Planning Process in India Essay

Process of planning in India takes place in three steps-formulating the plan, its instruction execution and the evaluation. Over the years and due(p) to the political pressures two new aspects have been added to the process, namely decentralization and popular participation.1) Plan FormulationThe process of plan formulation takes place in a series of steps. The first step in the process of formulating the plan is for the military commission to prepare, on a rough basis, certain schemes and projects in consultation with the union ministries and narrate governments in the background the Perspective Plan to determine some kind of priority to take stock of the available resources and to distribute these resources among the different agencies on an adjudicate basis. These estimates and projections are the placed before the National Development Council (NDC) and the schemes are modifies in the light of discussions.These are then sent to the various union ministries and state governme nts in the form of preliminary instructions. Then begins the second stage where each union ministry and state government preparing its own plan. The machinery for planning is fairly well developed at the state level. After the states and the union ministries have submitted their plans to the commission, there begins the process of dovetailing the various schemes and programmes into an integrated plan. In this task the Commission consults representatives of different groups in the Indian Parliament. At the end of these exercises the draft plan is published and thrown open for discussion.The universities, the press, political parties, chambers of commerce and industry, trade organization and other groups and individuals are free to consecrate their comments on the draft. The next stage is the period of prolonged detailed discussion between the commission and the representatives of different state governments and the central government as a result of which the agreements as to the siz e and nature of state plans are reached. These tentative agreements are the placed before the cabinet and later its approval sent to the NDC and after the councils recommendations are given the final shape. The plan is the presented to the Parliament and after its approval it is published.2) Plan Implementation It should be noted here that the Commission is an consultive body and has no executive functions. It is only a national organ for plan formulation and a staff body to advise the cabinet. The task of implementation is left to the union ministries and state governments. It is in this field that efforts have been made to introduce the two concepts of democratic decentralization and the popular participation, particularly after the excogitation of the Panchayati Raj in the country.3) Plan EvaluationEvaluation is the last of the three stages in the process. One of the functions of the Commission is to appraise from time to time the impart achieved in the execution of each stag e of the plan and make recommendations for necessary adjustment.The Commission makes such appraisal through1) Monthly reports of selected projects, quarterly reviews of the working of the plan and the annual progress reports obtained from the union ministries and the state governments. 2) The advisors who visit the states within their charge and study at first had the working of the development programmes and 3) Through the machinery of the Committee on Plan Projects. In addition, there is the Programme Evaluation Organization set up 1952.The Programme Evalution Organization (PEO) undertakes evaluation of selected programmes/schemes under implementation, as per the requirement of the various Divisions of Planning Commission and Ministries/Departments of Governments of India. The evaluation studies are designed to assess the performance, process of implementation, effectiveness of the delivery systems and impact of programmes. The Programmed Evaluation Organisation which functions as and independent unit of the Commission.