Planning Commission

The Planning Commission in India was set up on March 1950 to promote a rapid rise in the
standard of living of the people by utilizing the resources of the country, increasing production
and offering employment opportunities to all. The Planning Commission has the responsibility
for formulating plans as to how the resources can be used in the most effective way.

The Planning Commission has to make periodic assessment of all resources in the country, boost
up insufficient resources and formulate plans for the most efficient and judicious utilization of
resources.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first chairman of the Planning Commission.

Structure of the Planning Commission:

The Prime minister is the chairman of the Planning Commission. The Deputy Chairman and the
full time members give advice and
guidance for the formulation of Five Year
Plan, Annual Plans, State Plans, Projects and Schemes etc. Currently the structure of the
planning commission is like this:

1. Chairman - Dr. Manmohan Singh

2. Deputy Chairman- Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia
3 Minister of State- Shri M.V. Rajshekharan
4. Members - Dr. Kirit Parikh,Prof. Abhijit Sen ,Dr. V.L. Chopra ,Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar
,Dr.(Ms.) Syeda Hameed ,Shri B.N. Yugandhar ,Shri Anwar-ul-Hoda, Shri B. K. Chaturvedi
5. Secretary- Dr. Subhas Pani

Functions of the Planning Commission India:

Following are the functions of the Planning Commission of India:

 To make an assessment of the resources of the country and to see which resources are
deficient.
 To formulate plans for the most effective and balanced utilization of country's resources.
 To indicate the factors which are hampering economic development.
 To determine the machinery, that would be necessary for the successful implementation
of each stage of plan.
 Periodical assessment of the progress of the plan.
 With the changing times, the Planning commission is preparing itself for long term vision
for the future. The commission is seeing to maximize the output with minimum
resources.
 From being a centralized planning system, the Indian economy is slowly progressing
towards indicative planning wherein the Planning Commission has set the goal of
constructing a long term strategic vision for the future.
 It sets sectoral targets and provides the catalyst to the economy to grow in the right
direction.
 The Planning Commission plays an integrative role in the development of a holistic
approach to the formulation of policies in critical areas of human and economic
development.
 Process of planning in India takes place in three steps- formulating the plan, its
implementation and the evaluation. Over the years and due to the political pressures two
new aspects have been added to the process, namely decentralisation and popular
participation. These are briefly discussed below.

Plan Formulation
 The process of plan formulation takes place in a series of steps. The first
step in the process of formulating the plan is for the Commission to prepare, on a rough
basis, certain schemes and projects in consultation with the union ministries and state
governments in the background of the Perspective Plan; to determine some kind of
priority; to take stock of the available resources; and to distribute these resources among
the different agencies on an approximate basis. These estimates and projections are then
placed before the National Development Council (NDC) and the schemes are modified in
the light of discussions. These are then sent to the various union ministries and state
governments in the form of preliminary instructions.

Then begins the second stage where each union ministry and state government preparing
its own plan. The machinery for planning is fairly well developed at the state level. After
the states and the union ministries have submitted their plans to the commission, there
begins the process of dovetailing the various schemes and programmes into an integrated
plan. In this task the Commission consults representatives of different groups in the
Indian Parliament. At the end of these exercises the draft plan is published and thrown
open for discussion. The universities, the press, political parties, chambers of commerce
and industry, trade organisation and other groups and individuals are free to give their
comments on the draft.

The next stage is the period of prolonged detailed discussion between the commission
and the representatives of different state governments and the central government as a
result of which the agreements as to the size and nature of state plans are reached. These
tentative agreements are then placed before the cabinet and after its approval sent to the
NDC and after the councils recommendations are given the final shape. The plan is then
presented to the Parliament and after its approval it is published.

Plan Implementation
It should be noted here that the Commission is an advisory body and has no executive
functions. It is only a national organ for plan formulation and a staff body to advise the
cabinet. The task of implementation is left to the union ministries and state governments.
It is in this field that efforts have been made to introduce the two concepts of democratic
decentralisation and the popular participation, particularly after the introduction of the
Panchayati Raj in the country.

Plan Evaluation
Evaluation is the last of the three stages in the process. One of the functions of the
Commission is to appraise from time to time the progress achieved in the execution of
each stage of the plan and make recommendations for necessary adjustment.

The Commission makes such appraisal through:

1) Monthly reports of selected projects, quarterly reviews of the working of the plan and
the annual progress reports obtained form the union ministries and the state governments.

2) The advisors who visit the states within their charge and study at first hand the
working of the development programmes; and

3) Through the machinery of the Committee on Plan Projects.

In addition, there is the Programme Evaluation Organisation set up 1952. The Programme
Evaluation Organisation (PEO) undertakes evaluation of selected programmes/schemes
under implementation, as per the requirement of the various Divisions of Planning
Commission and Ministries/Departments of Government of India. The evaluation
studies are designed to assess the performance, process of implementation, effectiveness
of the delivery systems and impact of programmes. The Programmed Evaluation
Organisation which functions as an independent unit of the Commission.

Thus discussed above is a step-by-step analysis of the planning process in India.