Economic planning
Also called: Planned development · Topic: Politics of Planned Development · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Politics of Planned Development"
Meaning
Economic planning means the government makes a design that sends money and resources towards chosen goals over a fixed period. At independence, NCERT says planning was "the most obvious choice" for everyone "from left to right". The common belief was that development could not be left only to private actors. The government had to reduce poverty and redistribute wealth. The Planning Commission was "not a sudden invention". The ground had been prepared long before 1950.
Example
The Congress set up the National Planning Committee in 1938, with Nehru as chair. In 1944, industrialists such as J.R.D. Tata and G.D. Birla put forward the Bombay Plan. The Planning Commission followed on 15 March 1950.
Don't confuse with
- Five-year plan: this is one tool of planning, a document for a five-year period. Economic planning is the wider approach of the state directing development.