National Development Council or Rashtriya Vikas Parishad is the head body for decision-making and deliberations on development matters in the country. It is presided over by the PM. It was set up on 6 August 1952 to strengthen and mobilise the effort and resources of the nation in support of the Five Year Plans made by the Planning Commission, to promote joint economic policies in all vital spheres, and to ensure the balanced and rapid development of all parts of the country. The Council comprises the Prime Minister, the Union Cabinet Ministers, and Chief Ministers of all States or their substitutes, representatives of the Union Territories and the members of the NITI Aayog.

The National Development Council (NDC) is a significant organisation of the planning system for the country of India. It indicates the federal approach to planning and is the instrument for ensuring that the planning system adopts an indeed national perspective. NDC has experienced numerous fluctuations in its fortunes. Thus its status has been determined by the prevailing political climate and the support provided to it by the government in power at the centre and the effectiveness of the pressures exerted by state governments. However, despite the alterations it has faced during the past six decades, its continuing presence in the apex policy structure has always been felt.

It was around 1946 when the Planning Advisory Board, under the chairmanship of KC Neogi, had recommended the setting up of an advisory organisation that would include representatives of the provinces, princely states and other interests. Although this idea was not implemented before independence, its rationale was well appreciated. In the initial days of its inception, the Planning Commission of the Government of India had recognised the potential utility of such a coordinating body. In the Draft First Five Year Plan, it was stressed by the Planning Commission that in a vast country like India, where under the constitution, the states enjoy autonomy in the performance of their functions, there was a need for a body like the National Development Council that may facilitate the periodical evaluation of planning and its various facets by the Prime Minister and the state Chief Ministers. Accordingly, the National Development Council was set up by a proposal of the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India in August 1952.

Main purpose:

The National Development Council was set up by a proposal of the cabinet secretariat of the Government of India in August 1952. It was intended to be a coordinating mechanism. The object was to ensure ‘uniformity of approach and unanimity in working’ and soften the rigidities that are incidental to the existence of autonomous states in a federation. The ARC examined the 15-year long working of NDC and suggested concrete functions to determine its role as a planner for the economic development of India.

Functions

 The functions of the NDC are

  1.   Prescribing guidelines for the formulation of the National Plan, including assessing resources for the Plan.
  1.   Considering the National Plan as formulated by the NITI Aayog.
  1. Assessing the resources that are required for implementing the Plan and suggesting measures for augmenting them.
  1. Considering essential questions of social and economic policy affecting national development.
  1. Review the Plan’s working from time to time and recommend such measures as are necessary for achieving the aims and targets set out in the National Plan.
  1. Recommending measures to achieve the aims and targets set out in the National Plan.

Main Responsibilities:

  1. Council took the responsibilities by itself with problems like food, the creation of the State Trading Corporation and land reforms.
  2. The prime function of the Council is to act as a kind of bridge between the Union Government, the Planning Commission and the State Governments.
  3. It helps coordinate policies and programmes of plans and other matters of national importance. It provides a good forum for discussion and full and free exchange of views.
  4. There is no other comparative forum. The Government of India accepted the recommendations of the first ARC in a slightly modified form.
  5. It was decided that the NDC, headed by the PM, should comprise all Union cabinet ministers, Chief Ministers of states, Chief Ministers or Chief executives of the union territories and members of the Planning Commission. Accordingly, the NDC was reconstituted in October 1967 on these lines.
  6. The practice customarily followed is that it maintains a detailed record of discussions held and then draws a consensus-based on such discussions. All the decisions of the Council are unanimous, yet, dissenting voices are generally challenging to ignore.

Conclusions:

The first meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 9 November 1952. Till now, 57 meetings have been held. The 57th Meeting of NDC was held on 27 December 2012 at Vidhan Bhavan, Mumbai.