Planning and Regional Differentiation in India:Strategies and Practices

This study critically examines some major strategies adopted towards planned development of the Indian economy with a special thrust upon removing regional imbalances. With sectoral investment remaining the cornerstone of the planning process the ‘spatial’ development perspective seems to have occupied a back seat. The growing regional differentiation, at least over the last two decades or so, has been a matter of great concern. With a greater thrust on industrial dispersal various policy measures like financial support schemes and industrial licensing were introduced. However, in practice, the already advanced States have managed to obtain a lion’s share of the benefits originally intended for their underdeveloped counterparts. The pattern of agricultural development has also been lopsided resulting in depressed regions starving for essential infrastructural investment, especially irrigation. An analysis of Centre-State financial flows also points to the biases in favour of advanced States. The divergent strategies and practices in regional development process undermine the very basis of the quasi-federal structure that we have.