Economic Planning in India | SSC CGL Tier 2 - Study Material, Online Tests, Previous Year PDF Download

History of Economic Planning in India

• The history of economic planning in India reveals that the idea was not entirely novel. In 1934, Sir Visvesvaraya pioneered the advocacy for economic planning in India through his book titled "Planned Economy For India." He marked the inception of this concept in the country.
• Towards the close of 1938, the National Planning Committee, chaired by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and established by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the then President of INC, emerged. The primary aim of this committee, initiated by the Congress, was to devise strategies for the establishment of new industries and the development of existing ones.
• Subsequent to these developments, a series of economically significant plans were formulated, but unfortunately, many of them remained confined to the realm of written documents.

Concept of Five Year Plans

Five year plans are documents that the Government of India prepares. This shows the income and expenses of the government for the next five years. 

• The budget of the central government and all the state governments is divided into two parts: 
  • non-plan budget, spent on routine items every year
  • plan budget, spent on a five-year basis according to the priorities fixed by the plan
• The Indian economy was based on the concept of planning based on five year plans from 1951 to 2017. 
• The Five Year Plans were formulated, implemented, and regulated by a body known as the Planning Commission. 
• The Planning Commission was replaced by a think tank called NITI AAYOG in 2015. The NITI Aayog has come out with three documents:
  • 3-year action agenda
  • 7-year medium-term strategy paper
  • 15-year vision document

List of Five Year Plans in India