Meaning and Historical Background of Planning in India (in Hindi)

Lesson 1 of 16 • 243 upvotes • 10:52mins

Vikas Kumar Singh Tomar

First of all the idea of planned economy was crystallized in 1930s when our national leaders came under the influence of socialist philosophy. India’s Five year plans were very much impressed by the rapid strides achieved by the USSR through five years plans. In 1934, Sir M. Visvesvaraya had published a book titled “Planned Economy in India”, in which he presented a constructive draft of the development of India in next ten years. His core idea was to lay out a plan to shift labor from agriculture to industries and double up National income in ten years. This was the first concrete scholarly work towards planning. The economic perspective of India’s freedom movement was formulated during the thirties between the 1931 Karachi session of Indian National Congress, 1936 Faizpur session of India National Congress. Contents National Planning Committee Bombay Plan People’s Plan Gandhian Plan Sarvodaya Plan Planning and Development Department Planning Advisory Board Planning Commission National Development Council National Planning Committee The first attempt to develop a national plan for India came up in 1938. In that year, Congress President Subhash Chandra Bose had set up a National Planning Committee with Jawaharlal Nehru as its president. However the reports of the committee could not be prepared and only for the first time in 1948 -49 some papers came out. Bombay Plan In 1944 Eight Industrialists of Bombay viz. Mr. JRD Tata, GD Birla, Purshottamdas Thakurdas, Lala Shriram, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, AD Shroff , Ardeshir Dalal, & John Mathai working together prepared “A Brief Memorandum Outlining a Plan of Economic Development for India”. This is known as “Bombay Plan”. This plan envisaged doubling the per capita income in 15 years and tripling the national income during this period. Nehru did not officially accept the plan, yet many of the ideas of the plan were inculcated in other plans which came later. People’s Plan People’s plan was drafted by MN Roy. This plan was for ten years period and gave greatest priority to Agriculture. Nationalization of all agriculture and production was the main feature of this plan. This plan was based on Marxist socialism and drafted by M N Roy on behalf of the Indian federation of Lahore. Gandhian Plan This plan was drafted by Sriman Nayaran, principal of Wardha Commercial College. It emphasized the economic decentralization with primacy to rural development by developing the cottage industries. Sarvodaya Plan Sarvodaya Plan (1950) was drafted by Jaiprakash Narayan. This plan itself was inspired by Gandhian Plan and Sarvodaya Idea of Vinoba Bhave. This plan emphasized on agriculture and small & cottage industries. It also suggested the freedom from foreign technology and stressed upon land reforms and decentralized participatory planning. Planning and Development Department In August 1944, The British India government set up “Planning and Development Department” under the charge of Ardeshir Dalal. But this department was abolished in 1946. Planning Advisory Board In October 1946, a planning advisory board was set up by Interim Government to review the plans and future projects and make recommendations upon them.