Indian Planning Experience: A Statistical Profile

The Planning Commission completed 50 years of its setting up on 15th March, 2000. At the time it was set up the purpose of the Planning Commission was to formulate the five year and the annual plans for the most effective and balanced utilisation of the country’s material, capital and human resources. In recent times aside from its areas of core competencies and relevance, the role of State and, hence, of Planning has been to gradually move away from direct intervention in economic activity in general and production process in particular, towards facilitating an environment that encourages individual initiatives. The role of Planning Commission as a “Think Tank”—a repository of expert knowledge—for the nation has to be strengthened. This is a statistical profile capturing five decades of planned economic development in India. The intention was to document the successes as also the failure of efforts.