Planning and Sustainable Development in the Indian Context Notes in English Class 12 Geography Chapter-6 Book-India-People And Economy

 

What is planning?

• The word 'Planning' is not new to you  because it is a part of the words used in our daily life. 

• You may have used this word  in the context of your preparation for going to some hill station for your examination. 

• It involves the process of thinking, designing a programme  and implementing activities to achieve the objectives. 

• This is a broad term, but in this chapter it  is used in the context of the process of economic development. 

'Planning' Planning

• Planning is  the process of thinking about the plan made to complete a task successfully 

• Designing the Program 

• setting objectives  

• It involves the implementation of activities to achieve the objective. 

Two approaches to planning

1. Sectoral planning 

• Development of agriculture, energy production, industry, irrigation, transportation, communication,  manufacturing, service  

2. Regional planning 

• A plan to reduce regional imbalances 

Planning Commission / Niti Aayog

• After independence, centralized planning was adopted in India, then gradually decentralized multi-level planning was started 

• Earlier, the Planning Commission was responsible for preparing plans at the central, state and district levels, but on January 1, 2015, the Planning Commission was replaced by the NITI Aayog.

• Its function is to provide strategic and technical advice to the central and state governments and ensure the participation of the states in economic policy making. 

• NITI Aayog has been established with the objective of doing business in India.

Target area planning

• The planning process should pay special attention to those areas  which are economically backward  .

• The economic development of a region is based on its resources.  But sometimes even regions rich in resources remain backward.

• Economic development requires resources as well as technology and investment. 

• From the experiences of planning in the country, it was realised that regional imbalances in economic development were being reinforced.

• In order to overcome the intensity of regional and social disparities, the Planning Commission has  introduced 'target area' and 'target group' planning approaches.

The following areas are taken as target area:

1. Flood affected areas 

2. Drought prone areas 

3. Mountainous region 

4. Other Backward Areas

development programmes in the following areas 

1. Selecting the area 

2. Understanding the problem of the area

3. Setting goals 

4. Determination of the purpose 

5. Planning 

6 Plan Implementation 

7. Evaluation  

Examples of programmes implemented for the target area  

1. Command Controlled Area Development Programme

2. Drought Prone Area Development Programme

3. Hill Area Development Programme

4. Small Farmer Development Association (SFDA)

5. Marginal Farmers Development Agency (MFDA)

6. Eighth Five Year Plan plans to develop hilly areas, north-eastern states, tribal and backward areas

Hill Area Development Programme 

• Hill area development programmes  were started in the Fifth Five Year Plan. 

• It includes all the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh (present-day Uttarakhand), Mikir Hills and the northern Cachar Hills of Assam, 

• A total of 15 districts are included including Darjeeling district of West Bengal and Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu etc.

• In 1981, the National Committee on Backward Areas recommended inclusion of all hill areas  with an elevation of more than 600 metres and  where Tribal Sub-Plan is not applicable, as backward hill areas.

The National Committee for the Development of Backward Areas  gave suggestions for development in the hilly areas keeping the following points in mind 

• Everyone should benefit, not just the influential people 

• Developing local resources and talents

• Making the economy investment-oriented

• Backward regions should not be exploited in intra-regional trade

• To benefit the workers by improving the market system of backward areas

• Maintaining ecological balance. 

Detailed plans for the development of the Hadi area 

• It was created keeping in mind their topographical, ecological, social and economic conditions. 

• These programmes were designed with the objective of utilising local resources to develop horticulture, plantation agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry farming, forestry, small and rural industries in the hilly areas.

Drought Prone Area Development Programme 

• This program was started in the Fourth Five Year Plan. 

• Its objective was to provide employment to people in drought prone areas and to develop means of production to reduce the effects of drought. Its scope was further expanded in the Fifth Five Year Plan. 

• Initially the focus was on civil construction works that required more labour. But later it focused on irrigation projects, land development programmes, afforestation, pasture development and basic rural infrastructure such as electricity, roads, markets, credit facilities and services.

• When the implementation of this programme was reviewed  by the National Committee for Development of Backward Areas,  it was found that this programme was mainly limited to the development of agriculture and allied sectors. 

• Due to population growth, people are forced to use marginal lands for agriculture which leads to ecological degradation. 

• Hence there is a need to create alternative employment opportunities in drought prone areas. 

Other Strategies

• adoption of watershed development programme 

• The development strategy for drought-prone areas should focus primarily on restoring the ecological balance between water, soil, plants, human and animal population.

• In 1967, the Planning Commission identified 67 districts (fully or partially) in the country as drought prone districts.     

• Drought prone areas in India are mainly spread over the dry and semi-arid parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, western Madhya Pradesh, Marathwada region of Maharashtra, Rayalaseema and Telangana plateau of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka plateau and the highlands and interior parts of Tamil Nadu.

Case Study Integrated Tribal Development Programme in Bharmour Area 

Bharmour Tribal Area  Himachal Pradesh   (Chamba District)  two tehsils

1. Bharmour

2. Holi

Society of Bharmour Area

• The Gaddi tribe lives in the Bharmour region; this area was quite backward

• The government launched a scheme in 1975 for the development of this area. The 'Gaddi' tribal community lives in this area.

• This community has its own distinct identity in the Himalayan region because the Gaddi people migrate seasonally and speak the Gaddiali language.

• The Bharmour tribal area has a harsh climate and limited basic resources. These factors have affected the economy and society of the region.

• According to the 2011 census, Bharmour subdivision had a population of 39,113 i.e. 21 persons per square kilometre.

• It is one of the most economically and socially backward areas of Himachal Pradesh.

• Historically, the Gaddi tribe has experienced geographical and economic isolation and has been deprived of socio-economic development.

• The economic activities of these people are agriculture, sheep and goat rearing.

Development process

• The process of development in the Bharmour tribal area started in the 1970s  when the Gaddi people were included in the Scheduled Tribes (ST). 

• Tribal sub-plan started  under the fifth five year plan 

• The aim of Bharmour Tribal Area Development Scheme is  to improve the living standards of the Gaddis 

• To reduce the difference  in the level of development between Bharmour and other parts of Himachal Pradesh  .

• The development of  transport and communication, agriculture and allied activities  and social and community services were given the highest priority. 

Benefits of Development Sub-Plan

• The most important contribution of the Tribal Integrated Development Sub-Plan in this area is infrastructure development in the form of schools, public health facilities, drinking water, roads, communication and electricity. 

• The social benefits resulting from the implementation of the Tribal Integrated Development Sub-Plan include rapid increase in literacy rate, improvement in sex ratio and reduction in child marriage. 

• The female literacy rate in the region increased from 1.88 percent in 1971 to 65 percent in 2011. 

• The difference between male and female literacy rates, i.e. gender disparity in literacy, has also reduced. 

• The traditional economy of the Gaddis was based on subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry,  with emphasis on the production of food grains and animals. 

• But during the last three decades of the 20th century,  the cultivation of pulses and other cash crops has increased in the Bharmour region.  Farming here is still done using traditional techniques. 

• The declining importance of animal husbandry in the economy of the region can be gauged from the fact that today only one-tenth of the total family units migrate seasonally. 

• But the Gaddi tribe is still very mobile as a large number of them migrate to Kangra and surrounding areas in the autumn season to earn their livelihood by doing agriculture and labor.

Sustainable development 

• Sustainable development refers  to that method of development  in which we use the resources  judiciously  in the present time so that the future generations can also get those resources 

• Generally the word 'development' refers to the condition of a particular society and the process of change experienced by it. 

• Over the long span of human history the continuous interactions between society and its physical environment determine the state of the society. 

• The processes of human and environment interaction depend on the type of technology developed in a society. 

• Technology and institutions have accelerated human-environment interaction and the momentum generated by it has raised the level of technology and created and transformed many institutions.

environmental issues are a major concern 

• The concept of sustainability developed in the late 1960s as a result of a general increase in awareness of environmental issues in the Western world  .

• This reflected people's concerns about the unintended effects of industrial development on the environment.

• The publication of Ehrlich's book 'The Population Bomb' in 1968 and the book 'The Limits to Growth' by Meadows and others in 1972 further deepened the concern of people, especially environmentalists, on this subject. 

• In the context of these developments, a new model of development  called 'Sustainable Development' was started. 

• Keeping in mind the growing concern of the world community on environmental issues,  the United Nations  established  the 'World Commission on Environment and Development' (WECD) headed by Norwegian Prime Minister Garo Harlem Brundtland. 

• The Commission  presented its report 'Our Common Future' (also known as the Brundtland Report) in 1987. The WECD presented a simple and widely used definition of sustainable development. 

• According to this report, sustainable development means such a development in which the current generation fulfills its needs without affecting the needs of future generations. 

Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area 

• The Indira Gandhi Canal, formerly known as the Rajasthan Canal,  is one of the largest canal systems in India. 

• This canal project was conceptualised by Kanwar Sen in 1948 and  started on 31 March 1958. 

• This canal originates from Harike Dam in Punjab and flows parallel to the Thar Desert (Marusthali) Pakistan border of Rajasthan at an average distance of 40 km. 

• The total planned length of this canal system is 9060 km 

• It will provide irrigation facility to 19.63 lakh hectare cultivable command area. 

The construction work of the canal has been completed in two phases. 

Step-1  

• Its command area falls in Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and northern part of Bikaner district. The terrain of the command area of ​​this phase is slightly uneven and its cultivable command area is 5.53 lakh hectares. 

phase -.. 

• Its command area is spread over 14.10 lakh hectares of cultivable land in Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur and Churu districts. 

• This also includes desert areas with shifting sand dunes. 

• Where shifting sand dunes are found and the temperature reaches 50 degrees Celsius in summer.

Features of the canal

• Irrigation in the Phase-I command area started in the early 1960s, while in the Phase-II command area, irrigation started in the mid-1980s.

• The spread of canal irrigation has transformed the ecology, economy and society of this arid region.

• This has had both positive and negative impacts on the environmental conditions of the region.

• The land has become green due to long term availability of soil moisture and afforestation and pasture development programmes undertaken under command area development.

• Due to this, the processes of wind erosion and sand deposition in the canal system have also slowed down.

• Intensive irrigation and excessive use of water created dual environmental problems of waterlogging and soil salinity.

• The spread of canal irrigation has directly transformed the agricultural economy of this region. Soil moisture has been the most important limiting factor for successfully growing crops in this region.

• But the expansion of area irrigated by canals has led to expansion of area cultivated and increase in intensity of crops.

• The traditional crops of gram, millet and cluster bean have been replaced by wheat, cotton, groundnut and rice.

Measures to promote sustainable development 

• Many scholars have  raised questions on the ecological sustainability of the Indira Gandhi Canal Project. 

• The manner in which this region has developed over the last four decades  and the resulting degradation of the physical environment has,  to a large extent, vindicated this view of the scholars. 

• To achieve the goal of sustainable development in this command area, the main emphasis will have to be on ecological sustainability. 

Therefore, out of the seven measures proposed to promote sustainable development in the command area, five measures emphasize on restoring ecological balance. 

(i) Strict implementation of water management policy The canal project provides for crop protection irrigation in the command area in Phase 1 and extended irrigation for crop cultivation and pasture development in Phase 2. 

(ii) Water intensive crops should not be grown; following this farmers should cultivate citrus fruits under plantation agriculture.

(iii)  Command area development programmes such as concreting of drains, land development and levelling and Warabandi (Osra) system (uniform distribution of canal water in the command area of ​​the drainage) should be implemented effectively so as to minimise the loss of runoff water en route. 

(iv)   In this way, waterlogged and salt affected lands will be reclaimed. 

(v) Afforestation, creation of shelterbelt of trees and grassland development. 

This is extremely important for eco-development in the area, especially the fragile environment of Phase-2. 

(vi) The goal of social sustainable nutrition in the region can be achieved only if adequate financial and institutional support is provided to the poor economic status land allottees for agriculture. 

(vii) The concept of economic sustainable development in these regions cannot be realised by merely developing agriculture and animal husbandry. 

Agriculture and allied activities need to be developed along with other sectors of the economy. This will lead to economic diversification in the region and establish functional linkages between core population villages, agri-service centres (Suvidha Villages) and marketing centres (Mandi Towns). 

Watch Chapter Video