lannin in ndia       5.53
     very contours of India—highlighted by the             operating just at the international cutting
     government document in the five areas:                edge, but also with a global scale and
         1. Demographic shift: India’s population          reach. This changed economic landscape
            has increased over three-fold to reach         requires a new administrative paradigm in
            121 crores. This includes an addition          which the role of the government must
            of over 30 crore people to Urban India.        evolve from simply allocating resources
            As well as an increase of 55 crore youth       in a command and control eco system,
            (below the age of 35), which is more than      to a far more nuanced one of directing,
            one and a half times the total population      calibrating, supporting and regulating a
            of the country then. With increasing           market eco system. National development
            levels of development, literacy and            must be seen beyond the limited sphere
            communication, the aspirations of the          of the ‘Public Sector’. Government must,
            people have soared, moving from scarcity       thus, transition from being a ‘provider
            and survival to safety and surplus. Today,     of first and last resort’ and ‘major player’
            we are looking at a completely different       in the economy, to being a ‘catalyst’
            India, and country’s governance systems        nurturing an ‘enabling environment’,
            need to be transformed to keep up with         where the entrepreneurial spirits of all,
            the changing India.                            from small self-employed entrepreneurs
         2. Economic shift: India’s economy has            to large corporations, can flourish. This
            undergone a paradigm shift. It has             importantly, frees up the government
            expanded by over a hundred times, going        to focus its precious resources on
            from a GDP of Rs. 10,000 crore to Rs.          public welfare domains such as essential
            100 lakh crore at current prices, to emerge    entitlements of food, nutrition, health,
            as one of the world’s largest economics.       education and livelihood of vulnerable
            Agriculture’s share in the GDP has seen        and marginalised groups of the society.
            a dramatic drop, from more than 50 per      4. Forces of globalisation: In recent decades,
            cent to less than 15 per cent. The plan        the world at large has also evolved. We
            size of Rs. 43 lakh crore of the 12th Plan     live today in a ‘global village’, connected
            dwarfs the plan size of Rs. 2,400 crore        by modern transport, communications
            of the 1st Plan. Priorities, strategies and    and media, and networked international
            structures dating back to the time of the      markets and institutions. In this milieu,
            birth of the Planning Commission, must         India’s economic actions ‘contribute’ to
            thus be revisited. To align with this shift    the global dynamics, while our economy
            and sheer scale, India needs to overhaul       also get influenced by the happenings far
            the very nature of the planning processes,     away from us. The framework of policy
            the government says.                           making together with the functioning
         3. Shift in the private sector: The nature        of governments need to incorporate the
            of the Indian economy, and the role of         realities of our continuing integration
            the government in it, has undergone a          with the global economic system.
            paradigm shift. Driven by an increasingly   5. Role of the states: Indian states have
            open and liberalised structure, India’s        evolved from being mere appendages of
            private sector has matured into a vibrant      the Centre, to being the actual drivers of
            and dynamic force. The sector is not           national development. The development