India -- Sixty Years of Planned Economic Development

The resource base of a country consists of human resources, non-renewable resources, and renewable resources. Economic planning is concerned with the effective and optimal utilization of the potential resources of an economy. This is particularly so in the context of underdeveloped countries which are striving to raise the standard of living of the masses. In fact, planning is a process aiming not merely at the best utilization of material resources but also at the development of human faculties and institutional framework suitable to the needs and aspirations of the people. In India, the establishment of the Planning Commission in 1950 heralded a new era in the economic history. It makes an assessment of the material, capital, and human resources of the country, and it investigates the possibilities of augmenting these resources as are found to be deficient in relation to India's requirements. It, then, formulates a plan for the most effective and balanced utilization of the country's