Planning and states' Rights.

The series of the so called "workshops" that the Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, has had with the District Magistrates between December 1987 and June 1988 at Bhopal, Hyde rabad, Imphal, Jaipur and Coimbatore, culminating the Conferen ce of the Chief Secretaries of the States he convened at New Delhi on July 30, 1988, justify the worst fears entertained by the States as to the intentions of the Government of India in regard to the States' rights.

The States were not consulted when these workshops were or ganised. The District Magistrates and Chief Secretaries were put in an acutely embarrassing position and so were the Chief Ministers of the States because these "workshops" and the Conference of Chief Secre taries were organised ostensibly in order to ensure "the participation of the people in the planning process" and to contribute to democrat ic functioning of local bodies. But the report of the workshops of Dist rict Magistrates on responsive administration, the paper released by the Prime Minister on July 30, 1988 entitled, "Panchayati Raj and District Planning," his remarks on that occasion and those of the Union Minister of State for Personnel, Mr. P. Chidambaram, reveal a clear policy thrust to by-pass the State Governments and to reach out to the district administration over their heads.

This is nothing short of a wilful subversion of the basic federal structure of the Constitution of India. Mr. Chidambaram, indeed, went so far as to threaten that the Central Government may go in for constitutional amendments.