ROLE, COMPOSITION AND FUNCTIONS

The Planning Commission was constituted in March, 1950 by a Resolution of the Government of India, and works under the overall guidance of the National Development Council. The Planning Commission consults the Central Ministries and the State Governments while formulating Five Year Plans and Annual Plans and also oversees their implementation. The Commission also functions as an advisory body at the apex level.

2. The following functions have been assigned to the Planning Commission as per Allocation of Business Rules:

1. Assessment of the material, capital and human resources of the country, including technical personnel, and formulation of proposals for augmenting such of these resources as are found to be deficient ;
2. Formulation of Plan for the most effective and balanced utilisation of the country's resources;
3. Definition of stages in which the Plan should be carried out on a determination of priorities and allocation of resources for completion of each stage;
4. Determination of the nature of the machinery necessary for the implementation of the Plan in all its aspects;
5. Appraisal from time to time of the progress achieved in the execution of each stage of the Plan
6. Public Cooperation in National Development;
7. Hill Areas Development Programme;
8. Perspective Planning
9. Directorate of Manpower

3. National Informatics Centre which was earlier assigned to the Planning Commission has been transferred to the newly created Ministry of Information Technology.

4. The Prime Minister in his capacity as Chairman of the Planning Commission, participates and gives direction to the Commission on all major issues of policy.

5. The Deputy Chairman and the full time Members of the Planning Commission function as a composite body in the matter of detailed plan formulation. They provide advice and guidance to the subject Divisions of the Commission in the various exercises undertaken for the formulation of Approach to the Five Year Plans, and Annual Plans. Their expert guidance is also available to the subject Divisions for monitoring and evaluating the Plan programmes, projects and schemes.

6. The Planning Commission functions through several technical/subject Divisions. Each Division is headed by a Senior Officer designated as Pr. Adviser/Adviser/Addl. Adviser/Jt. Secretary/Jt. Adviser.

7. The various Divisions in the Commission fall under two broad categories:

1. General Divisions which are concerned with aspects of the entire economy; and
2. Subject Divisions which are concerned with specified fields of development.

1. Development Policy Division,
2. Financial Resources Division,
3. International Economics Division,
4. Labour, Employment and Manpower Division,
5. Perspective Planning Division,
6. Plan Coordination Division,
7. Project Appraisal and Management Division,
8. Socio-Economic Research Unit,
9. State Plan Division, including Multi Level Planning,Border Area Development Programme, Hill Area Development and North Eastern Region (NER), and
10. Statistics and Surveys Division,
11. Monitoring Cell.

1. Agriculture Division,
2. Backward Classes Division,
3. Communication and Information Division,
4. Education Division,
5. Environment and Forests Division,
6. Health and Family Welfare Division,
7. Housing, Urban Development and Water Supply Division,
8. Industry and Minerals Division,
9. Irrigation and Command Area Development Division,
10. Power and Energy Division (including Rural Energy, Non-Conventional Energy Sources and Energy Policy Cell)
11. Rural Development Division,
12. Science and Technology Division,
13. Social Welfare and Nutrition Division,
14. Transport Division,
15. Village and Small Industries Division, and
16. Western Ghats Secretariat.

8. The Programme Evaluation Organisation undertakes evaluation studies to assess the impact of selected Plan Programmes/ Schemes in order to provide useful feedback to planners and implementing agencies.

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