Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context

2.1 Core concepts

• Planning, as used in this chapter, is not the everyday "preparation for an examination or a visit to a hill station" usage but the structured process of economic development — a process of thinking, formulation of a scheme or programme, and implementation of a set of actions to achieve a defined goal. NCERT contrasts this with the traditional "hit-and-miss" methods of reform and reconstruction (NCERT §Introduction, p. 66). Planning is a deliberate, scientific exercise distinct from incremental, unplanned interventions.
• Two approaches to planning are recognised in India: sectoral planning — formulation and implementation of schemes/programmes for various sectors of the economy such as agriculture, irrigation, manufacturing, power, construction, transport, communication, social infrastructure and services; and regional planning — a planning approach with a spatial perspective, drawn because there is no uniform economic development over space in any country (some areas are more developed, some lag behind) and planners must reduce regional imbalance in development (NCERT §Introduction, p. 66).
• On 1 January 2015, the Planning Commission was replaced by the NITI Aayog. India initially adopted centralised planning after Independence but subsequently graduated into decentralised multi-level planning at the Centre, State and district levels. NITI Aayog has been set up with the objective of involving the States in economic policy making for India and providing strategic and technical advice to the Central and State governments (NCERT box, p. 66). The shift signals India's move from a command-and-control planning model toward cooperative federalism.
• Target area planning was introduced because, with roughly one-and-a-half decades of planning experience, it was realised that regional imbalances in economic development were getting accentuated. The economic development of a region depends on its resource base, but sometimes resource-rich regions also remain backward because economic development also requires technology and investment. To arrest the accentuation of regional and social disparities, the Planning Commission introduced the 'target area' and 'target group' approaches. Examples of target-area programmes are the Command Area Development Programme, Drought Prone Area Development Programme, Desert Development Programme and Hill Area Development Programme. Examples of target-group programmes are the Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA) and the Marginal Farmers Development Agency (MFDA) (NCERT §Target Area Planning, p. 67).
• In the 8th Five Year Plan, special area programmes were specifically designed to develop infrastructure in hill areas, north-eastern states, tribal areas and backward areas (NCERT §Target Area Planning, p. 67).
• The Hill Area Development Programme was initiated during the Fifth Five Year Plan, covering 15 districts — all the hilly districts of Uttar Pradesh (present Uttarakhand), Mikir Hill and North Cachar Hills of Assam, Darjeeling district of West Bengal, and Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu. The National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas in 1981 recommended that all hill areas in the country having a height above 600 m and not covered under the tribal sub-plan be treated as backward hill areas. Detailed plans were drawn keeping in view the topographical, ecological, social and economic conditions of these regions; the programmes aimed at harnessing indigenous resources through development of horticulture, plantation, agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry, forestry and small-scale and village industry (NCERT §Hill Area Development Programme, p. 67).
• The Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) was initiated during the Fourth Five Year Plan with the twin objectives of providing employment to the people in drought-prone areas and creating productive assets. Initially the programme emphasised the construction of labour-intensive civil works; later it stressed irrigation projects, land development programmes, afforestation, grassland development and creation of basic rural infrastructure such as electricity, roads, market, credit and services. The National Committee on Development of Backward Areas reviewed the programme and observed that it remained largely confined to development of agriculture and allied sectors with major focus on restoration of ecological balance; it suggested that growing population pressure forcing utilisation of marginal lands and the resulting ecological degradation made it necessary to create alternative employment in such areas, and to adopt an integrated watershed development approach at the micro-level (NCERT §DPAP, p. 67).
• The Planning Commission of India (1967) identified 67 districts (entire or partly) of the country prone to drought. The Irrigation Commission (1972) introduced the criterion of 30 per cent irrigated area to demarcate drought-prone areas. Broadly, the drought-prone area in India spreads over semi-arid and arid tracts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, western Madhya Pradesh, the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, Rayalseema and Telangana plateaus of Andhra Pradesh, the Karnataka plateau, and highlands and interior parts of Tamil Nadu. Drought-prone parts of Punjab, Haryana and north-Rajasthan are largely protected on account of the spread of irrigation (NCERT §DPAP, p. 67).
• Bharmaur ITDP (Case Study) — Bharmaur tribal area comprises Bharmaur and Holi tehsils of Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh. It is a notified tribal area since 21 November 1975 and is inhabited by the Gaddi community, who have maintained a distinct identity by practising transhumance and conversing through the Gaddiali dialect. The region lies between 32°11′N and 32°41′N latitudes and 76°22′E and 76°53′E longitudes, covers about 1,818 sq km, mostly between 1,500 m and 3,700 m above mean sea level, is bounded by Pir Panjal in the north and Dhaula Dhar in the south (the two converging near Rohtang Pass), and is drained by the Ravi and its tributaries the Budhil and the Tundahen, which divide it into four physiographic divisions called Holi, Khani, Kugti and Tundah. Mean monthly temperature is 4°C in January and 26°C in July (NCERT §Case Study, pp. 68–69). According to the 2011 census, total population was 39,113 (21 persons per sq km) — one of the most economically and socially backward areas of Himachal Pradesh.
• The development of Bharmaur began in the 1970s when Gaddis were included among 'scheduled tribes'. Under the Fifth Five Year Plan, the tribal sub-plan was introduced in 1974 and Bharmaur was designated as one of five Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDPs) in Himachal Pradesh. The plan aimed at improving Gaddi quality of life and narrowing the development gap between Bharmaur and other parts of the State. The plan accorded highest priority to transport and communications, agriculture and allied activities, and social and community services (NCERT pp. 68–69).
• The most significant contribution of the tribal sub-plan in Bharmaur has been infrastructure development — schools, healthcare facilities, potable water, roads, communications and electricity. However, villages along the river Ravi in Holi and Khani areas are the principal beneficiaries, while the remote villages of Tundah and Kugti still lack sufficient infrastructure (NCERT p. 69–70).
• Social benefits of the ITDP include a tremendous rise in literacy, improvement in the sex ratio, decline in child marriage and a narrowing of gender inequality in literacy. Female literacy rose from 1.88% (1971) to 65% (2011). Traditionally, the Gaddis had a subsistence agricultural-cum-pastoral economy with emphasis on foodgrains and livestock; in the last three decades of the 20th century the cultivation of pulses and other cash crops has expanded, though cultivation is still done with traditional technology. The declining importance of pastoralism is reflected in the fact that only about one-tenth of total households now practise transhumance, although a large number of Gaddis still migrate to Kangra and surrounding areas in winter for wage labour (NCERT p. 70).
• Concept of development: development describes the state of particular societies and the process of changes they experience. In the post-World-War-II era development was synonymous with economic growth measured by GNP and per-capita income/consumption. But high-growth countries still saw rising poverty because of unequal distribution; so in the 1970s phrases such as "redistribution with growth" and "growth and equity" were incorporated into the definition. The realisation that development cannot be restricted to the economic sphere alone led, by the 1980s, to development being conceived as a concept encapsulating widespread improvement in social as well as material well-being of all in a society, including health, education, equality of opportunity, and political and civil rights (NCERT §Sustainable Development, p. 70).
• The notion of sustainable development emerged in the wake of rising environmental awareness in the late 1960s in the Western world, reflecting concern about the undesirable effects of industrial development on the environment. Two publications were particularly influential — 'The Population Bomb' by Ehrlich (1968) and 'The Limits to Growth' by Meadows and others (1972) — which raised the level of fear among environmentalists and the public. This set the scenario for sustainable development as a new model (NCERT §Sustainable Development, p. 70).
• The United Nations established the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) headed by the Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Commission gave its report "Our Common Future" in 1987 (also called the Brundtland Report) which defines sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Sustainable development takes care of ecological, social and economic aspects of development during the present and pleads for conservation of resources to enable future generations to use them; it takes into account the development of the whole human kind, which has a common future (NCERT §Sustainable Development, pp. 70–72).
• Indira Gandhi Canal (Nahar) Command Area (Case Study) — 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 canal project was launched on 31 March 1958. The canal originates at Harike barrage in Punjab (just below the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas) and runs parallel to the Pakistan border at an average distance of 40 km in the Thar Desert (Marusthali) of Rajasthan. The total planned length is 9,060 km catering to the irrigation needs of a culturable command area of 19.63 lakh hectares. About 70 per cent of the total command area was envisaged to be irrigated by the flow system and the rest by the lift system (NCERT §Case Study, pp. 71–72).
• Construction has been carried out in two stages. Stage-I lies in Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and northern Bikaner districts; it has gently undulating topography and a culturable command area of 5.53 lakh hectares, with irrigation introduced in the early 1960s. Stage-II covers Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Nagaur and Churu districts, has a culturable command area of 14.10 lakh hectares, comprises desert land dotted with shifting sand dunes and temperatures soaring to 50°C in summers, and began receiving irrigation in the mid-1980s. In the lift canals water is lifted against the slope of the land; all lift canals of the IGNP originate on the left bank of the main canal, while all right-bank canals are flow channels (NCERT p. 72).
• Positive impacts: availability of soil moisture for longer periods, afforestation and pasture development under CAD greening the land, reduced wind erosion and reduced siltation of canal systems; in agriculture, increase in cultivated area and intensity of cropping; replacement of traditional crops (gram, bajra, jowar) by wheat, cotton, groundnut and rice; tremendous initial rise in agricultural and livestock productivity (NCERT pp. 72–73).
• Negative impacts: intensive irrigation and excessive use of water have caused the twin environmental problems of waterlogging and soil salinity, threatening the long-run sustainability of agriculture (NCERT pp. 72–73).
• Seven measures for sustainable development in the command area, of which five aim at ecological balance — (i) strict implementation of a water management policy (protective irrigation in Stage-I, extensive irrigation and pasture development in Stage-II); (ii) a cropping pattern that excludes water-intensive crops and encourages plantation crops like citrus fruits; (iii) effective CAD programmes — lining of water courses, land development, levelling, and warabandi (equal distribution of canal water in the outlet command) to reduce conveyance losses; (iv) reclamation of waterlogged and saline areas; (v) eco-development through afforestation, shelterbelt plantation and pasture development, especially in the fragile Stage-II; (vi) social sustainability through financial and institutional support to land allottees from poor economic backgrounds; (vii) economic sustainability through diversification of the economic base linking basic villages, agro-service centres and market centres (NCERT §Measures, p. 73).

2.2 Definitions to memorise

2.3 Diagrams / processes to remember

• Fig. 6.1 (p. 68) — Photo plates of Bharmaur: terrace farming, traditional method of extracting wheat, people engaged in primary activity, settlements in the Bharmaur region, and traditional Gaddi dress. These photographs anchor the Gaddi subsistence-cum-pastoral economy and the harsh, fragile environment in which the ITDP operates.
• Fig. 6.2 (p. 69) — Map of Bharmaur Tribal Region. Shows the four physiographic divisions (Holi, Khani, Kugti, Tundah), the Ravi and its tributaries Budhil and Tundahen, the Pir Panjal–Dhaula Dhar enclosure, and the location of the region inside Chamba district. The lat-long frame is 32°11′–32°41′N and 76°22′–76°53′E and the area is shown to be ~1,818 sq km.
• Fig. 6.3 (p. 71) — Map of the Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area. Shows the main canal originating at Harike barrage (Punjab) below the Sutlej–Beas confluence, the Main Canal Head near Ganganagar and the Main Canal Tail near Jaisalmer, the parallel run to the Pakistan border, and the four-fold legend separating Stage-I and Stage-II areas into under flow and under lift command. Districts named on the map — Ganganagar, Hanumangarh (implied), Lunkaransar, Bikaner, Churu, Jaisalmer, Barmer.
• Figs. 6.4 and 6.5 (p. 72) — Photo plates showing the Indira Gandhi Canal and its adjoining greened-up areas after irrigation, illustrating the visible transformation of the Marusthali landscape.
• Process flow — Bharmaur transformation: scheduled-tribe notification (1970s) → tribal sub-plan (1974) → ITDP designation → infrastructure (schools, health, water, roads, electricity) → social outcomes (female literacy 1.88% → 65%, child-marriage decline, sex-ratio improvement) → partial economic transformation (pulses and cash crops introduced; transhumance now only ~1/10 households; wage migration to Kangra in winter).
• Process flow — IGNP transformation: Kanwar Sain conception (1948) → project launch (31 March 1958) → Stage-I irrigation (early 1960s) → Stage-II irrigation (mid-1980s) → positive impacts (greening, reduced wind erosion, crop replacement to wheat/cotton/groundnut/rice, productivity rise) → negative impacts (waterlogging, soil salinity) → seven sustainability measures (five ecological + one social + one economic).

2.5 Key data table (NCERT figures from this chapter)

2.4 Common confusions / NTA trap points

• ITDP = Integrated Tribal Development Project/Programme, not Tourism / Travel / Transport (NCERT Exercise 1.ii, p. 74).
• DPAP began in the Fourth Five Year Plan, HADP began in the Fifth Five Year Plan — students often swap these.
• Indira Gandhi Canal was conceived by Kanwar Sain (1948) and launched on 31 March 1958 — two different dates; do not confuse them.
• The canal was formerly called the Rajasthan Canal, not the Thar Canal or the Bhakra Canal.
• Harike barrage (origin of the canal) lies in Punjab, not Rajasthan; the canal then enters Rajasthan parallel to the Pakistan border at an average distance of 40 km.
• Irrigation Commission (1972) used a 30% irrigated-area criterion; Planning Commission (1967) identified 67 districts — keep the agency, year and number paired correctly.
• About 70% of the command area was envisaged to be irrigated by FLOW, not by lift. NTA frequently swaps the flow/lift share.
• All lift canals are on the left bank; right-bank canals are flow channels — a classic two-statement trap.
• The Brundtland Report is also called Our Common Future (1987) — produced by WCED, headed by Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norway), not by UNEP, FAO or the Club of Rome.
• The "limits to growth" idea is from Meadows et al. (1972), and The Population Bomb is by Ehrlich (1968) — the authors and titles are often mismatched.
• The most crucial factor for sustainable development in the IGNP command area is eco-development, not agricultural development or land colonisation (NCERT Exercise 1.iii, p. 74).
• Bharmaur tribe is Gaddi, not Gujjar, Bhotia or Lahauli; their dialect is Gaddiali.
• The tribal sub-plan was introduced in 1974 under the Fifth Five Year Plan, not the Sixth — and Bharmaur was one of five ITDPs in Himachal Pradesh.