The Reserve Bank of India is slated to announce its monetary policy review on January 29, amid industry demand for lowering of interest rates to spur growth.
Steps to raise funds could include an across-the-board increase in railway fares, senior officials said.
Plannning Commission projects economy to grow up to 7.9% in 12th Plan against earlier estimate of 8%.
Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday he was forewarned that the Plan panel would not allow him to achieve a 20 km-a-day road-building target.
According to sources, Finance Ministry favours a meagre hike of around 6 per cent in the Plan expenditure for next fiscal over budget estimate of the current financial year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing the nation for the seventh time from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day on Saturday and it will be his second speech of the second term in office.
According to the Approach Paper to the 12th Plan, the Commission has pegged a plan expenditure of Rs 5.83 lakh crore (Rs 5.83 trillion) for 2013-14, which is around 12 per cent more than the budgeted plan expenditure for the current fiscal.
The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also observed silence for two minutes in the memory of Mukherjee.
Status to enable Arvind Panagariya to attend Cabinet meetings.
It projected 8 per cent growth for 12th plan but also said it can be 5-5.5% if reforms are not undertaken.
The Planning Commission on Friday said that high inflation, primarily driven by rising food prices, is likely to ease in the next few months on the back of an expected good rabi crop.
The 12th Plan document describes three average annual growth scenarios - 8%, 6-6.5% and 5-5.5 per cent.
'This is not Ahmedabad Gymkhana but people's house'
The investment deficit in the healthcare sector could be bridged through public private partnership (PPP) among other measures, a senior Planning Commission official said on Tuesday.
The perspective planning division might get a new lease of life.
He is known for for being an institution-builder.
Some reactions to RBI's monetary policy announced on Monday.
The Planning Commission's term runs concurrently with that of the government. The commission, whose inputs are vital on important policy related matters, is likely to have new faces when the new team is announced, said a top government functionary who had earlier worked in the apex planning body.
Diesel price hike is a tough decision and we need lot of tough decisions to get to 8 per cent growth rate," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh told reporters.
Planning Commission on Monday said India will not be able to achieve USD 1 trillion target for investment in the infrastructure sector during the 12th Plan (2012-17) in view of lower economic growth prospects.
Sources said the Telangana chief minister was busy with preparations for the launch of his ambitious Rs 80,000 crore Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project that would end water woes in the state, while in a letter to Modi, the West Bengal chief minister had expressed her inability to attend the Niti Aayog meeting on June 15, saying it is "fruitless" as the body has no financial powers to support state plans.
This is the second time that the Planning Commission will be scaling down the growth projection for the 12th Plan.
Amid mounting criticism of poverty reduction estimates by the Planning Commission, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday joined Union Minister Kapil Sibal in questioning the criteria for fixing poverty line.
Deficient monsoon is likely to pull down the economic growth in the current fiscal to about six per cent, from 6.5 per cent a year ago, the Planning Commission said on Friday.
Attributing the steep hike in petrol prices to declining value of rupee, Planning Commission on Wednesday said it will have immediate impact on the price situation but things will stabilise in the long run.
Within hours of the government announcing a new body to replace Planning Commission, the Yojana Bhawan staff began hectic preparations to welcome new Vice-Chairman of Niti Aayog and other members who are likely to be appointed shortly.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned on Wednesday following uproar over fresh poverty estimates released by the Planning Commission, which pegged the poverty line at Rs 28.65 per capita daily consumption in cities. As soon as the House met, National Democratic Alliance convener Sharad Yadav and Communist Party of India leader Prabodh Panda were on their feet, demanding suspension of the Question Hour for a discussion on the latest poverty estimates of the Planning Commission.
J R D Tata and Air India... Mrigank Warrier explores one of India's eternal love stories.
'Defence does not new 'planning commissions'; it needs an implementation commission.'
While Congress-ruled states such as Kerala, Karnataka and Assam expressed fears about the sudden demise of the planning process and wondered what it would be replaced with, also worrying about the immediate implications on annual Plan outlays, Andhra Pradesh said it was considering setting up its own NITI Aayog.
With economic conditions turning better compared to that three months ago, the Planning Commission on Monday said economy should record at least 6.7 per cent growth rate this fiscal, the same as was witnessed in 2008-09.
There is a need for tax reforms in the country in a bolder way, Singh said.
This year, however, the quarantine is also being strictly applied to the headquarters of the government's main policy think-tank, the Planning Commission.
NITI Aayog has a dual role of a monitor and advisor.
Poverty in the country fell 7.4 percentage points in the past five years.
Poverty in rural areas declined at a faster pace than in urban cities between 2004-05 and 2009-10, according to the Planning Commission estimates released on Monday.
'Both the Centre and the states cannot say that they have been taking good care of public health.'
Under attack over the Rs 32 per capita per day (in urban India and Rs 26 per day per person in rural areas) cut off for poverty line, the Planning Commission on Monday distanced itself from the controversial definition presented to the Supreme Court saying it did not represent its views.
Planning Commission on Friday said there is no case for providing stimulus to the industry to arrest moderating growth as the fiscal deficit is high and may exceed the Budget estimate of 4.6 per cent by about one percentage point.
A Planning Commission expert group on Tuesday recommended that all mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the pharmaceutical industry should be cleared by competition watchdog, CCI to ensure that such deals do not result in monopolies and increase in drug prices.
