Economic planning is taken as the most systematic and structured tool for redressing all economic ills and evils. Several countries had used economic planning with success. Drawing on their experience, India adopted planning in the middle of the twentieth century to tackle the economic problems facing the new nation.
In India the first structured and systematic attempt of economic planning was made in 1934, when M. Visvesvaraya published his book Planned Economy for India. In 1938 the Indian National Congress set up the National Planning Committee with Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru as its chairman. Eight leading industrialists of Bombay brought out the Bombay Plan in 1944, and M. N. Roy released his People's Plan in 1945. Various other reports and books followed, and the National Planning Committee's long-awaited report was published in 1948.
In 1944 the Government of India set up a Department of Planning and Development, which introduced short-term and long-term plans for restoration of normalcy after war and for economic growth, reconstruction and development. But the real beginning of planning in India came in March 1950, when the Planning Commission was set up. In July 1951 the Commission submitted the draft outline of the First Five Year Plan, covering 1951-52 to 1955-56. India went on to complete twelve Five Year Plans; the Twelfth Plan ended in 2017, and in 2015 the Planning Commission was replaced by the NITI Aayog.
Key terms#
- Planning Commission
- The body set up in March 1950 to prepare and oversee India's Five Year Plans; it was replaced by the NITI Aayog in 2015.
- Five Year Plan
- A plan setting the government's economic targets and investment priorities for a five-year period.
Common questions#
What is the main aim of economic planning in India?#
Its basic aims were a fair distribution of resources, achieving set goals within a fixed period, raising production and employment, and slowing population growth.