Indian Economy : Planning Commission

The Planning Commission in India was set up on March 1950 to promote a rapid rise in the standard of living of the people by utilizing the resources of the country, increasing production and offering employment opportunities to all. The Planning Commission has the responsibility for formulating plans as to how the resources can be used in the most effective way.

The Planning Commission has to make periodic assessment of all resources in the country, boost up insufficient resources and formulate plans for the most efficient and judicious utilization of resources.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first chairman of the Planning Commission.

Structure of the Planning Commission:
The Prime minister is the chairman of the Planning Commission. The Deputy Chairman and the full time members give advice and guidance for the formulation of Five Year Plan, Annual Plans, State Plans, Projects and Schemes etc. Currently the structure of the planning commission is like this:

1. Chairman - Dr. Manmohan Singh
2. Deputy Chairman- Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia
3 Minister of State- Shri M.V. Rajshekharan
4. Members - Dr. Kirit Parikh,Prof. Abhijit Sen ,Dr. V.L. Chopra ,Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar ,Dr.(Ms.) Syeda Hameed ,Shri B.N. Yugandhar ,Shri Anwar-ul-Hoda, Shri B. K. Chaturvedi
5. Secretary- Dr. Subhas Pani

Functions of the Planning Commission India:

Following are the functions of the Planning Commission of India:

• To make an assessment of the resources of the country and to see which resources are deficient.
• To formulate plans for the most effective and balanced utilization of country's resources.
• To indicate the factors which are hampering economic development.
• To determine the machinery, that would be necessary for the successful implementation of each stage of plan.
• Periodical assessment of the progress of the plan.
• With the changing times, the Planning commission is preparing itself for long term vision for the future. The commission is seeing to maximize the output with minimum resources.
• From being a centralized planning system, the Indian economy is slowly progressing towards indicative planning wherein the Planning Commission has set the goal of constructing a long term strategic vision for the future.
• It sets sectoral targets and provides the catalyst to the economy to grow in the right direction.
• The Planning Commission plays an integrative role in the development of a holistic approach to the formulation of policies in critical areas of human and economic development.