Grassroot entities should be part of planning: Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Planning Commission

NEW DELHI: Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said grass-root level entities should participate in the planning process while participating in the first Google Hangout on the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2016) on Friday.

"Participation in the planning process should start from the Panchayat level and not be left only to the Centre," he said at the Google Hangout, which enables video chat with a small group of people online. The commission's first interaction with netizens, however, ended on a sour note with one of its members, Syeda Hameed, complaining about the absence of persons belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribe and minority communities on the programme.

"I want to say that this is a very elite medium, neither...a scheduled caste nor a scheduled tribe, nor minorities...and only one question came in about a challenge people facing...," she said towards the end the one-hour programme.

She insisted on registering her protest even after Singh Ahluwalia and National Innovation Council (NIC) Chairman Sam Pitroda gave their concluding remarks and vote of thanks. When other commission officials hinted that the programme is over, Hameed went to fellow member Abhijit Sen and insisted on lodging her protest.