Practice Questions

Decentralized planning involves distributing planning, decision-making, and resource allocation across various levels of governance, such as local, regional, and community-based bodies. This contrasts with centralized planning, where a national authority makes all the decisions.

Concentration of decision-making in the national government

Distribution of planning and decision-making across various levels of governance

Centralized control of resource allocation

Elimination of local governance involvement

The District Planning Committees (DPCs) are constitutionally mandated bodies under Article 243ZD. Their role is to involve people from village panchayats and town panchayats in the preparation of district-level development plans, ensuring that the planning process is participatory and takes into account local needs and priorities.

To centralize all decision-making at the district level

To prepare development plans by involving people from village and town panchayats

To only implement plans formulated by the state government

To replace state planning boards entirely

One of the key debates among academics and policymakers was about whether the unit for decentralized planning should be established at the block level (a smaller administrative unit) or at the district level (a larger administrative unit). It was ultimately decided that the district level would serve as the primary unit for decentralized planning under the District Planning Committees (DPCs).

Whether planning units should be created at the village or municipal level

Whether the planning unit should be at the block level or the district level

Whether decentralized planning was needed at all

Whether central-level planning should be abolished

Article 243ZD mandates the creation of District Planning Committees (DPCs) to ensure that local governments, such as village panchayats and urban municipalities, are involved in the planning process. This article ensures that decentralized planning is constitutionally recognized and made a mandatory process.

The creation of District Planning Committees (DPCs) for decentralized planning

The formation of a national-level planning body

While decentralization had been debated since the First Five-Year Plan, the real momentum for decentralization across the country came after Article 243ZD was added to the Constitution of India. This article mandated the creation of District Planning Committees (DPCs), ensuring a more structured approach to decentralized planning.

After the incorporation of Article 243ZD in the Constitution of India

After the formation of the Planning Commission

Arvind Kumar describes decentralization as the process of sharing powers from the central ruling group to other groups, such as local governments or state-level authorities, each of which has its own authority within a specific area or jurisdiction. This process strengthens local governance and fosters more localized decision-making.

The centralization of power within a single ruling group

The reduction of power of state governments

The process of sharing powers by the central ruling group with other groups within specific areas

The transfer of power from central to international bodies

Decentralized planning promotes equitable development by giving local governance bodies the power to allocate resources and make decisions based on the unique socio-economic conditions of their regions. This ensures that all areas, including marginalized and less developed regions, benefit from development initiatives, leading to a more equitable distribution of development gains.

By concentrating resources in urban areas

By empowering local institutions to allocate resources based on local needs

By centralizing decision-making at the national level

By reducing the role of local governments in resource distribution

In decentralized planning, local governance institutions like gram panchayats are actively involved in the planning process. They contribute to the preparation of development plans that are responsive to the specific needs of their communities, making governance more participatory and ensuring that local priorities are incorporated into broader development goals.

They are excluded from the planning process.

They only implement plans made by the central government.

They are involved in the creation of development plans that reflect local needs.

They prepare plans only for rural areas and not for urban regions.

According to Hanumantha Rao, decentralization involves local-level representative institutions in both the formulation and implementation of development plans, leading to more efficient resource utilization and ensuring that development benefits are shared equitably across regions, addressing disparities in resource allocation and development outcomes.

Ensuring efficient utilization of resources and equitable sharing of development benefits

Increasing the central government's control over local resources

Ensuring that only urban areas benefit from development

Decentralization has become a global trend because centralized planning often fails to address the specific needs of different regions effectively. Decentralized planning allows local governance institutions to take the lead, making planning processes more responsive to local challenges and improving service delivery at the grassroots level.

To shift focus from local governance to national governance

To address the inefficiencies of centralized planning and better meet local needs

To reduce the power of regional governments

Decentralized planning focuses on preparing development plans starting from the lowest unit of governance (such as gram panchayats or town panchayats) to address the diverse socio-economic and cultural needs of different regions. This approach ensures that the felt needs of all sections and regions of the country are considered in the planning process.

Centralizing decision-making for faster implementation

Preparing development plans from the lowest unit of governance to address the diverse needs of all sections of society

Formulating national-level plans that ignore local needs

Reducing the role of local governance in development

The creation of the District Planning Committee (DPC) is integral to the process of decentralization as it mandates the preparation of plans starting from the lowest units of governance, such as gram panchayats and town panchayats. The DPC consolidates these local-level plans into district plans, ensuring that local needs and priorities are addressed at higher levels of governance.

By transferring financial authority to local governments

By ensuring that planning is done from the lowest administrative units, like gram panchayats and town panchayats

By centralizing decision-making at the district level

By abolishing the Planning Commission and State Planning Boards

The District Planning Committee (DPC) plays a critical role in ensuring that development plans are created from the grassroots level. It consolidates the plans prepared by local bodies, such as gram panchayats and town panchayats, and integrates them into district-level planning. This ensures that the local priorities are represented in district and state development initiatives.

It integrates centralized plans with regional economic strategies.

It formulates state-level development plans.

It consolidates local-level plans from gram panchayats and town panchayats at the district level.

It monitors the implementation of the Five-Year Plans.

The Planning Commission and the State Planning Boards are not constitutional bodies. They were created through executive orders to manage centralized planning at the national and state levels. In contrast, the District Planning Committee is a constitutional body mandated under Article 243ZD to ensure decentralized planning.

Article 243ZD mandates the formation of District Planning Committees (DPCs) in every district of India. The DPC's role is to consolidate plans prepared by the local bodies (gram panchayats and municipalities) to ensure that development planning starts from the lowest unit of governance and is aligned with district and state objectives.

Article 243ZD of the Constitution of India

The recommendations of the National Development Council

The recent push toward decentralization in many Indian states is primarily due to the constitutional mandate to establish a District Planning Committee (DPC) in each district. The DPC is responsible for integrating plans from the grassroots level, including gram panchayats and town panchayats, into district-level development planning.

Formation of the Planning Commission at the central level

Constitutional creation of the District Planning Committee (DPC)

Mahatma Gandhi's ideas on decentralization and Panchayati Raj were taken up in discussions during the Constituent Assembly and subsequently influenced the functioning of the Planning Commission. These debates helped shape India’s approach to decentralized governance, integrating local self-governance into national planning strategies.

They were rejected in favor of strict centralized control.

They were adopted in the Constituent Assembly and later by the Planning Commission.

They were limited to agricultural planning.

Mahatma Gandhi was instrumental in initiating discussions on Panchayati Raj and decentralized governance during the freedom struggle. His arguments in favor of local self-governance laid the foundation for debates within the Indian National Congress, the Constituent Assembly, and later influenced the Planning Commission.

He opposed the idea of decentralized governance.

He focused solely on centralized planning for national unity.

He initiated debates on Panchayati Raj and decentralized governance within the Indian National Congress.

He discouraged the involvement of local communities in governance.

Decentralized planning was considered from the very beginning of India’s centralized planning efforts, starting with the First Five-Year Plan. Even as centralized planning was introduced, discussions about decentralized planning were initiated to ensure that local-level needs were addressed.

During the post-independence period in the 1990s

During the First Five-Year Plan period (1951–56)

Following economic liberalization in the 1990s

Mahatma Gandhi is credited with advocating for Panchayati Raj, a system of decentralized governance that empowers local institutions like village councils. He is regarded as the originator of the bottom-up approach to planning, which involves local communities in decision-making, as opposed to a top-down, centralized model.

The terms multilevel planning, planning from below, decentralized planning, people's planning, and others are used interchangeably by practitioners and policymakers. They all broadly represent decentralized planning, where decision-making and resource allocation involve the participation of local communities, allowing planning to be done at various levels based on specific local needs.

Different types of planning used in centralized governance

Different approaches to sectoral planning

Different aspects of decentralized planning

Planning mechanisms that exclude grassroots participation

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