Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context

Written and reviewed by Subhra Gupta, Humanities faculty at UniDrill (M.A. Sociology, University of Delhi · 7 years teaching Humanities). Based on NCERT Geography Class XII (India: People and Economy), Chapter 6.

Why can a region be rich in resources and still stay poor?

Many students assume that resources produce wealth by themselves. They do not. Economic development needs technology and investment as well as resources, which is why some resource rich regions remain backward. India learned this the hard way. After roughly one and a half decades of planning, it was clear that regional gaps were widening, and the planners had to change approach. This chapter is the story of that change, and of two places where the plans met reality: a Himalayan tribal valley and a desert canal.

What planning is

Planning is thinking, framing a scheme or programme, and carrying out a set of actions to achieve a goal. Here it means planning for economic development, which is different from the old hit and miss methods in which reform and reconstruction were often undertaken.

India followed centralised planning after Independence, then moved to decentralised multi level planning. Plan formulation was the responsibility of the Planning Commission at the Centre, and plans were also made at state and district levels. On 1 January 2015, the Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog, set up to involve the states in economic policy making and to give strategic and technical advice to the Central and State governments.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015. In reality: the Five Year Plan cycle also ended with this change. The Twelfth Plan (2012 to 2017) was the last. Why it matters: a question on "the plan after the Twelfth" has no answer, and an old question on "the Planning Commission's role" has to be read in the context of its time.

Two approaches to planning

Target area and target group planning

The Planning Commission introduced target area and target group approaches to arrest the accentuation of regional and social disparities. Planning has to take special care of areas that remain backward, since resource richness alone does not guarantee development.

In the Eighth Five Year Plan, special area programmes were designed to develop infrastructure in hill areas, north eastern states, tribal areas and backward areas.

Hill Area Development Programme

The Hill Area Development Programmes began in the Fifth Five Year Plan, covering 15 districts. These were all the hilly districts of Uttar Pradesh (present Uttarakhand), the Mikir Hill and North Cachar hills of Assam, the Darjeeling district of West Bengal and the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu. In 1981 the National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas recommended that all hill areas above 600 m not covered under the tribal sub plan be treated as backward hill areas.

Plans were drawn on the basis of each area's topographical, ecological, social and economic conditions. They aimed to harness local resources through horticulture, plantation, agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry, forestry, and small scale and village industry.

Drought Prone Area Programme

This programme began during the Fourth Five Year Plan to give employment to people in drought prone areas and to create productive assets.

Why alternative jobs matter. Growing population pressure forces people in dry areas to farm marginal lands, which causes ecological degradation. So there is a need for alternative employment in drought prone areas. Another strategy is an integrated watershed development approach at the micro level, restoring the balance between water, soil, plants and human and animal populations.

Drought prone areas lie broadly over the semi arid and arid tracts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, western Madhya Pradesh, Marathwada in Maharashtra, Rayalseema and Telangana plateaus of Andhra Pradesh, the Karnataka plateau and the highlands and interior parts of Tamil Nadu. The drought prone parts of Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan are largely protected by the spread of irrigation.

Pause and predict: a drought prone district builds ever more wells and farms every marginal hill slope to give people jobs. Why is this a bad idea?

Check your answer: because farming on marginal land under population pressure degrades the land, and the degradation lowers productivity further. The better route is alternative employment and watershed development to restore the balance between water, soil, plants and people.

Case study: the Bharmaur tribal area

Bharmaur is a notified tribal area since 21 November 1975, made up of Bharmaur and Holi tehsils of Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh. It is the homeland of the Gaddi, a tribal community that has kept a distinct identity in the Himalaya through transhumance (seasonal movement of livestock between pastures) and the Gaddiali dialect.

Bharmaur has a harsh climate, a low resource base and a fragile environment, and it is one of the most economically and socially backward areas of Himachal Pradesh. Historically the Gaddis faced geographical and political isolation and socio economic deprivation.

The plan. Development started in the 1970s when the Gaddis were included among the scheduled tribes. Under the Fifth Five Year Plan the tribal sub plan was introduced in 1974, and Bharmaur became one of the five Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDP) in Himachal Pradesh. The aim was to improve the quality of life of the Gaddis and narrow the gap between Bharmaur and the rest of the state. The plan gave the highest priority to transport and communications, agriculture and allied activities, and social and community services.

Why the uneven result is a lesson. Roads and services follow the easy terrain first. A plan that sets out to narrow gaps between regions can still leave gaps inside the target area, between the river valleys and the remote high villages.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: only about one tenth of Gaddi households practise transhumance, and many migrate in winter for wage labour. In reality: transhumance is not simply a quaint tradition. It is a way of using high summer pastures and sheltered winter valleys when both are needed, and its decline shows how infrastructure and schooling change which livelihoods people choose. Why it matters: the chapter's data on pastoralism and female literacy are two sides of the same transition.

How the idea of development changed

Ideas about development changed over time. In the post World War II era, development meant economic growth, measured as increase in gross national product (GNP) and per capita income or consumption. But even countries with high growth saw poverty rise because of unequal distribution. So in the 1970s the phrases redistribution with growth and growth and equity entered the definition. Dealing with equity showed that development cannot be limited to the economic sphere. It also includes well being, living standards, health, education, equality of opportunity and political and civil rights. By the 1980s, development meant widespread improvement in social and material well being for all in a society.

Development is multi dimensional: the positive, irreversible transformation of the economy, society and environment.

The Brundtland definition. Sustainable development is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." It takes care of the ecological, social and economic aspects of development in the present, and it pleads for conservation of resources so that future generations can use them. It considers the development of all humankind, which has a common future.

Case study: the Indira Gandhi Canal command area

The Indira Gandhi Canal, formerly the Rajasthan Canal, is one of the largest canal systems in India. It was conceived by Kanwar Sain in 1948 and launched on 31 March 1958. It starts at the Harike barrage in Punjab and runs through the Thar Desert (Marusthali) of Rajasthan, parallel to the Pakistan border at an average distance of about 40 km.

The planned length of the system is 9,060 km, serving a total culturable command area of 19.63 lakh hectares. About 70 per cent of the command area was planned to be irrigated by flow and the rest by lift. In a lift canal the water is lifted against the slope of the land. All lift canals originate at the left bank of the main canal, and all canals on the right bank are flow channels.

The good news. Soil moisture lasts longer and afforestation and pasture development under the command area development programme have greened the land. This also reduced wind erosion and the siltation of canals. Cultivated area and cropping intensity have increased. The traditional crops of gram, bajra and jowar have been replaced by wheat, cotton, groundnut and rice, and agricultural and livestock productivity rose tremendously at first.

The bad news. Intensive irrigation and excessive water use have caused the twin problems of waterlogging and soil salinity. In the long run they hamper the sustainability of agriculture.

Pause and predict: the canal replaced gram, bajra and jowar with rice, wheat and cotton in an arid region. What does this tell you about the likely demand for water, and about the long term risk?

Check your answer: the new crops need much more water, which pushes up water use and, with poor drainage, waterlogging and salinity. That is exactly what happened.

Beyond the textbook. For the exam: intensive irrigation in the command area caused waterlogging and soil salinity. In reality: in arid and semi arid climates, evaporation is fast and leaves dissolved salts behind in the soil. If water is applied in excess and drainage is poor, the water table rises and salts build up in the root zone. Why it matters: that mechanism explains why the same problem is also noted for irrigated Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh in the water chapter.

Two views. For the exam: canal irrigation changed the ecology, economy and society of a dry land and has been positive and negative. Another reading: scholars questioned the ecological sustainability of the project, and the course of development over the last four decades has largely validated their view, with degradation of the physical environment. Why it matters: both sides are part of the chapter, so a statement question may test either.

Measures for sustainable development in the command area. Seven measures are proposed. Five of the seven are meant to restore ecological balance.

Exam traps

60-second revision

Where this chapter connects

• Previous: Mineral and Energy Resources is the resource base that development planning has to use and conserve.
• Next: Transport and Communication covers the roads and links that Bharmaur's plan gave highest priority to.
• Related: Water Resources explains the groundwater and watershed ideas behind drought area planning, and Human Development widens the idea of development beyond income.