Will Covid cut out course for SDPC?
C P Balasubramanyam By  Express News Service  CHENNAI: The newly appointed office bearers of the State Development Policy Council (SDPC) have a ready-made route map available on how to tread forward. But, with the change in the government and Covid wreaking havoc, it remains to be seen whether the councils objectives would be retained or amended to help make the State more resilient in handling crises or a mix of both. It needs also to be seen how many of the promises (including improving farming productivity, health, and education in the next ten years) made by the DMK in the manifesto would be included. Goals chalked out  In 2012, the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa released a Vision Tamil Nadu 2023 document announcing government agenda for the next eleven years  till 2023. The target was to make the State poverty-free, develop infrastructure, improve per capita income and human development indicators, achieve an average growth rate of 11 per cent GSDP a year, among others. It was the State Planning Commissions (SPC) twelfth and the last five-year plan that laid the foundation for achieving the targets by chalking out sector-specific strategies. Disbanding of SPC  However, after the Planning Commission of India was disbanded and replaced with NITI Aayog, a trend started picking up: Various State governments made changes to their respective commissions. Tamil Nadu followed suit and a decision was announced during the 2017-18 budget to restructure SPC. In April 2020, a Government Order disbanded the SPC and announced the formation of SDPC. During its decade-long tenure, the AIADMK government gave due importance to the 2023 targets. For instance, former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami stressed on the need to focus on the targets during a council meeting of NITI Aayog in 2017. Even the G.O. that formed SDPC in 2020 mandated that the then council assist the State government in formulating long term, medium term, and short term, goals to guide overall development and also achieve the targets set by the State under TN Vision 2023. The new office bearers have these materials for their perusal. New thought process  But, observers say that an out-of-the-box thought process is needed to tide over the health and financial crisis induced by the pandemic. Speaking to Express, a council member, on condition of anonymity, said: We have not got to the stage of deciding the course and objective of the council. We are yet to take stock of the situation and figure out our primary roles. Another member expressed similar views. Former bureaucrat MG Devasahayam said: State planning boards have been ineffective so far. They have existed for namesake. But, economist J Jeyaranjan and the new team may chalk out something new.  The Twelfth Plan identified ten themes for the State