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P LANNING P ARADIGM
matic character amorphously favoured
the English Rule. This was supported by
the new benefi ciaries of permanent settle-
ment and by the persons educated through
British System.
Amidst this ambivalent position Indian
political echelons adopted planned
economy for its development. This exercise
failed to recognise the multi-cultural
ethnic and geographical variants of this
country.
Now Planning Commission of India is
an institution of Government of India. Its
responsibility is to make assessment of all
resources of the country, to augment defi
cient resources, to formulate plans for
the most effective and balanced utilisation
of country’s resources, to determine priorities
etc. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was
its fi rst Chairman as the Prime Minister of
India. Since then the Prime Minister of
India is the Chairman of the Planning
Commission. The Planning Commission
works under the overall guidance of National
Development Council. The Deputy
Chairman and the full time Members of
the Commission as a composite body
provide advice and guidance to Government
for the formulation of Five Year
Plans, Annual Plans, State Plans, Monitoring
Plans Programmes, Projects and
Schemes. The Planning Commission
has its own in-house Resource Division
and a dedicated structured
set-up of qualifi ed professionals
for each of the
subject-specifi c divisions2
.
The Planning Commission
was formed by an administrative
order of Union
Government in 1950 A.D.
without any constitutional
status3 . The responsibilities &
82 THE IIPM THINK TANK
terms of reference of Planning Commission
at the centre are as follows: One, to
make an assessment of the country’s productive
resources. Two, to formulate a
plan for the most effective and balanced
utilisation of these resources. Three, to
determine national priorities of development
and defi ne the stages of growth and
suggest allocation of resources. Four, to
indicate factors tending to retard economic
development and determine the
conditions necessary for the successful
execution of the plan. Five, to determine
the nature of machinery required for implementation
of each stage of the plan.
Six, to appraise periodically the progress
achieved in plan implementation; and,
seven, to make recommendations for its
own effective working.
The operative procedure is ill-defi ned
in the implementation of these objectives.
The Planning Commission and the Planning
Boards have not been
provided with
adequate infra-
structure to work of its own. The Union
Government and State Government was
administrating the country in the manner
of British rulers by the traditional administrators
of line departments. In 1956,
Panchayati Bill was passed in the Parliament.
During Freedom movement a
nebulous idea of Panchayati Raj was one
of the foremost demands to establish
people’s prerogative in the administration.
Ironically Panchayat from its inception
was deprived of any regulatory power
over the traditional administration. Its
relation with Planning Commission was
ill-defi ned and ineffectively operative.
To evaluate the effectivity of Panchayat
System, Ashok Mehta Committee was set
up in 19774 . It also failed to recommend
regulatory power to Panchayat and Panchayat
lost its prerogative to become an
instrument of self-governance by the people.
It became only another department
of the Union and State Governments.
The Planning commission was set up
recruiting experts to advise the Union