#India's #12thplan and the Social Media Dream
A draft of the Twelfth Five Year Plan 2012-17 by the Planning Commission of the Government of India has been published at the Planning Commission's website.
On 6 & 7 April 2013 the Planning Commission and the National Innovation Council are inviting citizens to innovatively communicate the Plan through creative visualizations and software applications. This is at the first ever Hackathon on aFive Year Plan (2012-17).
These are exciting times, and social media will play an increasing role in implementing Five Year Plans.
More than half a century ago, Dwight D. Eisenhower said: "Plans are nothing; planning is everything." How to interpret this quote in the contemporary public planning and media setting?
The current version of the plan is published as three pdf books, of 360, 436 and 292 pages. A very good read for any one interested in the socio-economic status of India, its states, its economic sectors and its people.
The success of the plan will depend on how it facilitates further planning, and on the communication of insights and resulting commitments to stakeholders, including those at the base of the pyramid. It is clear that the current version of the plan is nothing in that regard, and that expectations are high that creative visualizations and software applications will improve the situation.
The India development dashboard is intended to offer a service in the targetted low-hurdle communication of planning inputs and outputs among all stakeholders in all economic sectors and functions of government. The Social Media Dream being that the people of India can harvest the everything of public planning.