  Economic planning in India  Tales of the unexpected  The
glories and agonies of India’s central planners  See article
Readers' comments    With all its limitations, viz., it does not
implement programmes and has recommendatory powers, the Planning
Commission has tried to support new ideas on economics and
development.  If functions like a "corporate planning" cell in a
big company, evaluating new proposals from line ministries. This
latter function is necessary to prevent empire building, not
dissimilar to large corporations, when ministries gain
importance due to the size of their spending budget. While its
structure may be obsolete in many aspects given the national
needs, and it is grossly overstaffed, it has attempted to be
pro-active and forward looking. The politics of the times has
impeded decision making, not the Planning Commission.  Jai
Prakash Sharma  Post-economic liberalisation though the Planning
Commission of India has lost much of its importance as a key
body responsible for setting country