Reviving the bottom-up planning approach yet again, District Planning Committees (DPCs) have started the process of preparing district development plans in full steam.
Following the revival of decentralised planning and development in the State under the 13th Plan, DPCs have once again become the pivots of the planning process and the government has taken the first step to move towards an integrated State Plan that would have key inputs from the district plans. This approach runs contrary to that of the previous government that virtually neutralised the DPCs and made a move for forming a high-power council above the State Planning Board for preparing development plans. But it had to be relinquished in the wake of protest from the Planning Board itself.
Each DPC would now function like a secretariat that coordinates local governments as well as various departments, missions, universities and research institutions in their purview for sourcing statistics and eliciting expert views on development and other allied issues.
State Planning Board member K.N. Harilal told The Hindu that the DPCs have formed various subcommittees and have set in course the Plan preparation process against the guidelines approved by the Cabinet.
This would lead to optimum use of human, natural and financial resources and also avoid duplication of projects from the grassroots to the apex level. The DPCS have been armed with wide powers, but the thrust is on integrating the projects prepared by local bodies and prepare a draft district development plan. Such plans would set the ground for a meaningful sharing of scarce natural resources including water and also conservation of nature. This also extends to other sectors such as industry, health, education, housing, power, SC/ST development and welfare and such others too.
The DPCS have been empowered to form subcommittees of their choice for integrating rural and urban areas in major cities such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. The subcommittees would be headed by DPC members and each one of them could have 7 to 15 members.
The committees could also seek the assistance and advice of agencies functioning outside their purview too. Experts from all sectors, especially outside the district, could be invited for consultations to prepare the development Plan. Specific deadlines have been set for preparing the plans and it is being monitored by the State-level committee headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The work is progressing silently and would have a major impact on the planning process, Mr. Harilal says.
