Economic Planning In India

In this article, we will discuss various economic plans in India and their achievement of financial planning. We will also understand the types of economic planning and the success of the Five-year plan. 

Economic planning is a process that involves the following steps: 

• Making a list of the issues confronting the economy.

• Rearranging the list in order of priority and types of economic planning in India. The top-priority issue that must be addressed immediately should be placed first, and so on.

• The next step is to understand the problems that are supposed to be addressed in the short term and those that are eventually addressed. 

• Setting a target for the achievements of economic planning in India is the desired result. The goal could be set for a specific time frame to solve the problem. If the problem is to be solved in the long run, it must be specified how much time the problem will take to be solved (say, a year or six months), and so on. Second, the target could be a specific amount to be achieved. Regarding production, for example, the government can set some quantity targets.

• Trying to figure out the number of resources needed to meet the target. Financial resources, human resources, physical resources, and so on are examples of resources.

• Another critical task is to raise funds. This means that the planners must be aware of the resources available for arranging the necessary resources. For example, in the case of financing the plan, the planners must create a budget and outline the various sources of funding.

• When the government creates a plan, one of the primary funding sources is tax revenue. A bank loan is one of the sources of finance for a business owner. When multiple sources of funds are available, the planner must decide how much money should be collected from each of these sources. Another important task in carrying out the plan proposal is human resources.

• When the government creates a plan, one of the primary funding sources is tax revenue. A bank loan is one of the sources of finance for a business owner. When multiple sources of funds are available, the planner should decide how much money must be collected from each of these sources. Another important task in carrying out the plan proposal is human resources.

• The planner must evaluate the type of labour and the number of people needed to complete the task. This requirement should be adequately estimated from the start. Likewise, accurate estimates of physical resources should be provided. Office buildings, vehicles, furniture, stationery, and other physical resources are examples of physical resources.

• Once the resources are decided, the implementation and execution process will begin systematically to achieve the desired result. Every alternate period review must be performed until we reach the final achievement to ensure that everything is running smoothly, correct any mistakes, or modify the working style to accommodate any change.

Economic Planning In India: 

• To address its various socioeconomic problems, India implemented a five-year planning system. To recap, these issues include widespread poverty and inequality, low agricultural productivity and food grain storage, a lack of industrial and infrastructure development, and so on. Because these issues will take time to resolve, the Indian government established a five-year plan beginning with the first-year plan in 1951.

• The idea was to create a list of important problems to solve while considering the available resources and organizing the resources. Then, after a list of five year plans in India, review what has been done and correct any mistakes in the next five-year plan period, and so forth.

• Jawaharlal Nehru, P.C Mahalanobis, V.R. Gadgil, and V.K.R.V. Rao are among the great architects of Indian planning. In 1950, after becoming India’s first prime minister, Nehru established the Planning Commission.

• The Planning Commission’s primary function was to develop plans while keeping the country’s resources in mind and recommending the best ways to use them effectively and balanced. From 1951-1956, the Planning Commission created the first five-year plan (F.Y.P.). By 2014, India had already gone through more than sixty years of planning, with the eleventh five-year plan completed and the twelfth F.Y.P. still in progress.

Various objectives of Economic Planning:

• The country’s socio economic issues inspire the various objectives of economic planning in India in mind. As a result, the goals are as follows: 1. Increase in economic growth 2. Increase in employment 3. Reduction in income inequality 4. Reduction impoverishment 5. Economic modernization, 6. ensure social justice and equality.

• A significant portion of the questions about the need for this planning has been answered by the definition of planning itself described above. Planning entails several steps that must be completed for effective implementation and execution.

• The Indian economy is going through plenty of issues. Each problem is complex and cannot be solved in a short time. Take, for example, the issue of poverty. There is no immediate solution to these problems.

• The government must collect data to determine the number of people affected by poverty and the nature of that poverty. Data collection is a massive task in and of itself, considering India’s vast geographical area and lack of access to many areas. In a democracy, the government is obligated to develop policies after thorough debate and discussion, which takes time.

• The movement of adequate resources and the provision of resources to continue the program over a long time are the two most important steps in addressing the problem of poverty. It cannot be done without proper planning.

• Planning is also required to avoid wasteful expenditure, minimize costs, meet deadlines, and make the best use of resources.

The strategy of Economic Planning: 

• During the first plan period of 1951-56, no specific strategy was adopted. However, the government of India placed a greater emphasis on agriculture, recognizing that agriculture employs the majority of India’s population and that there was an immediate issue of adequate food grain supply to address food shortages.

• The list of first five-year plans in India was a tremendous success as the targeted growth rate was met as expected. This allowed India to adopt a long-term strategy for future planning. The development strategy was thus explicitly stated in the second plan period of 1956-1961.

• The strategy was to emphasize the success of – 1. industrialization, and 2. within industrialization, and a greater emphasis was given on heavy industries.

Conclusion: 

• India has made significant development in infrastructure, education, science and technology, and foreign trade. One of the major drawbacks of planning in India is eliminating poverty, inequality, and unemployment.
• Corruption in public places and black money are major threats to India’s development. In 1991, the government enacted a new economic policy to address issues related to the public sector, promote industrialization, and achieve faster economic growth.
• The new economic policy is the L.P.G. model, which stands for Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization. The goal of the L.P.G. policy is to eliminate licensing policies, increase market competition, and promote global free trade.