PM Prachanda expects to see quality transformation through 16th Periodic Plan

Prime Minister and National Planning Commission (NPC) Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has said the NPC 16th Periodic Plan is expected to be capable of bringing about quality transformations in the overall economy of the nation.

In his address to a meeting of the NPC held today at the Prime Minister’s official residence in regard with the formulation of the 16th Plan, the Prime Minister highlighted the need of meticulously reviewing periodic plans so far in terms of their contributions to socio-economic development and social transformation.

Stating that formulation of policies and programmes and the budget have so far based on the conventional approach and largely relied on the decisions of a handful of people, the Prime Minister stressed on the need of a significant change in all these procedures.

“Our institutional and structural set-up, as well as our performance style, demand significant transformations in the formulation and implementation of policies, programmes, and the budget,” the Prime Minister said, adding that a very short time gap between the formulation of policies and programmes and the budget has led to the coherence deficit between the documents and it should be addressed.

He was of the opinion of ensuring broader discussions on the policies and programmes before starting the budget making procedures to ensure that the policies and programmes and the budget are aligned.

Massive transformation is needed in the formulation procedures of policies and programs and the budget, according to the Prime Minister who questioned the relevancy of the parliamentary deliberations on policies and programmes and the budget if the documents get endorsed without even a minor change.

The head of the government echoed the need of provisions allowing amendments to them after the parliamentary discussions. Submissions of intellectual and people’s representatives can be incorporated in the document besides the expertise of the Sate mechanism.

He was of the opinion of seeking suggestions from outside the State mechanism even in the formulation procedures of the periodic plans.

“Lets’ think about the incorporation of knowledge and experiences from external sources as well. Use of collective conscience with diverse perspectives is necessary to make any proposal inclusive, broader and widely-accepted,” he asserted.

The meeting endorsed the Approach Paper of the 16th Periodic Plan. The meeting decided to take it for wider discussions from province to local levels.

The Approach Paper presented a review of the 15th Periodic Plan, acknowledging that its goals were affected by challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as political unrest at the global level and inability to meet targets concerning economic structural improvements.

Social justice, good governance and property are presented as major priorities in the Approach Paper as it aims to promote good governance in administrative and judicial sectors, to establish the social justice in health, education, employment and housing sectors and achieve prosperity in social life, economic development and in the national economy.

Quality infrastructure development and systematic urbanization, social empowerment, promotion of inclusion and social security, containment of unwanted and informal transactions, allocation efficiency, and capacity enhancement for capital expenditure, environment protection, biological diversity and disaster management and sustainable development of effective public administration are other areas of the priorities identified by the Approach Paper.