Two Types of Planning

Abstract

This review article of P.Streeten and M. Lipton, eds., The Crisis of Indian Planning, uses the general agreement with the various authors' criticisms of past Indian planning to add a few points. Macro-economic planning and the use of sophisticated methods have limited usefulness. On the other hand,. attention to micro-economic problems is likely to achieve much more both as to growth and welfare. The author believes that there is a gross underestimation and underutilization of the ordinary (as against development or capital) budget which gives information on the effectiveness of all investments, and becomes indispensable in making decisions on the amount of investments to be put in social sectors.