DECENTRALIZED PLANNING

December 2018, Paper-II
Question
Planning from below is known as
a) Functional planning
b) Structural planning
c) Centralized planning
d) Decentralized planning
Answer D
 Centralized planning

The framing, adopting, executing supervising, and controlling the plan is done by the central planning authority. The planning authority determines targets and priorities. It is the duty of the planning authority to bring harmony in the planning process. This type of planning comes from the top to the bottom. This plan determines equality and cohesion. The central planning authority which determines the basic policies in view of the regional and local needs.

 Decentralized Planning

Under this planning, the responsibility lies with local and regional officials who take economic decisions about the plan. In other words, this planning starts from the grassroots. In other words, this type of planning is from bottom to top. Under this, the plan is framed by the central planning authority by consulting different administrative units of the country.

 Functional planning

Under functional planning, there is no need to build up a new structure, rather the existing structure is corrected and modified. According to Zweig in his “The Planning of Free Societies’ has stated “Functional planning will only repair, not build a new, it will improve the wave of the existing order, but not supersede it. It is a conservative or rather evolutionary type of planning which will not overturn the existing structure and moves only within its narrow border”. Thus functional planning brings no change in the economic and social set up.

 Structural Planning

In this type of planning the present social and economic structure is changed and a new structure emerges. In developing countries, there is structure planning. Big economic and social changes are brought about to usher into a new system.