Planning in India : challenge for the nineties

India is at an important crossroad today. Over the past few years it has witnessed social turbu lence and turmoil of an order not experienced since Independence. Recent international de velopments also have an important bearing on India's economic growth. These factors highlight the need for deep introspection concerning the most appropriate path of development so as to make it sustainable and self-reliant.

This book expounds a new approach to the prob lems of socio-economic development in India. It analyses the causes of the prevailing social ten sions, the primary roots of which lie in the economic sphere according to the author. Dr Ghosh considers diverse official data, as also in dividual research efforts, in order to provide a holistic view of the multifaceted problems faced by the majority of Indians caught in the throes of underemployment, poverty and illiteracy.

Believing that planning is still the best way to achieve the optimum use of scarce resources for the betterment of all sections of society, the au thor's main focus is on ways of improving the ap proach to planning in a developing country like India. In this context, Dr Ghosh contends that decentralisation of the Indian polity leading to decentralised planning and the mobilisation of local effort, along with de-bureaucratisation and de-regulation of industrial growth, are the need of the hour.

Dr Ghosh lays special emphasis on local area de velopment planning and proposes changes in the extant system of financial devolution from the centre to the states, and from the states to popu larly elected local authorities. Among the other issues he examines are the problems of environ mental degradation, conservation of energy and materials in the development process, and great er equity in the distribution of the gains of de velopment. In essence, this study emphasises the federal character of the Indian polity, the impor tance of recognising the diversity of regional mores and lifestyles, and of adopting environ ment friendly development with proper attention to education, health care and the minimum needs of the populace.