ABOUT US

It is now well-recognized that, in the Indian Context, planning is essentially a mechanism of deliberate intervention in an ongoing development process which is constantly changing its course because of internal dynamics as well as environmental factors, Planning at the State level is meant to sub serve the dual interests of the national as well as the state's balanced and accelerated development. This means that planners at the state level should play a positive role not only in determining the scope, policies priorities and programmes for the state but also in the formulation of national policies and objectives which determine the overall environment for the development of states. Planning for development in Uttar Pradesh is meaningless unless it takes into account intra-state variations in the level, potential and problems of development of different regions. For ensuring optimal use of available resources it is essential to formulate the State Plan through a series of interactive & multi-level exercises and integrating it with regional, district and block level strategies. From the operational point of view, a plan is a compilation of inter-related programmes/ projects/ schemes aimed at yielding the desired results through spatial convergence and appropriate temporal sequencing. Plan formulation is preceded by systematic analysis, survey and investigation of major issues, relevance of alternatives and application of new approaches. Otherwise it is likely to result in sub-optimal use of sizeable resources and loss of valuable resources and time. Planning is an interdisciplinary task and requires equal participation of technologists, geographers, economists, statisticians, sociologists, management experts, general administrators and scientists. In addition, it also requires a very deliberate and systematic inflow of reliable information regarding the perceptions, needs preferences of people in general and beneficiaries of specific programmes in particular. It is undoubtedly necessary in the above perspective that the planning process should be supported with adequate and appropriately equipped multi-disciplinary manpower capable of:-

(a) keeping a watch on economic trends, demand projections, development and utilization of capacities, especially the production trends, policies, incentives and disincentives and regulatory mechanisms relevant to the country as a whole;

(b) assisting development departments and lower level planning and development agencies in decision making by projecting trends, identifying constraints, undertaking economic analysis for formulating a policy frame-work and listing priorities from time to time;

(c) Monitoring, concurrent appraisal and evaluation of individual projects/programmes/schemes.

(d) assessing institutional and organizational potentials and constraints, specially from the point of view of delivery of services and resources to the poorer and unorganized sections of society;

(e) conducting diagnostic/explanatory studies and pre-testing new technologies as well as new programmes through pilot projects;

(f) facilitating formulation and appraisal of projects;

(g) developing techniques and procedures for the continuous monitoring of intra-state imbalances and providing methodological and logistic support for planning at the regional, district and block levels;

(h) organizing training of officers concerned with programme implementation and regional planning.

(i) networking with various organization, financial institutions and experts and social scientists.