Plan and non-plan expenditure
Topic: Politics of Planned Development · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Politics of Planned Development"
Meaning
Plan and non-plan expenditure was a way of splitting government budgets into two parts. Plan expenditure was spending on the priorities set by the five-year plan, such as new dams or industries. Non-plan expenditure was routine yearly spending, such as running existing offices and services. NCERT describes this split in the present tense. It no longer exists, because it was dropped from the Union Budget of 2017-18.
Example
Under the old system, money for building a new irrigation project under a five-year plan counted as plan spending. The yearly cost of keeping existing government offices running counted as non-plan spending. From the 2017-18 Union Budget onwards, the two are no longer shown separately.