[Indian Year Book 2022-23]* Indian Year Book Notes | Chapter 18. Planning

 

Indian Year Book

(2022-23)

Chapter – 18. Planning

 

Planning in India derives its objectives and social premises from the Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution. Public and private sectors are viewed as complementary.

 

§  NITI Aayog

·         The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) came into existence in 2015 replacing the Planning Commission which was established in 1950.

·         The NITI Aayog is the successor to the Planning Commission. It is envisaged to be a catalyst to the developmental process, nurturing an overall enabling environment through a holistic approach to development going beyond the limited sphere of the public sector and Government of India.

·         It was created to serve as the think tank of the Government of India.

§  Functions 

·         The institution plays a leadership role in policymaking in the central government, works closely with state governments, serves as a knowledge hub; and monitors progress in the implementation of policies and programmes of the Government of India. 

·         The institution provides the central and state governments with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum on matters of national and international importance on the economic front; dissemination of best practices from within the country and from other nations; and the infusion of new policy ideas and specifi c issue based support. 

·         The institution designs strategic and long-term policy and programme frameworks and initiatives and monitors their progress and their effi cacy regularly.

 

§  Composition

·         The composition of NITI Aayog is as follows; 

·         The Prime Minister of India is the chairperson. 

·         The Governing council comprises the Chief Ministers of all the states, Chief Ministers of Union territories (UT) with legislatures of Delhi and Puducherry and Lt. Governor of other UTs. 

·         Experts, specialists and practitioners having a relevant domain Knowlegde are special invitees and are nominated by the Prime Minister. 

·         Full time organisation consists of; 

·         The prime minister as the chairperson 

·         Vice-chairman nominated by the prime minister 

·         Full-time and part-time (on rotational basis) members- maximum two from leading universities or relevant institutions in an ex-offi cio capacity.

 

§  Chief executive officer is appointed by the prime minister for a fixed tenure.

 

Erstwhile Planning Commission

Ø  The Planning Commission was set up in March 1950, in pursuance of declared objectives of the government to promote a rapid rise in the standard of living of the people by effi cient exploitation of the resources of the country, increasing production and offering opportunities to all for employment in the service of the community.

§  First Plan

·         Keeping in view the large-scale import of foodgrains in 1951 and infl ationary pressures on the economy, the First Plan (1951 -56) accorded the highest priority to agriculture including irrigation and power projects.

·         The plan aimed to increase the rate of investment from 5% to 7 % of the national income.

§  Second Plan

·         The Second Five-Year Plan (1956-57 to 1960-61) sought to promote a pattern of development, which would ultimately lead to the establishment of a socialistic pattern of society in India.

·         It laid emphasis on industrialisation, increased production of iron and steel, heavy chemicals including nitrogenous fertilisers and development of heavy engineering and machine building industry.

 

§  Third Plan

·         The Third Plan (1961-62 to 1965-66) was aimed at securing a marked advance towards selfsustaining growth.

·         Its immediate objectives were to: 

·         Achieve self-suffi ciency in foodgrains and increase agricultural production to meet the requirements of industry and exports. 

·         expand basic industries like steel, chemicals, fuel and power and establish machine building capacity so that the requirements of further industrialisation could be met within a period of about 10 years mainly from the country’s own resources; 

·         fully utilise the manpower resources of the country and ensure a substantial expansion in employment opportunities; 

·         Establish progressively greater equality of opportunity and bring about reduction in disparities of income and wealth and a more even distribution of economic power.

 

§  Annual Plans

·         The situation created by the Indo-Pakistan confl ict in 1965, two successive years of severe drought, devaluation of the currency, general rise in prices and erosion of resources available for Plan purposes delayed the fi nalisation of the Fourth Five Year Plan.

·         Instead, between 1966 and 1969, three Annual Plans were formulated within the framework of the draft outline of the Fourth Plan.

§  Fourth Plan

·         The Fourth Plan (1969-74) aimed at accelerating the tempo of development of reducing fl uctuations in agricultural production as well as the impact of uncertainties of foreign aid.

·         The Plan laid particular emphasis on improving the conditions of the less privileged and weaker sections especially through provision of employment and education.

 

§  Fifth Plan

·         The Fifth Plan (1974-79) was formulated against the backdrop of severe infl ationary pressures.

·         The major objectives of the plan were: 

·         To achieve self-reliance and adopt measures for raising the consumption standard of people living below the poverty line. 

·         To bring infl ation under control and to achieve stability in the economic situation.

 

§  Sixth Plan

·         Removal of poverty was the foremost objective of the Sixth Plan (1980-85). The strategy adopted was to move simultaneously towards strengthening the infrastructure for both agriculture and industry.

 

§  Seventh Plan

·         The Seventh Plan (1985-90) emphasised policies and programmes.

·         It aimed at rapid growth in foodgrain production, increased employment opportunities and productivity within the framework of basic tenets of planning, namely, growth, modernisation, self-reliance and social justice.

 

§  Eighth Annual Plans

·         The Eighth Five-Year Plan could not take off due to the fast-changing political situation at the Centre. The Eighth Five-Year Plan commenced in 1992 and that 1990-91 and 1991 -92 were treated as separate Annual Plan.

·         The basic thrust of these Annual Plans was on maximisation of employment and social transformation

 

§  Eighth Plan

·         The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1990-95) was launched immediately after the initiation of structural adjustment policies and macro stabilisation policies, which were necessitated by the worsening Balance of Payments position and the position of infl ation during 1990-91.

·         Some of the salient features of economic performance during the Eighth Five-Year Plan indicate: 

·         a faster economic growth; 

·         a faster growth of the manufacturing sector and agriculture and allied sectors; 

·         Signifi cant growth rates in exports and imports, improvement in trade and current account defi cit and a signifi cant reduction in the central government’s fi scal defi cit.

 

§  Ninth Plan

·         The Ninth Plan (1997-2002) was launched in the 50th year of India’s Independence.

·         The Plan aimed at pursuing a policy of fi scal consolidation.

·         The specifi c objectives of the Ninth Plan included: 

·         priority to agriculture and rural development with a view to generate adequate productive employment and eradication of poverty; 

·         accelerating the growth rate of the economy with stable prices; ensuring food and nutritional security for all, particularly the vulnerable sections of society; 

·         providing the basic minimum services of safe drinking water, primary healthcare facilities, universal primary education, shelter, nutritional support to children, connectivity of all, streamlining of the public distribution system in a time-bound manner; 

·         containing the growth rate of population; 

·         ensuring mobilisation and participation of people at all levels;

·         empowerment of women and socially disadvantaged groups such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes and minorities as agents of socio-economic change and development; 

·          Promoting and developing people’s participatory institutions like Panchayati Raj Institution, cooperatives and self-help groups. 

·         Strengthening efforts to build self-reliance.

 

§  Tenth Plan

·         The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07) was approved by the National Development Council (NDC) in December 2002.

·         The Plan developed the NDC mandate objectives, of doubling the per capita income in ten years and achieving a growth rate of 8 per cent of GDP per annum.

·         The Plan also aimed at harnessing the benefi ts of growth to improve the quality of life of the people by setting of the following key targets: 

·         Reduction in the poverty ratio from 26 per cent to 21 per cent, by 2007; decadal population growth to reduce from 21.3 per cent in 1991 -2001 to 16.2 per cent in 2001- 11; 

·         growth in gainful employment, at least, to keep pace with addition to the labour force; 

·         all children to be in school by 2003 and all children to complete fi ve years of schooling by 2007; 

·         reducing gender gaps in literacy and wage rates by 50 per cent; literacy rate to increase from 65 per cent in 1999-2000, to 75 per cent in 2007; 

·         providing potable drinking water to all villages; 

·         increase in forest/tree cover from 19 per cent in 1999-2000 to 25 per cent in 2007; 

·         Cleaning of major polluted river stretches.

 

§  Eleventh Plan

·         The Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12) provided a comprehensive strategy for inclusive development, building on the growing strength of the economy, while also addressing weaknesses that had surfaced.

 

§  Twelfth Plan

·         The Twelfth Plan fully recognized that the objective of development is broad-based improvement in the economic and social conditions of our people.

·         It envisaged that the current slowdown in GDP growth can be reversed through strong corrective action, including especially an expansion in investment with a corresponding increase in savings to keep infl ationary pressures under control.

 

Atal Innovation Mission

Ø  The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a fl agship initiative of the central government, set up by NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country. It is envisaged as an umbrella innovation organisation that would play an instrumental role in alignment of innovation policies between central, state and sectoral innovation schemes, incentivising establishment of an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship at various levels such as Higher secondary schools, science, engineering and higher academic institutions, and SME industry/ corporate levels.

Ø  “AIM is setting up Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in schools across all 700+ districts across the country. These ATLs are dedicated innovation workspaces.

 

§  Mentor India

·         The Mentor India programme launched by AIM is a path-breaking initiative to catalyse the academia industry partnerships. Under it, more than 3,200 mentors from all over the country belonging to various industry sectors have been assigned to work with 1,800+ ATLs on a continuous basis.

 

§  Atal incubation centres

·         Atal Incubation Centres (AlCs) and Established Incubation Centres are incubation spaces intended to provide incubation facilities to innovative startups like capital equipment and operating facilities along with sectoral experts for mentoring, business planning support, access to seed capital, industry partnerships, training and other critical components.

§  Atal New India Challenge

·         Atal New India Challenge (ANIC) is an initiative by Atal Innovation Mission aimed at supporting innovators to create products/solutions based on advanced technologies in areas of national importance and social relevance through a grant-based mechanism. AIM is working with separate ministries on this programme to identify areas of importance and attract innovations in them.

 

Initiatives and reforms

§  Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office

·         The Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), an attached office of NITI Aayog , is the apex monitoring and evaluation (M&E) office of the Government of India.

·         DMEO has advisory powers across the ministries and departments of the union government, and is one of the few institutions within the government to provide a cross and inter-ministerial perspective.

§  Health sector reforms

·         Ayushman Bharat: Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojanaThe National Health Policy 2017 envisages creation of a digital health technology ecosystem aiming at developing an integrated health information system.

§  Reforms in nutrition

·         POSHAN Abhiyaan: A scheme for holistic nutrition or POSHAN Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission, is Government of India’s fl agship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Launched in 2018, it directs the attention of the country towards the problem of malnutrition and addresses it in a mission-mode.

·         POSHAN Maah: September was celebrated as Rashtriya POSHAN Maah in 2018. The activities in POSHAN Maah focused on Social Behavioural Change and Communication (SBCC).

§  Science and technology vertical

·         The science and technology vertical of NITI Aayog is playing a pivotal role in policy interventions for promoting S&T in the country. The promotion of S&T is done in collaboration with the central ministries and departments as well as collaborate all the ministries together.

·         This vertical of NITI Aayog aims to integrate national R&D efforts to the different sectors of the economy and building a Conducive environment.

·         S&T vertical is in touch with World Intellectual Property Organization as well as it line ministries to address the gaps in availability of reliable data. The S&T vertical is in constant touch with top ranking countries such as Switzerland, Sweden to know their best practices and their guidance to further improve India’s ranking.

§  Global Innovation Index

·         India has improved its rank from 48th position in 2020 to 46th in 2021.

·         The S&T vertical of NITI Aayog is the nodal division in respect of improving India’s ranking in the Index.

·         It has constituted an Inter-ministerial coordination committee which meet regularly to monitor the progress of updating the data on the index and also to suggest the reform actions for improving India’s ranking.

 

 

 

 

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