Planning in the 20th Century and Beyond
India's Planning Commission and the NITI Aayog

Examines the history of the idea of planning and the history and experience of planning in India.

Santosh Mehrotra (Edited by), Sylvie Guichard (Edited by)

9781108494625, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 October 2020

348 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.6 cm, 0.58 kg

The Planning Commission played a crucial role in the type of development that India followed after independence. However, even though most economic analyses of India mention the five-year plans, the Planning Commission as an institution remains little studied. This is why this book proposes to look backward, examining the history of the idea of planning and the history and experience of planning in India. It also looks forward, trying to evaluate, beyond ideologies, which role the practice of planning has and should have in contemporary India. It then proposes that the NITI Aayog, the think tank founded on 1st January 2015 after the demise of the Planning Commission, could learn from this experience. This book addresses three leading questions: why plan economic development? How to plan? And what exactly can/should be planned? These questions are interrelated and the contributors of this volume, each with their own focus, propose elements of replies.

1. Introduction Sylvie Guichard and Santosh Mehrotra
Part I. Origins: Ideas and Ideology: 2. A brief history of studying the Planning Commission Sylvie Guichard
3. The long road to Indian economic planning Niranjan Rajadhyaksha
4. Ideas and origins of the Planning Commission in India Shruti Rajagopalan
Part II. Changes and Continuity: Development and Adaptation of Planning and the Planning Commission: 5. The Planning Commission and education Ratna Sudarshan
6. India's agricultural challenges: looking back and looking ahead Ramesh Chand
7. Economic planning after economic liberalization: between Planning Commission and think tank NITI, 1991–2015 Baldev Raj Nayar
8. Yojana Bhawan: obiter dictum Dilip M. Nachane
9. On a revived planning commission Y. K. Alagh
Part III. Planning beyond the Planning Commission?: 10. Make in India Bibek Debroy and Dhiraj Nayyar
11. Manufacturing: the cornerstone of a planning strategy for the 21st century Santosh Mehrotra
12. Fiscal planning to sustain growth and poverty reduction Santosh Mehrotra
13. Plan, but do not over-plan: lessons for NITI Aayog Pronab Sen
14. Conclusion: why does India need a central planning institution in the 21st century? Santosh Mehrotra.

Subject Areas: Economic systems & structures [KCS], Economic growth [KCG], Macroeconomics [KCB], Economics [KC], Central government [JPQ], Political structure & processes [JPH], Politics & government [JP]