Planning Commission a.k.a NITI Aayog

[Deepanshu Geed]

Planning Commission a.k.a NITI Aayog

 

The Planning Commission of India was a body that was responsible for making and developing of plans mostly for the economic sector of the country. It was established in 1950 under the presidency of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. However the planning commission was not a constituent body that is it not written in constitution to form a commission like this but it was an approach by the central government independently. The planning commission started its course of action by launching the five year plans. The first five year plan focused mainly on agricultural sector. It is said that the real planning in its true sense started with the second five year plan when the ideas of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis were involved. He is sometimes called the architect of Indian planning.

The main goals of the five year plans were growth, modernization, self-reliance and equity. However it is not always the case that there were five year plans. From 1966 to 1969 there were three annual plans because of the Indo-Pakistan conflict. Also there were two annual plans in 1990 and 1991 due to the rapidly changing economic and political scenarios. The initial five year plans gave emphasis on agriculture. Later however, more focus was given on the development of public sector. But slowly with time and changing scenarios people believed that the power and idea of planning commission is getting weaker. In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared to scrap the planning commission and turn it into a new organization that will be more dynamic and connected to the present time. The new organization has been named National Institution for Transforming India Aayog (NITI Ayog) has begun its working by conducting a meeting few days back. According to finance minister Arun Jaitely, the "one size fit all" approach to economic policy making is not the way to handle the economic sector in modern time. Thus with increasing individual demand and conditions for each state the new organization needs to be more adaptive.

Thus, by transforming the most basic organization needed for making and visioning economic policies the government has taken a big risk. If it becomes successful then definitely it will be appreciated but if it is the other way around then it will be one of the biggest mistakes that can be done by government because of the legacy the planning commission leaves behind is too dangerous to compromise.

[Samar Tyagi]

Dear Deepanshu,

 Thanks for sharing your views on Planning Commission. 

One of the basic function it was doing: allocation of funds from Central Govt. to state govt. If you remember, Montek Singh ahluwala used to have a meeting with each CM and discuss the fund needs for each state. there used be some pics of him in newspapers. 

There has been huge expectation from the newly formed NITI Ayog. It remains to be seen what other functions they adopt in normal functioning and come out with innovative research that helps state in formulating new tools and products that improves governance and sophistication for citizens at low cost. 

Thanks!!

Best

Samar Tyagi

Regards

Samar Tyagi

MA Economics

3rd Semester

Dept. of Economics

BHU Varanasi

Ph.- +917376649538 

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