Chapter 6 — Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context

Sectoral planning involves formulation and implementation of schemes aimed at developing various sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, irrigation, manufacturing, power, transport, communication, and social infrastructure. Regional planning, by contrast, is an area-specific approach that draws plans to reduce regional imbalances in development, recognising that economic development is not uniform over space.

NITI Aayog was formed on 1 January 2015. It replaced the Planning Commission. Its objective is to involve states in economic policy making and to provide strategic and technical advice to the Central and State governments.

The Brundtland Report, titled 'Our Common Future' (1987), published by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) headed by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, defines sustainable development as 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.'

Target area programmes include the Command Area Development Programme, Drought Prone Area Development Programme, Desert Development Programme, and Hill Area Development Programme. Target group programmes include the Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA) and Marginal Farmers Development Agency (MFDA). The 8th Five Year Plan also designed special area programmes for hill areas, north-eastern states, tribal areas, and backward areas.

SFDA stands for Small Farmers Development Agency and MFDA stands for Marginal Farmers Development Agency. Both are examples of target group programmes introduced by the Planning Commission to address social and regional disparities by directing development assistance towards specific vulnerable groups of farmers.

Bharmaur lies between 32°11'N–32°41'N latitudes and 76°22'E–76°53'E longitudes, spread over about 1,818 sq km, mostly between 1,500 m to 3,700 m above sea level. It is part of Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, bounded by Pir Panjal in the north and Dhaula Dhar in the south. The River Ravi and its tributaries—Budhil and Tundahen—divide the region into four physiographic divisions: Holi, Khani, Kugti, and Tundah.

The social benefits of the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) in Bharmaur include a tremendous increase in literacy rate, improvement in sex ratio, and decline in child marriage. Female literacy rose from 1.88 per cent in 1971 to 65 per cent in 2011. Gender inequality in literacy levels also declined. Infrastructure in terms of schools, healthcare facilities, potable water, roads, communications, and electricity was significantly developed.

The Drought Prone Area Programme was initiated during the Fourth Five Year Plan. Its objectives were to provide employment to people in drought-prone areas and to create productive assets. It initially emphasised labour-intensive civil works, but later focused on irrigation projects, land development, afforestation, grassland development, and creation of basic rural infrastructure such as electricity, roads, markets, and credit services.

The Planning Commission of India (1967) identified 67 districts (entirely or partly) as prone to drought. The Irrigation Commission (1972) introduced the criterion of 30 per cent irrigated area to demarcate drought-prone areas. These areas broadly spread over semi-arid and arid tracts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Western Madhya Pradesh, Marathwada region of Maharashtra, Rayalseema and Telangana plateaus of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka plateau, and interior parts of Tamil Nadu.

Intensive irrigation and excessive use of water in the Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area led to the twin environmental problems of waterlogging and soil salinity. While canal irrigation initially increased agricultural and livestock productivity and caused greening of the land, in the long run these problems hamper the sustainability of agriculture.

The Indira Gandhi Canal, previously known as the Rajasthan Canal, is one of the largest canal systems in India. Conceived by Kanwar Sain in 1948, the project was launched on 31 March 1958. It originates at Harike barrage in Punjab and runs parallel to the Pakistan border at an average distance of 40 km in the Thar Desert (Marusthali) of Rajasthan. Its total planned length is 9,060 km, catering to a culturable command area of 19.63 lakh hectares.

Two publications raised the level of environmental concern that led to the sustainable development concept: 'The Population Bomb' by Ehrlich (1968) and 'The Limits to Growth' by Meadows and others (1972). These works reflected concern about undesirable effects of industrial development on the environment and contributed to the United Nations establishing the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), which produced the Brundtland Report in 1987.

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