The approach paper for the 12th five year plan (2012-17) has come under sharp criticism from the civil society groups, led by New Delhi based civil society organisation, Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA), which tracks government's social sector policies.

“The approach paper fell short of expectations. There is a sense of discomfort and a sense of dissatisfaction. We again went to GDP level of growth, not focusing on human development index in the upcoming plan,” Amitabh Behar, convenor, WNTA told Governance Now. “Market remains central to the approach paper,” he added.

“The government’s approach is over-reliance on public private partnership (PPP) model and lack of a regulatory framework to ensure the realisation of equity,” said the paper released by WNTA titled ‘Equity unaddressed – A civil society response to the draft approach paper 12th five year plan’. The planning commission released its own approach paper last month. The civil society release on October 15 is a counter to the 12th five year approach paper. The civil society and planning commission members discussed the matter related to the approach paper on Saturday.

Taking a dig at the over reliance on PPP, Mazhar Hussein of Confederation of VoluntaryAassociation, said enough is not being committed to “subjects affecting the poor.” He added, “The PPP model has become four Ps – public pays for private prosperity (PPPP).” He also stressed on how large cities have become migrant unfriendly and poor continue to face eviction and displacement.

Criticising the government’s flagship prorgamme as not as effective as it should be, Prof. K C Gopal of Tata Institute of Social Sciences said, “Flag is flying half-mast in the different flagship programmes launched by the government over the years.” Gopal said that the draft approach paper should have plugged such loopholes.

The planning commission held a series of consultations with the civil society groups last year before preparing the draft. The civil society, however, has claimed that suggestions given by it were not reflected in the approach paper. “The approach paper has not taken recommendation of the civil society inputs,” claimed Miloon Kothari of Housing and Land Rights Network (HLNR), which works on urban planning.

Reacting to the overall criticism, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy-chairperson, planning commission said, “We are still working on the 12th five year plan. It has not ended as yet. ” He clarified saying, “While the planning commission sees growth as one of the aspects of the 12th Plan, we affirm the need for social inclusion, which is a multi dimensional concept.”

The civil society criticism comes just before the national development council (NDC) meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi on October 22 where it will approve the approach paper. The attending chief ministers would also be making suggestions towards the drafting of the 12th plan. “There is lot of scope still left in the overall 12th five year planning as CMs would be making suggestion to it in the NDC meeting,” said B.K. Chaturvedi, member planning commission.