VASTU KALA ACADEMY

TOWN
PLANNING

PREPARED BY

VINAYAK BHARDWAJ

FOURTH YEAR SECTION A

WHAT IS THE MULTI-LEVEL PLANNING IN OUR COUNNTRY?
WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS TYPES OF PLANS IN INDIA AT VARIOUS
LEVELS

MULTI-LEVEL PLANNING/DECENTRALIZED PLANNING

Multi-level planning opposed to centralized is an exercise where local institutions are
actively involved not only at the implementation level but MLP is a more integrative effort
that seeks to involve all hierarchies of administrative, geographical, political, and regional
levels in the planning process. It seeks to involve the active participation of the lower
hierarchical levels in information generation, data collection, policy suggestion, plan
implementation & monitoring of all developmental activities.

A planning process can be either single-level or multi-level.

In single-level planning, the formulation of plans and decision making and done at
the national level; the process is centralized and the lower territorial levels come into
the picture only at the implementation stage.
On the other hand, in the multi-level planning process, the national territory is divided
into small territorial units, their number depending upon the size of the country, the
administrative, and the geographical and cultural settings.

The concept of multi-level regional planning may be defined as ‘planning for a variety of
regions which together form a system and subordinate system’. In multi-level planning,
the various levels of planning provide bases for higher-level planning. Similarly, the higher-
level regional plans provide the basic framework for the lower-level plans. In such plans,
there is the direct participation of the people in the planning process. In multi-level
planning, every region/unit constitutes a system, and hence, the planning process
becomes more effective.

In India following five stages of multi-level planning have been recognized, these include:
National level-sectored cum inter-state/ inter-regional planning.
State level-sectored cum inter-district/ inter-regional planning.
District/ metropolitan level-regional planning.
Block level-village planning.
Panchayati level
These also denote five different phases of change in the policy of planning in the country. It
is pertinent to note that before 1993, the Indian constitution did not specifically recognize
the district as a third stratum of planning.

National Level
At the national level, the erstwhile Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog) is the
nodal agency responsible for the country planning. The Prime Minister is the
chairman of this commission. It not only prepares plans for the country but also
coordinates the sectored development works of different ministries of the
central government, states, and union territories. The functions of the planning
commission are supervised through the national development council.
 The Planning Commission has been granted constitutional status through the
52nd Amendment of the Constitution. No big plan can be executed without its
prior approval by the Planning Commission. The Commission formulates three
types of plans:
Perspective plans for 15-25 years
Five-year plans
Annual plans within the framework of the Five Year Plan.
In the real sense of the term, perspective planning is of little significance
except that it helps in the achievement of long-term socio-economic
objectives. The Planning Commission also issues guidelines to the states for
perspective planning, monitoring and evaluation of existing plans, plan
formulation, regional or district planning and plan coordination.

State Level Planning

At the state level, the mechanism of the planning is almost the same as the
national level. The State Planning Board acts as the national planning
Commission and coordinates the development plans of different ministries and
districts. It also has the responsibility of the formulation, implementation and
monitoring of state plans.

It is in constant touch with Planning Commission regarding the formulation of

plans and allocation of resources. Under the federal set-up of the country, states
enjoy autonomy in certain state subjects and play a pivotal role in the
implementation of planning programmes.

It is a state-level that all sorts of economic and social data are available and
development plans could be formulated keeping regional interests and
demands in mind. Hence, there is a need for a more rigorous exercise of
planning at the state level.
 Those states which are conscious of their responsibility and are showing
interest in plan formulation and implementation are displaying better
performance in development programmes. Andhra Pradesh case may be cited
as an example.
In fact, the Centre and the States are the two principal actors in planning and
they should move in unison to achieve the objectives and priorities laid down in
the plans.

District Level Planning

The concept of district-level planning is based on the principle of local-level planning. It also
assumes that the success of the planning needs greater mobilization and utilization of local
resources. Below the state, the district occupies a pivotal position in planning because of its
location and administrative advantages.
Not only does it has sufficient administrative and technical expertise and a good source of
data and information to carry out plan programmes but has a well-knit system to involve
people’s participation and make the gains of planning to reach the grassroots level. Since
the British day's district has had an effective system of administration and a storehouse of all
sorts of information and data.
The District Board consists of elected representatives who can play a significant role in the
process of planning. Hence, there is a sizeable group of scholars who consider the district as
an ideal and viable unit of micro-level planning.
It is also argued that Gram Panchayat and Development Block are too small to act as the
smallest unit of planning. Also, there is a complete lack of administrative framework and data
collection system at these two levels. Hence, there would be a number of difficulties in the
formulation and execution of plans at village and block levels.
Although the importance of district-level planning was realized during the times of
community development plans the real breakthrough came with the Third Five Year Plan
(1961-66) in which emphasis was laid on the district-level planning to remove inter-district
and intra-district disparities and make optimum utilization of natural and human resources
at the district level.

Block Level Planning

Block is an important unit of micro-level planning. These development blocks were created to
supervise the implementation of development plans under the Community Development
Programme initiated during the First Five Year Plan. Each district was divided into a number of
blocks and each block comprised about 100 villages, with a population of about 60,000.
The programme visualized the mobilization of local resources, the participation of the people
in the decision-making and implementation of the development schemes. Hence, a new unit of
planning was created at the block level under the leadership of a Block Development Officer
and a team of various specialists and village level workers (officers).
The general supervision of blocks was made by the Block Samithis under the chairmanship of
the Block Pramukh and elected representatives. Although the Community Development
Programme failed block continued to become an important unit of micro-level planning below
the district. The Fifth Five Year PIan (1978-83) opted for area planning with a preferment for
block-level planning for achieving employment objectives and emphasis on rural
development.
The main objective of this planning was to absorb local labour surpluses and greater
involvement of people in the formulation and implementation of development plans.
 The relevance of block-level planning is based on the viable areal and
population-size, more of to the regional and local problems, easier
identification of target groups, optimum utilization of regional/local resources,
and greater participation of people in plan formulation and implementation. The
entire strategy of such planning is based on employment planning, growth
centre planning credit planning.
It is action-oriented planning pertaining to the development of agriculture,m
irrigation (mainly minor irrigation), soil conservation, animal husbandry,
pisciculture, forestry, minor processing of agricultural products, small and
cottage industries, creation of local-level infrastructure, and development of
social services like water supply, health, education, shelter, sanitation, local
transport, and welfare plans.
The entire process of block-level planning passes through seven stages.
These include:
1. Identification phase,
2. Resource inventory phase,
3. Plan formulation phase,
4. Employment plan phase,
5. Areal or layout plan phase,
6. Credit plan phase,
7. Integration and implementation phase.

Panchayat level Planning

The directive principles of state policy mention the village Panchayat which is an elected
body at the village level. The village, here, roughly corresponds to a revenue village (or a
group of revenue villages). The Panchayati Raj System involves a three-tier structure:
1. Village-level
2. Block-level
3. District level.
The first tier at the village level is commonly known as Gram Panchayat (village assembly),
the second tier at block-level as Panchayat Samiti and the third tier at the district level as
Zila Parishad.
According to the provisions of the Panchayats Act 1996, the election to the village Panchyat is
held at an interval of 5 years where there is proportionate seat reservation for scheduled
castes and scheduled tribes and not less than one-third seats reserved for women.
Through the Constitution Amendment Act 1992, the Panchayat (also called Gram Sabha)
has been authorized to look after the preparation and implementation of plans for
economic development and social justice on an illustrative list of 29 subjects. The
respective state has been given discretionary powers to prescribe powers and functions to the
Gram Sabha to act as an institution of self-government.
It has also been advised to constitute a District Planning Committee to consolidate the plans
prepared by the Panchayats and Municipalities and prepare an integrated development plan
for the district as a whole. It has also been directed to constitute a State Finance Commission
(SFC) to review every five years, the financial position of Panchayats and to make
recommendations about the principle governing the distribution of revenues between the
state and the Panchayats, and determination of the grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from
the Consolidated Funds of the State.
Under centralized planning, decision making at the centralized level and direction from a
single level is possible. However, there are high costs of obtaining information, loss of time,
difficulties in applying concepts uniformly to all situations, problems of distortions in
transmitting decisions for implementations etc., which reduce the effectiveness of centralized
planning. In other words, from a purely cost-effective angle of decision making, it is better to
have a number of agency levels in a semihierarchical fashion, entrusted with decision-making
powers. Further, the sociopolitical compulsions may require that decision-making powers are
distributed to more than one level for the same area. Similarly, decisions can be made at
different levels by the same agency or by different agencies.
Decentralized planning gives greater freedom to the regional bodies and local enterprises,
as compared to centralized planning.
Decentralized planning represents, in a way, planning from below and spreads out
authority (political and economic) to lower and horizontal levels. It, thus, promotes popular
participation and recognizes the value of local and sub-regional factors, and the needs of a
pluralistic society.