ROLE OF PLANNING COMMISSION The role of the Planning Commission is directly
related to the tasks assigned to the government by the Indian Constitutionin its Directive
Principles, especially those relating to economic and social development. The Directive
Principles of State Policy urge upon the state to secure citizens' right to adequate means of
livelihood and control the inequalities in the ownership of wealth and means of production. In
this context, the state is required to ensure growth in production, and its equitable
distribution among the various sections of society. In this context, the Planning Commission
formulates plans for the whole country and also functions as an advisory planning body at
the apex level. The major functions of the Planning Commission assigned as per the
Government of India (Allocation Of Business) Rules 1961, are as follows:
1. It makes an assessment of the material, capital and human resources of the country,
including technical personnel, and formulation of proposals on the basis of
possibilities of augmenting such resources that are found to be deficient
2. Formulates a plan for effective and balanced utilisation of resources in the country.
3. Defines the stages in which the plan should be carried out, and proposes the
allocation of resources for completion of each stage
4. Identify the factors, which tend to retard economic development and determine the
conditions,which in view of the current social and politicalsituation should be
established for the successful execution of the Plan.
5. Determines the nature of machinery, that is, necessary for implementation of the
Plan.
6. Appraises the progress achieved in the execution of each stage of the Plan, and
recommends the adjustments of policies and measures that such appraisal may
show to be necessary.
7. Makes interim or ancillary recommendations, which appear to be appropriate either
for facilitating the discharge of the duties assigned to it or on a consideration of
prevailing conditions current policies, measures and development programmes or on
an examination of such specific problems as may be referred to it for advice by the
Central or State Governments
In addition to the above-mentioned functions, the Planning Commission has been entrusted
with responsibility in the following matters.
a) Public Cooperation in National Development
b) Specific programmes for area development like Hill Area Development Programme:
c) Perspective Planning:
d) Institute of Applied Manpower Research; and Overall Coordination of the Pradhan Mantri
Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY)
Note:The overall coordination of the PMCY shall be the responsibility of the Planning
Commission. However, the concerned nodal ministry/department will be responsible for the
overall management and monitoring of the sectoral programmes under PMGY.
It is evident from the above description that the Planning Commission has been made
responsible for almost all aspects of planning, except execution. To formulate a plan, first of
all, a set of objectives or goals are required to achieve the target, such as, growth of national
income, reduction of the percentage of unemployed persons, etc. Secondly, the time frame
and the stages in which these goals are to be achieved are decided. For deciding the
above-mentioned stages one has to estimate the resources. For example, do we have
enough resources to literate everyone in five years? After estimating the resources, the
Commission determines a strategy to make the best utilisation of limited resources. Thus,
the formulation of a plan implies the setting up of priorities, time frame, and stages;
estimating the resources; and deciding on a strategy, which is the major function of the
Planning Commission
After the formulation of the plan, the central ministries and the state governments execute
the plan through their departments. The Planning Commission keeps an eye on the progress
of the plan. identifies impediments, and suggests remedial measures. It monitors and
evaluates the plan. For this purpose, it makes a post-mortem of the past plan and draws
lessons, which are used to build subsequent plans. In this context, the Programme
Evaluation Organisation (PEO), periodically undertakes evaluation details or quick studies of
the implementation of selected development programmes to assess the impact of that
programme. Thus, it assists the Planning Commission to provide useful feedback to
planners and implementing agencies which contribute in policy-making.
Composition The composition of the NITI is, as follows
: 1) Chairperson: Prime Minister of India
2) Vice-Chairperson: appointed by the Prime Minister
3) Governing Council comprising the Chief Ministers of all the States and Lt. Governors of
Union Territories
4) Regional Councils that are formed to address specific issues or contingencies impacting
more than one state or region. These are formed for a specified tenure. The Regional
Councils are chaired by the Prime Minister and comprise the Chief Ministers and Lt.
Governors of the respective states region.
5) Full time members
6) Part-time members: maximum of 2 members from any leading universities/ research
organizations/other relevant institutions in an ex-officio capacity. Part time members are
appointed on a rotational basis.
7) Ex-officio members: maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers nominated
by the Prime Minister.
8) Chief Executive Officer: appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure and is of the
rank parallel to the Secretary to the Government of India.
9) Experts, specialists, and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge, as special invitees
nominated by the Prime Minister
10) Secretariat
NHP was last formulated in 1983 and since then there has been marked changes in the
determinant factors relating to the health sector. The main objective of the NHP 2002 was “to
achieve an acceptable standard of good health amongst the general population of the
country.” The approach has been to “increase access to the decentralised public health
system by establishing new infrastructure in deficient areas, and by upgrading the
infrastructure in the existing institutions”.
Overriding importance had been given to ensuring a more equitable access to health
services across the social and geographical expanse of the country. Emphasis was given to
increase the aggregated public health investment through a substantially increased
contribution by the Union Government. Besides, the policy envisaged the involvement of the
private sector in providing health services particularly for the population group which could
afford to pay for services. Primacy was given to preventive and first-line curative initiatives at
the primary health level through increased, sectoral share of allocation. Emphasis was laid
on rational use of drugs within the allopathic system. The NHP 2000 also laid emphasis on
the practice of tested systems of traditional medicines.
In brief, the NHP 2002 identified many of the gross deficiencies of the existing healthcare
scenario, and proposed a substantial rise in Central government expenditure on healthcare.
It has also proposed regulation of the private sector. However, in operational terms, it
constitutes an abandonment of the Alma-Ata Declaration, and legitimises further privatisation
of the health care sector.
