The Planning Commission is an institution in the Government of India, which formulates India's Five-Year Plans, among other functions.
History
The Planning Commission was set up in March 1950, with Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru as the chairman.
Organisation
The composition of the Commission has undergone a lot of change since its inception. With the Prime Minister as the ex-officio Chairman, the committee has a nominated Deputy Chairman, who is give the rank of a full Cabinet Minister. Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia is presently the Deputy Chairman of the Commission.
Cabinet Ministers with certain important portfolios act as part-time members of the Commission, while the full-time members as experts of various fields like Economics, Industry, Science and General Administration.
The Commission works through its various divisions, of which there are three kind:
- General Planning Divisions
- Special Planning Divisions
- Programme Administration Divisions
The majority of experts in the Commission are economists, making the Commission the biggest employer of the Indian Economic Services.
Functions
- Assessment of resources of the country
- Formulation of Five-Year Plans for effective use of these resources
- Determination os priorities, and allocation of resources for the Plans
- Determination of requisite machinery for successful implementation of the Plans
- Periodical appraisal of the progress of the Plan
External Links
Official Homepage