February 2022
Ajay Chhibber (George Washington University)
Abstract: India has a long and a somewhat checkered history of planning – with some success but also many failures. Despite India’s federal structure India’s approach to planning has been top-down with the union government controlling many levers – financial and otherwise to determine the direction of the economy and social programs. India has tried 3 different types of planning – “directed planning”, “indicative planning” and now just a “strategy but no planning”. India needed to replace the Planning Commission but not give up on planning altogether. Just as the rest of the world was going back to a “new planning” surge to handle climate change and the desire to meet the SDG’s India abolished planning altogether. The successor to the planning commission – the Niti Aayog needs to get back to “new planning”, that is now being adopted by many countries with stronger leadership, a legitimized authorizing environment and effective use to plan for helping India achieve the SDGs by 2030 and become a prosperous country by 2047.
JEL Codes: O1, O2
Key Words: Economic Planning, Niti Aayog, Planning Commission, SDG’s
