Chapter 9 Planning And Sustainable Development In Indian Context

Planning is a familiar concept involving structured thinking, designing a program, and executing actions to achieve specific goals. In the context of this chapter, planning refers to the process of steering economic development, contrasting with less systematic, trial-and-error approaches.

India adopted a system of centralized planning following its Independence. Over time, this evolved towards a more decentralized, multi-level planning approach, involving plan formulation at central, state, and district levels.

The Planning Commission was the central body responsible for this process until January 1, 2015, when it was replaced by the NITI Aayog.

The NITI Aayog was established with the objective of enhancing the involvement of states in national economic policy-making and providing strategic and technical guidance to both the Central and State governments.

Target Area Planning

The planning process needs to give specific attention to regions that have remained economically less developed. While a region's economic development is linked to its resource base, sometimes even resource-rich areas can lag behind due to lack of technology or investment.

Recognizing growing regional and social disparities after several decades of planning, the Planning Commission introduced specific approaches focusing on 'target areas' and 'target groups'.

Target area programs focus on developing specific regions identified as backward. Examples include Command Area Development Programme, Drought Prone Area Development Programme, Desert Development Programme, and Hill Area Development Programme.

Target group programs focus on specific socio-economic groups considered vulnerable or disadvantaged, such as the Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA) and Marginal Farmers Development Agency (MFDA).

During the 8th Five Year Plan, special area programs were emphasized to build infrastructure in specific regions like hill areas, northeastern states, tribal areas, and other backward regions.

Hill Area Development Programme

Initiated during the Fifth Five Year Plan, these programs targeted 15 specific districts across different states, including the hilly areas of Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand), parts of Assam (Mikir Hill, North Cachar hills), Darjeeling (West Bengal), and Nilgiri (Tamil Nadu).

A later recommendation (1981) suggested including all hill areas above 600 meters altitude not covered by tribal sub-plans under this category of backward hill areas.

Development plans for these regions were crafted considering local topography, ecology, social conditions, and economic needs. The goal was to utilize local resources by developing sectors such as horticulture, plantation agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry farming, forestry, and small-scale and village industries.

Drought Prone Area Programme

Launched during the Fourth Five Year Plan, this program aimed to provide employment opportunities to people in drought-prone areas and create productive assets within these regions.

Initially focused on labour-intensive civil works, the program later shifted emphasis to irrigation projects, land development, afforestation, grassland development, and building essential rural infrastructure like electricity, roads, markets, and credit facilities.

Reviews of the program indicated a primary focus on agriculture and allied sectors, aiming to restore ecological balance. As increasing population pressure often forces cultivation onto marginal lands, leading to ecological degradation, the program also recognizes the need for creating alternative employment options.

Development strategies for drought-prone areas also include adopting integrated watershed development at a local level. A core consideration in these strategies is restoring ecological balance between water, soil, plants, and human/animal populations.

Early identification by the Planning Commission (1967) and Irrigation Commission (1972) demarcated drought-prone areas, largely covering semi-arid and arid regions across Rajasthan, Gujarat, parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra (Marathwada), Andhra Pradesh (Rayalseema, Telangana), Karnataka plateau, and interior Tamil Nadu.

It's notable that drought-prone areas in Punjab, Haryana, and northern Rajasthan have been largely protected from drought effects due to extensive irrigation development.

Case Study – Integrated Tribal Development Project In Bharmaur Region

Answer:

The ITDP has significantly contributed to infrastructural development, including schools, healthcare, potable water, roads, communication, and electricity. However, the benefits are unevenly distributed, with villages along the Ravi River (Holi, Khani areas) being the main beneficiaries, while remote villages (Tundah, Kugti) still lack adequate infrastructure.

Social benefits from the ITDP are notable, including a tremendous increase in literacy rates (female literacy rose from 1.88% in 1971 to 65% in 2011), improved sex ratio, and a decline in child marriage. The gender gap in literacy has also reduced.

Economically, the region traditionally relied on subsistence agriculture and pastoralism (sheep/goat rearing). In recent decades, there's been an increase in cultivating pulses and cash crops, though traditional farming technology is still widely used. Pastoralism's importance has declined, with only about 10% of households practicing transhumance currently. However, a significant portion of the Gaddis remain mobile, migrating to areas like Kangra during winter for wage labour.

Sustainable Development

The term 'development' is used to describe the state of societies and the processes of change they undergo. Throughout much of human history, the state of societies was shaped by the interaction between human groups and their natural environment.

The nature of this human-environment interaction is influenced by a society's level of technology and the institutions it creates. Advances in technology and institutions accelerate this interaction, which in turn can further drive technological progress and institutional changes.

Consequently, development is a complex, multi-faceted concept signifying positive and often irreversible transformations in the economy, society, and environment.

The understanding of development has evolved over time, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century.

Post-World War II, development was often equated solely with economic growth, measured by increases in Gross National Product (GNP) and per capita income.

However, it became evident that high economic growth did not automatically translate to poverty reduction, often due to unequal wealth distribution. This led to incorporating concepts like 'redistribution with growth' and 'growth and equity' into development definitions in the 1970s.

Dealing with issues of distribution and equity highlighted that development is not just about economics; it also encompasses improving people's well-being, living standards, access to health and education, ensuring equal opportunities, and upholding political and civil rights. By the 1980s, development was widely understood as encompassing widespread improvements in the social and material well-being of everyone in society.

The concept of Sustainable Development gained prominence in the late 1960s in response to growing awareness and concern about the negative environmental consequences of industrial development.

Publications like 'The Population Bomb' (1968) and 'The Limits to Growth' (1972) heightened environmental concerns.

This context led to the exploration of new development models focusing on sustainability. The United Nations established the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), led by Gro Harlem Brundtland, which released its report 'Our Common Future' in 1987.

The Brundtland Report provided a widely accepted definition of sustainable development: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Sustainable development emphasizes balancing ecological, social, and economic considerations in the present while ensuring resource availability for the future, recognizing the shared future of all humankind.

Case Study Indira Gandhi Canal (Nahar) Command Area

Answer:

Positive Environmental Impacts: Availability of soil moisture for longer periods and associated afforestation/pasture development programs have led to the 'greening' of the land. This has helped reduce wind erosion and prevented siltation of the canal system.

Negative Environmental Impacts: Intensive irrigation and excessive water use, particularly in the sandy desert environment, have resulted in the emergence of critical environmental problems: waterlogging and soil salinity. These problems threaten the long-term sustainability of agriculture in the area.

Socio-Economic Impacts: Canal irrigation has significantly transformed the agricultural economy. Overcoming the limitation of soil moisture has increased cultivated area and cropping intensity. Traditional crops like gram, bajra, and jowar have been replaced by water-intensive crops like wheat, cotton, groundnut, and rice. This shift, driven by intensive irrigation, initially led to a tremendous increase in agricultural and livestock productivity, bringing prosperity to the region.

Measures For Promotion Of Sustainable Development

The sustainability of the Indira Gandhi Canal Project has been questioned due to the environmental degradation observed over four decades. Achieving sustainable development in this command area requires specific measures, particularly focused on ecological sustainability.

Five of the seven proposed measures specifically aim to restore ecological balance, alongside social and economic sustainability goals:

• Strict Water Management: Implement water management policies rigorously. Ensure that Stage-I focuses on protective irrigation (supplementary moisture) and Stage-II on extensive irrigation for specific crops and pasture development, as originally planned.
• Appropriate Cropping Pattern: Strictly avoid cultivating water-intensive crops. Encourage farmers to grow plantation crops, such as citrus fruits, which require less water compared to crops like rice or sugarcane in this environment.
• Efficient Water Delivery: Effectively implement Command Area Development (CAD) programs, including lining water courses (canals, channels) to prevent seepage loss, land development (levelling), and the 'warabandi' system (equitable distribution of canal water among users from an outlet). These measures reduce water conveyance loss.
• Reclamation of Degraded Lands: Undertake efforts to reclaim areas affected by waterlogging and soil salinity, restoring their productivity.
• Ecological Restoration: Promote eco-development activities, especially in the fragile environment of Stage-II. This includes afforestation (planting trees), creating shelterbelts (tree rows to reduce wind erosion), and developing pastures.
• Social Sustainability: Provide adequate financial and institutional support, especially to land allottees from poorer economic backgrounds, to enable them to cultivate the land and benefit from the project.
• Economic Diversification: Ensure economic sustainability by developing sectors beyond just agriculture and animal husbandry. Allied activities should grow alongside other economic sectors to diversify the economic base and create functional links between villages, agro-service centres, and markets.

Exercises

This section provides exercises related to planning and sustainable development in India, covering topics like target area planning, case studies, and sustainable development measures.

Choose The Right Answers Of The Following From The Given Options

Multiple-choice questions testing understanding of key terms, programs, and crucial factors for sustainable development in specific areas.

Answer The Following Questions In About 30 Words

Short answer questions requiring brief explanations of social benefits of ITDP, the definition of sustainable development, and positive impacts of irrigation in the Indira Gandhi Canal area.

Answer The Following Questions In About 150 Words

Longer answer questions prompting detailed discussions on the Drought Prone Area Programme and its role in dryland agriculture, and suggestions for promoting sustainability in the Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area.

Project

Suggestions for student projects involving researching local area development programs and assessing their impact, or identifying a local environmental/socio-economic problem area and proposing sustainable development measures.