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Notwithstanding the government's move to revamp the Planning Commission, the 12th Five Year Plan will continue to be implemented till the end of its term in March 2017.
"The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance was told by the Planning Commission officials that the 12th Five Year Plan will not be dropped and will continue till the end of its policy period, that is March 2017," said a source.
The panel, headed by the former oil minister M Veerappa Moily, had called Ministry of Planning representatives earlier today to hear their views on demands for grants for 2014-15.
The meeting was also attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is a member of the committee.
Sources said that during the meeting, a senior most official, explaining the working of the Commission, said that the 5-year policy document will be operational till the end of its term.
In December 2012, the country's apex policy making body National Development Council (NDC) had approved the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) with an aim to achieve average growth rate of 8 per cent, generate 50 million new jobs and increase investments in the infrastructure sector.
According to the source, the Commission's official also told the Committee that the deadline for the Aadhaar project to generate unique identification numbers for the entire population has been advanced to June, from December 2015.
Under the arrangement, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will generate UIDs for the entire population, while all residents would be issued National Multipurpose Identity Card under National Population Register.
At present, the biometrics details of residents are being collected under the UIDAI and NPR projects.
In a bid to speed up the residents' enrolment, government has already allowed UIDAI to operate in four more states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh which have cumulative population of around 40 crore.
UIDAI has been entrusted with the task to generate Aadhaar number of 100 crore residents by December this year. UIDAI has already generated 69 crore Aadhaar numbers, the officials told the panel, the source said.
The Committee had also called the representatives of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation to hear their view on demands for grants for the current fiscal.
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