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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.
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