The controversy embroiling the Planning Commission is not only meaningless, it is a commentary on the mess that the economy is in today because of the Planning Commission. Like historians, economists are also coloured. Our problem appears to be bijli, sadak and pani. Do we have a coloured solution for this? This brings to mind an anecdote relating to Sanjay, the legendary figure in the Mahabharata, who narrated the goings on at Kurukshetra to Dhritarashtra. He graduated from the topmost management institution, in devalok, majoring in finance. After graduation, he went to Bhishma Pitamaha to offer his services as an economist to the Kuru Empire. Bhishma being Bhishma told him that he does not need an economist, the citizens pay their taxes as they are afraid of him. Later, Sanjay was horrified to find that the cloth merchants had an undersized measuring rod, and milkmen were selling milk at different prices depending on its water content. He complained about this to Bhishma, who told him curtly that state has no business to interfere in these matters. “A citizen pays as per the quality of the milk and a person buying cloth is intelligent enough to know the length of cloth he or she is purchasing. What the state has to do with it?” So that was the free economy in those days!