Decentralised Planning

Decentralised planning is considered to be an important component of the planning mechanism in India. Till recently, planning in India has been predominantly sectoral and macro-aggregative in nature. This macro-level planning is characterized by schematic budget and special programmes. This ‘top down’ approach in planning gives emphasis mainly on national priorities and programmes and fails to give adequate attention to the development of area and people at the micro level. In order to correct this lop sidedness in planning in our country and also to achieve the long term plan objectives of economic growth and redistributive justice, there is a need of the balanced use of both macro and micro-level planning in the country. In other words, the predominantly centralized planning methodology which has been practiced so long in India should be supplemented by decentralized planning which ensured better perception of local needs or felt needs, better co-ordination and integration of development schemes and programmes, participation of people in all aspects of planning process at the grass-root level and better exploitation of local resources and growth potentials. The whole idea of decentralized planning arises directly from our commitment to a democratic society, government and national political system. The purpose that decentralized planning has to serve, largely centre around ensuring: (a) that all the programmes are dynamic expressions of the felt needs of the people, every effort being made to see that it is not imputed needs which get superimposed and from the real basis of our plans and projects; (b) that there is effective participation of the local people which gives solid motivational support to the implementation of plans and leads to self-sustaining development; and (c) that above all a spirit of initiative and self-reliance is steadily built up among the people.