (NDC).
When the Plan panel set out on the job in July, it was hoping to complete it by November-end, put it before the Cabinet in December and get NDC approval in January. Planning Commission sources said with the way work is proceeding, the NDC meeting is not likely to take place before mid-March.
The Plan panel is yet to get recommendation of the 12th Finance Commission. Unless they are released formally to the Planning Commission, it cannot propose measures to improve the financial health of the states. "The Finance Commission has looked into the problem of debt burden on states. But the recommendations will only be known after the report is laid in Parliament in the coming Budget session," an official said.