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UNDERSTANDING REGIONAL
PLANNING
After going through this chapter, you will be able to understand the
following features.
Unit Structure
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Introduction
1.3 Subject- Discussion
1.4 Planning: concept, types, and need
1.5 Regional planning: Concept, nature, and relation with Geography
1.6 Role of surveys and geospatial technology in regional planning
1.7 Problems associated with regional planning.
1.9 Check your Progress/Exercise
1.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to –
 Understand the Planning: concept, nature, and need
 Understand the Regional Planning: Concept, nature, and relation with
Geography
 Know the Role of surveys and geospatial technology in regional
planning
 Understand major Problems associated with regional planning.
1.2. INTRODUC TION
In this unit, we will learn the concept, meaning and definition of planning
as well as we are also, able to understand the other dimensions of
planning i.e. types of planning and its need t oo.
When we understand the concept of planning the we can understand the
concept of “regional planning”.
In the 21th century, regional planning is so important because of there is
no geographical region in the world which have been fulfilled. that means
there is a difference between region to region and if we can apply this
regional planning concept on those all -backwards area which is somehow
dependent to another region. We need to understand relation between
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2 Today’s moder n era how we can use geospatial technology in regional
planning. The help of geospatial technology we reduce the disparity
between the region to region. There is several problems in regional
planning we should identify all problems and solve them.
The bot tom line is planning and regional planning both are important
concept in geography the help of this concept we can reduce the disparity
in the region and we can utilise all possible resources for the development
of the region.
1.3. SUBJECT DISCUSS ION
Regio nal planning deals with the efficient placement of land -use activities,
infrastructure, and settlement growth across a larger area of land than an
individual city or town. Regional planning is related to urban planning as
it relates to land use practices o n a broader scale. It also includes
formulating laws that will guide the efficient planning and management of
such said regions. Regional planning can be comprehensive by covering
various subjects, but it more often specifies a particular subject, which
requires region -wide consideration.
Regions require various land uses; protection of farmland, cities, industrial
space, transportation hubs and infrastructure, military bases, and
wilderness. Regional planning is the science of efficient placement of
infras tructure and zoning for the sustainable growth of a region.
Advocates for regional planning such as new urbanist Peter Calthorpe,
promote the approach because it can address region -wide environmental,
social, and economic issues which may necessarily requi re a regional
focus.
A ‘region’ in planning terms can be administrative or at least partially
functional and is likely to include a network of settlements and character
areas. In most European countries, regional and national plans are ‘spatial’
directing certain levels of development to specific cities and towns in
order to support and manage the region depending on specific needs, for
example supporting or resisting polycentrism.
1.4. PLANNING: CONCEPT, TYPES, AND NEED
1.4.1. Planning: concept:
What is Planning?
Planning is defined as "defining objectives for a given period, designing
various courses of action to achieve them, and selecting the most
practicable alternative from the various alternatives." We may also
describe planning as the process of id entifying goals and devising a plan
of action to attain them. Planning entails setting objectives and choosing
the best path of action in advance. Time is a crucial component in
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3
Planning is essential for all organisations, whether public or private or run
by sole proprietors. To realise their dreams of increasing sales, making
large profits, and succeeding in business, all businessmen must consider
the future, make predictions, and achieve goals. Planning entails deciding
what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.
Meaning of Planning
Making decisions about what to do, why to do it, and when to do it
necessitates preparation. Before beginning a task, management must plan
out how to complete it. As a result, creativity and innovation are
inextricably linked to this management function.
Setting goals allows a manager to know where he needs to go because
planning bridges the gap between where we are now and where we wan t
to be. The actions taken by managers at all levels are central to planning. It
necessitates deciding because it involves choosing one course of action
over another.
1.4.2. Planning : Types:
Planning involves selecting missions and objectives and deciding on the
actions to achieve them; it requires decision -making, i.e., choosing a
course of action from among alternatives. Plans thus provide a rational
approach to achieving preselected objectives.
Planning bridges the gap from where we are to where we want to go. It is
also important to point out that planning and controlling are inseparable -
the Siamese twins of management. Any attempt to control without plans is
meaningless since there is no way for people to tell whether they are going
where they want to go (the result of the task of control) unless they first
know where they want to go (part of the task of planning). Plans thus
furnish the standards of control.










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4 TYPES OF PLANNING
Planning is a complex and comprehensive process involving a serie s of
overlapping and interrelated elements or stages, including strategic,
tactical, and operational planning.
I. On the basis of content, Plans can be classified as:
A. Strategic Planning
B. Tactical Planning
C. Operational planning
A. Strategic planning :
Establishes master plans that shape the destiny of the firm. An example of
strategic planning is when the executive team at Harley -Davidson Inc.
planned how to deal with the demographic shift of their customer base
becoming much older.
Strategic plans set broa d, comprehensive, and longer -term action
directions for the entire organization.
• It is the process of deciding on Long -term objectives of the
organization.
• It encompasses all the functional areas of business
• It decides major goals and policies of allocatio n of resources to
achieve these goals.
• Done at higher levels of management Less detailed because it is not
involved with the day to day operations of the organization
B. Tactical planning :
translates strategic plans into specific goals and plans that are mo st
relevant to a particular organizational unit. The tactical plans also provide
details of how the company or business unit will compete within its
chosen business area. Middle level managers have the primary
responsibility for formulating and executing t actical plans. These plans are
based on marketplace realities when developed for a business. Conditions
can change rapidly in competitive fields such as a Korean company
suddenly developing a substantially lower price sports bike.
 It involves conversion of detailed and specific plans into detailed and
specification plans.
 It is the blue print for current action and it supports the strategic plans.
 It is Mid -term term
 It is more detailed because it involves with day to day operations of
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5 C. Operational planning :
identifies the specific procedures and actions required at lower levels in
the organization. If Harley - Davidson wants to revamp an assembly line
to produce more sports bikes, operational plans w ould have to be drawn.
In practice, the distinction between tactical planning and operational
planning is not clear -cut. However, both tactical plans and operational
plans must support the strategic plan such as revamping manufacturing
and marketing to cap ture a larger group of young cyclists.
• It is short term
• It is more detailed because it is involves with day to day operations of
the organization.
• Done at lower level of management
• Define what needs to be done in specific areas to implement strateg ic
plans.

– Production plans
– Financial plans
– Facilities plans
– Marketing plans
– Human resource plans
On the basis of time period
• Long term planning
 Time frame beyond five years. Long term Plans: >5yrs
 It specifies what the organization wants to be come in long run.
 It involves great deal of uncertainty.
 Higher management levels focus on longer time horizons.
 Cover a longer time
 May include a variety of different types of training
Some examples Long term Plans:
• An annual plan, including Fast Start and basic training
• Makeup training sessions
• Den chief training
• Regular monthly roundtables
• Supplemental training
• Personal coaching
• Self -study
We should not overlook the importance of long -range plans in providing a
total leadership growth and d evelopment program for leaders.

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6 • Intermediate term/ Midterm planning
1. Time frame between two and five years. Medium Term Plans: >1 yr but
<5yrs
2. It is designed to implement long term plans.
• Short term planning
1. Time frame of one year or less. Short term Plans: Upto one year
2. It provide basis for day to day operations.
3. Meet a particular objective in the near future
4. Cover a limited area of training
5. Answer the question: Are we doing things right?
6. Should fit well within and contribute to long -range plans.
Some examples:
• Plans for basic training sessions for new leaders who have just been
recruited
• Plans for a den chief training conference
• Plans for training roundtable staff members
1.4.3. Planning : Need:
Planning helps you set appropriate goals
Before you begi n to plan, you likely have an idea about what you’re
hoping to accomplish. Planning helps you refine that goal and determine if
it’s realistic or not. As an example, you might want to increase sales at
your job to a specific number. After taking the time t o plan, you realize
that number was a bit too high based on factors outside your control. You
adjust your goal based on this new information.
Planning breaks a problem or goal into smaller pieces
Many problems or goals in your life will be complicated. Th ere are often
more than just two paths you could take, so it’s not a matter of just
flipping a coin. It can be very overwhelming. Planning helps break down
the issue into smaller pieces and distribute tasks when applicable. Even if
you’re the only one faci ng the dilemma, planning turns a larger, more
abstract thing into bite -sized activities. It’s like paving a road brick by
brick to a resolution in the distance.
Planning reveals weaknesses (and strengths)
As you work through a plan and look at it from eve ry angle, you’ll notice
what makes the plan weak and what makes it strong. This is an essential
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7 could end up sabotaging yourself early on. Thinking critically about your
plan’s flaws h elps you make adjustments. Taking note of its strengths
affirms if it’s a good idea.
Planning increases certainty and confidence
Uncertainty is part of every new project or problem -solving endeavor.
That creates fear. When you take the time to plan well, y ou’ll see a boost
in your confidence and an increase in certainty. No one can predict the
future and there will always be surprises, but planning gives you a much
clearer i dea about what lies ahead.
Planning increases efficiency
You’ve no doubt heard about projects where people didn’t plan well
enough. There’s a big focus on the embarrassment of defeat, but it’s
important to also note how much waste occurred . That includes
wasted money , talent, and time. Even if a project doesn’t completely fail,
the lack of planning means it took more resources than necessary to reach
the finish line. Planning well increases efficiency and prevents waste.
Planning reduces risk
Because we can’t know the future, every new endeavor involves risk. In
many scenarios, the level of risk determines w hether a project or idea can
move forward. If your goal involves others – like an organization or a
team – the level of risk can determine if they’re willing to give you a shot.
How can you address this concern? Explain your plan. You can prove that
you’ve thought through the challenges and are prepared to adjust as
needed. You show that you’ve done everything you can to reduce risk.
Planning increases your credibility
Speaking of working with organizations and teams, being a good planner
is one of the bes t ways to earn credibility. If you’re in
a leadership position (or hope to be), your ability to guide the planning
process will determine how successful and respected you a re. Good
planners know how to set clear, realistic goals and what needs to happen
for that goal to be achieved.
Planning encourages creativity
Breaking a big goal into small parts, analyzing the weaknesses, and
coming up with ways to reduce risk make a gre at recipe for
innovation. Creative thinkers – like artists, musicians, and writers – often
talk about how the boundaries and problem -solving of planning force them
to stret ch their minds.
Planning improves decision -making
Is it possible to make a good decision without enough information? When
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8 rounded decision. You’re aware of the challenges and possibl e problems,
which helps you make better decisions each step of the way.
Planning equals more peace of mind
There are many planning benefits – increased efficiency, reduced risk,
boosted creativity – but there’s one last benefit that shouldn’t be ignored:
peace of mind. Any project or idea that requires a plan will trigger some
stress. Planning strips a lot of the uncertainty from the future and boosts
your confidence. You’ve thought through everything. You’ve weighed the
pros and cons. Stress probably won’t evaporate completely, but you have
more peace of mind than you did before planning.
1.5 REGIONAL PLANNING: CONCEPT, NATURE, AND
RELATION WITH GEOGRAPHY:
1.5.1. Regional planning: Concept:
Regional Planning is multidisciplinary approach aims at holistic
development of a region. According to Mackaye “Regional Planning is an
attempt at discovering the plans of the nature for the attainment of Man’s
ends upon the Earth”. According to Muniford, “Regional Planning asks
not how wide an area can be brought under the aegis of the Metropolis,
but how the population and civic facilities can be distributed so as to
promote and stimulate a vivid and creative life throughout a whole
region”. Regional Planning is a specific type of planning, based on,
specific planning structure for inducing public action aimed at societal
well-being.
It implies that Regional Planning is concerned fundamentally with the
society in the context of space. Regional Planning considered as a geo -
technology for comprehensive development of reg ions through rational
transformation of regional space. It seeks to recognize space more
rationally with a view to achieving greater regional integration Regional
Planning at different spatial levels ensures the fuller development of the
potentialities of the smallest unit, consisting a region. Regional Planning
should be viewed as essentially a means to strength the national economy
through the mechanism of Regional Planning by evaluating the potentials
of sub regions and to develop them to the best advant age of the nation a
whole.
Thus, the basic goals of Regional Planning are;
 Building the resource base of an economy
 Strengthen the economic opportunities
 Diversifying the national economy
 Providing strength and balance in the economic develop ment of the
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9  Environmental improvement and protection 9 general welfare of the
people Regional Planning processes intended to use collective intelligence
and foresight to chart direction, order, harmony, and progress in public
activities relating t o the human environment and general welfare. Regional
Planning strives to develop a broad base of regional economic activities as
it natural and human resources can be economically sustained. Regional
Planning does not work for regional self -sufficiency bu t for balanced and
harmonious national development.
1.5.2. Regional planning relation with Geography
Extensive urban and suburban growth has characterized much of the latter
half of the 20th century. Accordingly, urban geography and urban and
regional pla nning have grown as key areas of geography, with
geographers contributing significantly to the broader planning field. At the
dawn of the 21st century, as urban areas become increasingly congested
and populated, the need for planners will only grow.
Regio nal planning focuses on the spatial organization of activities and
land use activities, infrastructure and across a larger area of land than an
individual city or town. Regional planning is a sub -field of urban planning
as it relates land use practices on a broader scale. Regional planning also
studies the processes and forces that effect change in different regions,
including population growth and distribution, ethnic makeup, political
movements, and industrial patterns. Regional planners focus both on t he
Geographic education and training promote the kind of understanding of
society’s unique or distinctive characteristics of individual regions and on
the similarities that exist between many regions.
Complex use of urban and rural land necessary for succ essful planning
and for providing possible solutions to problems arising from conflicting
land uses within regions. The powerful tools of geography namely GIS,
cartography, and remote sensing further bolster the geographer’s ability to
plan effectively for the future.
Ideally, planners are able to prepare master plans that will benefit the
economy and social fabric of neighbourhoods, communities, cities, and
regions. They work to make cities efficient, but attractive places to live
and work by considering z oning regulations, traffic flows, building
density, hydrology, population distribution, and recreational needs. To
gain these skills, planners study population geography, transportation,
social service, utilities, and solid - waste disposal systems.
Some planners concentrate almost exclusively on transportation planning.
Traffic congestion and its associated noise and air pollution has
become a major problem in many cities, especially since people have
resisted most mass transit initiatives and insisted on private automobiles as
their preferred means of transportation. This puts a tremendous strain
network developed spatial analysis skills, geographers can assist in this
planning endeavour.
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10 1.6 ROLE OF SURVEYS AND GEOSPATIAL
TECHNOLOGY IN REGION AL PLANNING :
Here are the 6 major role of geospatial technology which we can use in the
regional planning.
 Land Use Planning and Management
 Crime Mapping and Analysis
 Solid Waste Management
 Urban Infrastructure and Utilities
 Urban Transportation
 Spatial P lanning
1. Land Use Planning and Management
Land use refers to the human activities on land. The key topics in this
category where GIS is critical are
 Land Use Mapping : Present spatial distribution of land cover, land
use and zoning
 Land Use Planning : Dete rmine the desired future development
pattern in a given area
 Land Use Analysis : Identify land use patterns and distributions and
developability of a proposed land use.
 Land Suitability Analysis : Determine optimal functional use of the
land considering s ocial, physical, spatial and economic factors
Here are some example GIS Applications that show how spatial analysis
techniques can be applied for such tasks.
1.1 CREATING A ZONING MA P
Zoning designations define and regulate what kinds of uses are allowed on
specific parcels of land and outline design and development requirements
and guidelines.
1.2 IDENTIFYING INFORMAL S E T T L E M E N T S A N D
URBAN GROWTH PATTERN S
Land -Cover data is a crucial reference dataset that informs a wide variety
of strategic planning activities. Using simple raster algebra operation using
QGIS Raster Calculator one can identify areas under informal
settlements.We can use land cover change datasets that shows class
transitions between 2 epochs to identify all pixels that have transitioned
from a n on-urban class to an urban class. This can be done using
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11 raster and convert it to a 3 -class raster consisting of non built -up, existing
built-up and new built -up areas. The resulting l ayer can be styled to show
the urban growth pattern between the 2 epochs.
1.3 DETERMINING LAND USE BUFFER ZONES
A useful spatial analysis techniques is to determine a buffer of restricted
area around all parcels belonging to a specific land use type. Such a nalysis
can be used to establish a corridor of restrictions around institutional land
use for controlling noise pollution or heavy traffic.
2. Crime Mapping and Analysis
There are several policy, planning, governance and technological
approaches to address urban crime dimensions and its impacts. The
applications of GIS are primarily in the following areas
 Crime Classification and Mapping : Aggregation and classification
of crime incidents
 Crime Hotspot and Density Analysis : Identify crime heatmaps and
prepar e crime density maps
 Surveillance and Infrastructure Mapping : Mapping and coverage
analysis of CCTV cameras, lighting infrastructure etc.
 Crime Prevention : Applying multicriteria analysis techniques for
allocation and optimization of resources
A few curate d examples that demonstrate how GIS is critical for crime
mapping, analysis and prevention strategies.
2.1 MAPPING CRIME ST ATISTICS
It is important to understand the pattern of crime across administrative
regions. Here’s an application to take crime statis tics data and createt a
choropleth map showing distribution of crime rate across police station
boundaries.
We take the Station Boundaries and Points shapefiles provided by South
African Police Service(SAPS) and join it with burglary counts from Crime
Statistic of Republic of South Africa using the Join Attributes by
Table algorithm in QGIS. We then normalize th e raw counts using
population data raster from WorldPop using the Zonal Statistics algorithm.
The result is a choropleth map of crime rate.
Displaying statistics linked w ith spatial data in a map is very powerful.
We explore the DataPlotly plugin to create a time -series chart of
burglaries.

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12 2.2 CRIME HOTSPOT IDENTIFICATI ON AND
MAPPING
There are 3 primary techniques for mapping crime incidents.
 Point mapping : Individual incidents are mapped with 1 point for each
incident. Techniques such as using ‘Feature Blending’ mode in QGIS
can help show areas of high number of crimes and create a dot map
like this .
 Binning : Aggregate the individual incidents over a rectanglular or
hexagonal grid to show areas with high crime. This can be achieved in
QGIS with the Create Grid and Count Points in Polygon algorithms.
One needs to be aware that this technique suffers fr om the Modifiable
Area Unit Problem (MAUP) and care needs to be taken to test various
configurations before drawing conclusions from the results.
 Heatmap / Kernel Densit y Estimation : Hotspot mapping is the most
widely used technique to identify areas of concentrated crime. This is
the most robust technique for identifying crime hotspots. A fine grid is
generated over the point distribution. A moving window (i.e. Kernel)
of a specified radius visits each cell in the grid and calculates weights
for each point within the kernel’s radius. The final value of the grid is
determined by summing values from all points
3. Solid Waste Management
The applications of GIS in Solid Waste Management can be categorized
into following
 Infrastructure : Visualizing and analyzing spatial spread of waste
management infrastructure and capacity (i.e. bins, landfills, recycling
centers etc.)
 Service Delivery: Identifying underserved areas and optimi zing waste
lifting cycles
 Resource Mobilization : Identifying area potential and budget
allocation for waste management
Here are some applications that show how GIS can be applied to solve
waste management challenges
3.1 MAPPING WASTE DI SPOSAL VOLUMES
We ta ke a spreadsheet of waste entering city disposal facilities and a
shapefile of landfill sites from the City of Cape Town Open Data Portal .
We create a proportional -symb ol map showing amount of waste processed
at each landfill using Data -defined Overrides in QGIS. The result is a
beautiful and informative data visualization that also uses Data -defined
Size Legend feature to show the distribution of waste across different sites.
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13 3.2 SERVICE AREA ANALYSI S
Continuing to work with waste infrastructure data for the city of Cape
Town, we will take locations of waste collection facilities and determine
which areas of the city are within 15 -minutes of driving time. This will
allow us to determine opportunities for improving the service delivery
with potential new locations. The service area computation is done via the
excellent ORS Tools plugin for QGIS using the Isochrones From
Layer algorithm. We get polygons representing actual dri ve times along
the road network – instead of more commonly used circular buffer zones.
3.3 LOCATION -ALLOCATION ANALYSIS
Location -allocation analysis is used locate a set of new facilities such that
the travel cost from facilities to demand -areas is minimiz ed and assigns
the closest facility to each demand point. The ‘ travel cost ’ can the total
distance or travel time. We take the Refuse Collection Beats polygon
centroids as Demand Points and locations of Waste Drop -off Facilities
as Facility Locations and e valuate 2 potential waste drop -off facilities to
determine which facility is the optimal location to minimize the overall
travel cost for citizens. The network analysis is done via the Distance
Matrix algorithm provided by QNEAT3 plugin for QGIS.
4. Urban Infrastructure and Utilities
Cities are generally faced with infrastructure and service delivery
challenges and GIS can be applied to effectively solve them. The
applications primarily fall into the following categories:
 Asset Management : Cataloguing, oper ation and maintenance of
existing infrastructure such as water supply network, sewerage and
storm water drainage, street lighting, and telecom
 Service Delivery : Identifying gaps and planning for new infrastructure
4.1 FIELD DATA COLLE CTION
Mapping infrast ructure and associated attributes is a key step in asset
management. We use the QGIS based open -source mobile field data
collection app Input to design a form to survey streetlights.Each
participant does a survey of streetlights around a street block using the
mobile app and then sync the field data to QGIS desktop. Loading
the Dark matter basemap by CartoDB and applying a shapeburst
fill symbology can be used effectively to visualize un -lit spots in the
neighborhood.
4.2 MULTICRITERIA OV ERLAY ANALYSIS
Multi -criteria overlay analysis is the process of the selecting areas on the
basis of a variety of location attributes. We will apply geoprocessing
techniques on multiple vector layers and find areas to build new parking
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14 Using Cycling Infrastructure data from Transport for London and London
Individual crime and anti -social behavior (ASB) incidents from Police.
uk we apply multi -criterial GIS analysis techniques to propose a new
bicycle parking facility in the Westminster borough of London to reduce
thefts. We use the following criteria
1. The proposed area m ust be in a bicycle theft hotspot
2. The proposed area must be within 50meters from a bicycle route
3. The proposed area must NOT be within 50 meters from an existing
bicycle parking
Using the vector layers representing each criteria, this analysis is carried
out using the Buffer, Intersection, and Difference tools from the QGIS
Processing Toolbox.
5. Urban Transportation
Spatial data and spatial analysis are key to effective transportation
planning. Urban planners can apply GIS for
 Walkability : Determining condu cive urban spaces for walkability at a
city/ neighbourhood level.
 Mobility : Accessibility and coverage of various modes of transport
 Traffic : Analysis of traffic hotspots and congestion patterns
 Transit Oriented Development (TOD) : Integration of land use,
population and public transit network for site suitability and route
planning.
 Smart Transportation : Analyzing transportation network for
suitability of smart sensors, identifying locations for EV charging
stations etc.
5.1 ANALYZING METRO RAIL ACCESSIBILI TY
When planning for transit -oriented development (TOD), a useful criteria is
accessibility to public transport. We can apply spatial analysis techniques
to determine what percentage of population in a given city lives in close
proximity to metro stations. We first query OpenStreetMap database via
the QuickOSM plugin in QGIS to get the location of functioning metro
stations in the city of Bangalore, India. Then we calculate a 1km buffer
and use t he Zonal Statistics algorithm from QGIS on a population grid
from WorldPop. The result of our analysis shows what percentage of the
city’s population has easy access to the metro rail system.
6. Spatial Planning
Spatial planning is an interdisciplinary act ivity that takes a structured
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15 patterns, trends, growth, integration, economic activities, infrastructure
and limitations across the city. The key areas for GIS applications are
 Urban S pace: Analyze patterns of land use (green spaces, informal
settlements) across different ward/regions.
 Biodiversity/Ecology : Identify the eco -sensitive areas, represent
overall biodiversity plans in terms of regional ecosystems (biomes,
vegetation, wetland s, rivers, ground water, marine, others)
 Spatial Economy : Analyze the spatial pattern of the city in terms of
economic hot spots and economically backwards areas requiring
investments. Identify the potential urban and rural economic drivers.
 Integrated Pla nning/Spatial Development Framework : Identify
urban growth corridors
 Smart City : Identify the potential areas for smart eco -development
zones, walkable zones, high internet connectivity etc.
1.7 PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH REGIONAL
PLANNING(INDIA/WORLD):
2. Refusal of the richer states to transfer some of their surplus resources
to the poorer states;
3. Lack of self -reliance on the part of poorer states and thereby too much
dependence on the transfer of resources from richer states;
4. Area development programmes for th e backward areas are lacking an
integrated approach;
5. Failure of large central projects located in the backward areas to
improve their economies;
6. Non-approaching attitude of the entrepreneurs to seek concessional
finance from the public sector financial ins titutions;
7. Too much concentration of Central Government investment subsidy
meant for specific backward areas into a few areas of some districts
and too much of such investment subsidy on capital related
investments leading to creation of lesser employment opportunities;
8. Lack of infrastructural facilities like power, transport, communication
etc. and lack of adequate fiscal and monetary incentives from the State
Governments have led to no development of ancillary industries,
secondary and tertiary industries in and around these major central
industrial undertakings;
9. Lack of proper incentives offered by the State Government for tackling
the problem of intra -state imbalances existing within a state;
10. Inadequacy of fund allotted by the State Governments for the
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16 11. Non-utilisation of plan outlays and loans and advances given to the
states for the development of backward areas.
Considering the above major problems of the regional planning strategy
in India, the problem of regional imbalances has to be considered not only
in financial terms but also in physical terms. In order to develop these
backward regions, the central assistance should be directly linked with
specific programmes. Development potentials of the backward areas
should be clearly identified and proper steps should be taken to develop
such potentialities in order to remove such relative backwardness of those
areas.
Check your Progress/Exercise:
1. Write a short note on following:
1. Concept of Planning
2. Regional planning
3. Geospatial technology
Q. 2. Discuss in details about regional planning.
Q.3. what are the difference between planning and regional planning.
Q.4. Discuss in details about the major problems associated re gional
planning in India.
Q. 5 explain the concept of planning and regional planning.

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17 2
CONCEPT OF REGION IN PLANNING
After going through this chapter, you will be able to understand
the following features.
Unit Structure
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Introduction
2.3 Subject- Discussion
2.4 Region: Concept, types. delineation
2.5 Planning Regions: Need, characteristics, and hierarchy
2.6 Demarcation of planning regions: Principles, criteria, and methods
2.7 Perroux’s Growth Pole Theory and regional planning
2.9 Check your Progress/Exercise
2.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to –
 Understand the Concept of Region. types, and delineation
 Understand the Planning Regions: Need, characteristics, and hierarchy
 Know the Demarcation of planning regions: Principles, criteria, and
methods
 Understand the Perroux’s Growth Pole Theory and regional planning.
2.2. INTRODUC TION
In this unit, we will understand the concept region, meaning and definition
of region as well as we are also, able to types, and delineation of region.
When we understand the conce pt of planning the we can understand the
concept of “regional planning”.
A planning region can be defined as a geographical region where
designing and implementation of the development plan is possible for
tackling of regional problems. It could be both fo rmal & functional
and generally transitional in nature: Example – Delhi Metropolitan
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18 We should understand the basic concept of Region is so important because
of there is no geographical region in the world which have been fulfilled.
that means ther e is a difference between region to region and if we can
apply this regional planning concept on those all -backwards area which is
somehow dependent to another region. We need to understand relation
between regional planning and geography.
Today’s modern era how we can use geospatial technology in regional
planning. The help of geospatial technology we reduce the disparity
between the region to region. There is several problems in regional
planning we should identify all problems and solve them.
The botto m line is planning and regional planning both are important
concept in geography the help of this concept we can reduce the disparity
in the region and we can utilise all possible resources for the development
of the region.
2.4 REGION: CONCEPT, TYPES, AND
DELINEATION
 In geography, regions are the areas that are broadly divided by its
physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact
characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of
humanity and the environment (environmental geography ).
 Geographic regions and sub -regions are mostly described by their
imprecisely defined, and sometimes transitory boundaries , except in
human geography, where jurisdiction areas such as national borders are
defined in law.
 ‘Regions’ or ‘Landschaft’ is a si milar concept that came
into existence in Mid 29th centaury from the “German School”.
 At first, geographers where trying to classify the world into a
natural region by the homogeneity and uniformity between physical
attributes of the area or space.
 In the 20th century regions were classified into different categories
( different functional regions or planning regions) with the help of
different statistical methods showing functional homogeneity in
multiple attributes
 At present, the Region and regionalizati on get wide spectrum
through the planning process in any country or a state or small unit of
a natural, functional, or vernacular region of the word; to achieve the
goal of sustainable development.
Definition of Region
A region is an area on the earth’s su rface marked by certain properties
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Concept of Region in Planning
19 A Region is defined as a part of the Earth’s surface with one or many
similar characteristics that make it unique from other areas . Regional
geography studies the specific unique characteristics of places related
to their culture, economy, topography, climate, politics, and environmental
factors such as their different species of flora and fauna.
The concept of Region is generally linked with Space and has Spatial
dimensions .
It is sometimes also used to as ‘ Subjective ’ (a ‘mental construct’) or
‘spaceless ’. However, for most Geographers, Region is an Objective
Reality linked with space, defined in terms of Space.
Sometimes a part of a District (sometimes even a vill age) is called
Region, Sometimes a District , a State, a group of States is regarded as
Region.
Some important definition given by geographers are below:
 The Region is an area of the earth Surface. – Taylor
 A region is an unit area of the earth’s surface di fferentiated by its
specific characteristics. – F. J. Monkhouse
 The Region is a geographic area or areas which given civilisation,
standard of a people seems to require for the fulfillment of the
aspiration through a material resource. – C Aronovic
 Any Sur face over the earth’s surface where physical conditions are
homogenous is a region. – Woolfgang & Joerg
 Regions are genuine entities, each of Which expresses both natural and
cultural differentiation from its neighbours. – G. T. Ranner
 “A region is a compl ex of land, water, air, plant, animal and man,
regarded under their spatial relationship as together constituting a
definite portion of the earth surface.” – A .J. Herbertson
 “A region is a domain where many dissimilar things are artificially
brought toget her have subsequently adopted themselves to a common
existence.” – Vidal -de-La-Blache
 “A region is an area of specific location which in some way very
distinctive from other areas and which extends as far as the distinction
extends.” – Richard Hartshorne
 “A region is an area within which the combination of environment and
demographic factors have erected a homogeneity of economic and
social structure.” – T.T. Woofer
 “An area throughout which a particular set of physical type of
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20  Region is an are delineated on the basis of homogeneity of land –
character, and occupance. – R.S. Platt .
Development of Regional Geography
Regional geography has its roots in Europe ; specifically with
the French and geographer Paul Vidal de la Blanche . In the late 29th
century, De la Blanche developed his ideas of the milieu and
pays. The milieu was the natural environment and pays was the
country or local region.
Before b ecoming the target of systematic concerns , regional studies
sought, above all, to identify specificities, curiosities, and
descriptions of the most different parts of the globe.
From the mid-eighteenth century several forms of description,
classification a nd analysis techniques have been created without the
intention to develop a more “ scientific” point of view about the
term region.
These concerns have become more common in the early twentieth century
when the systematization of a “regional geography ” bega n to take its first
steps, both in Europe and in the United States.
Main geographers who developed the first theoretical definitions on the
regional phenomenon: Alfred Hettner, in Germany , Vidal -de-la-Blache,
in France , and A. J. Herbertson, in Great Brita in.
The first systematic definition of the notion of the region was made by
Herbertson, in an article dated 2905. With regard to its more
methodological aspects, it can be said that the purpose is to create a
“systematic geography “, and seeks to find ” geographical divisions
orders on the globe “.
The concern to define regionalization as a classification process, It makes
explicit reference to the biology classification procedures ( Organic
theory of Regionalisation ), thus demonstrating a deductive bias, base d on
the demarcation criteria, divides the world into major natural regions”.
Herbertson (2905) proposes four “classes of phenomena” for such
regions, in the following order of importance:
1. configuration (mainly the elements of geology and geomorphology of
the earth);
2. climate (air masses, temperature, and precipitation levels);
3. vegetation; and
4. population densities
Setting natural regions would be, in this sense, “the necessary step for the
final solution of the problems of geography” as these definitions wou ld
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Concept of Region in Planning
21 even to understand the economic functions, which each portion of the
space would fulfill since it was believed that the productive activities had
clear causal relationships with natural elements such as climate, geology,
landform, vegetation and soil of each area. This true “ physical
regionalization ” of the world at the time was followed by several similar
attempts, mainly conducted by Russian geographers Gregg, 2974.
Paul shows t hat in this period the region was a fact of physical geography,
a fact of nature in virtually all that was written on the subject.
Gomes ( 2995) also noted that “ the concept of natural region is born
from this idea that the environment has some ownership on the
orientation of the society development .” Most of these definitions had a
deterministic or “ environmentalist ” Bias.
Regional geography began to develop in the United States
specifically and parts of Europe in the period between World Wars I
and II.
During this time, geography was criticized for its descriptive
nature with environmental determinism and lack of a specific
focus. As a result, geographers were seeking ways to keep geography as a
credible university -level subject.
In the 2920s and 2930s, geography became a regional science
concerned with why certain places are similar and/or different and
what enables people to separate one region from another . This
practice became known as areal differentiation .
In the U.S., Carl Sauer and his Berkeley School of geographic
thought led to the development of regional geography , especially on
the west coast . During this time, regional geography was also led by
Richard Hartshorne who studied Germa n regional geography in the
2930s with famous geographers such as Alfred Hettner and Fred
Schaefer.
Hartshorne defined geography as a science “To provide accurate,
orderly, and rational description and interpretation of the variable
character of the earth surface.”
For a short time during and after WWII , regional geography was a
popular field of study within the discipline. However, it was later critiqued
for its specifically regional knowledge and it was claimed to have been too
descriptive and not quantit ative enough .
The economic region was the main focus of regional research from the
2930s to the 2970s. Quite substantial results were reached in that
field. During the last forty years, regional geography has ceased to
appear central to most geographers. In fact, the new interest in place
and territory shows a renewal in this field much more than a decline.
Some geographers are, however, very critical of the regional idea.
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22 Some important regions
 Global regions
 Continental regions
 Geographical regions
 Planning Regions
 Palaeogeographic Regions
 Physiographic Regions
 Historical Regions
 Tourism regions
 Natural regions
 Natural resource regions
 Hydrological regions
 Religious regions
 Political regions
 Socio Cultural Region
 Administrative regions
 Local administrati ve regions
 Traditional or informal regions
 Functional region
 Military regions
 Culture Region
 Geographical regions
Typology of Region
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23


Formal region
 A formal region is a geographical region that is homogeneous and
uniform within a specified criterion. This specified criterion could be
physical, social, or political. Ex ample – Himalayan Region, Sub -
Tropical Region, etc.
 A formal region is also known as a uniform or homogeneous region.
 It is an area in which everyone shares in common one or more
distinctive characteristics. This common characteristic could be a
cultural v alue such as language, an economic activity such as the
production of a certain crop, or an environmental property such as
climate and weather patterns. Whatever the common characteristic is,
it is present throughout the selected region.
 In certain formal regions, the characteristic may be predominant rather
than universal, such as the wheat belt in North America, it is an area in
which the predominant crop is wheat, but other crops are grown here
as well.
 Its is further divided in ‘Single feature Region ‘( ex. Physiographic
regions of India),“Multiple Feature region’ (ex. Resource Region or
Planning region), and ‘Compage region’ (ex. Agricultural region of the
World).
 Whittlessy ( 2956) defined ‘compage region’ as a uniform
region where all the features of th e physical, biotic and social
environment are functionally associated with the human occupance.
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24 Functional Region
 A functional region that displays a certain functional coherence, an
interdependence of parts when defined on the basis of certain criteria
is known as a functional region.
 A functional region, also known as a nodal region, organized around a
node or focal point. It is sometimes referred as a polarized region and
is composed of heterogeneous units such as cities, towns & villages
which are func tionally inter -related. Example – National Capital
Region.
 The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a
central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward.
 The region is tied to the central point by transportation,
communi cation systems or by economic or functional associations.
 The functional linkage keep in changing in nature and volume.
 An example of a functional region is the circulation area of a
newspaper. That area is centered around the city in which the
newspaper i s published in. The farther away from the city of
circulation, the less people that read the newspaper (this phenomenon
is known as distance decay).
Vernacular region
 A “vernacular region” is a distinctive area where the inhabitants
collectively consider t hemselves interconnected by a shared history,
mutual interests, and a common identity. Such regions are “intellectual
inventions” and a form of shorthand to identify things, people, and
places.
 Vernacular regions reflect a “ sense of place ,” but rarely coin cide with
established jurisdictional borders.
 A vernacular region, also known as Perceptual region or Adhoc
Region , is a place that people exist as part of their cultural identity.
 These regions vary from person to person. They emerge from a
person’s infor mal sense of place. An example of a vernacular region
would be the Cultural region or Transitional regions, depressed areas,
etc.
A planning region can be defined as a geographical region where
designing and implementation of the development plan is possib le for
tackling of regional problems. It could be both formal & functional and
generally transitional in nature: Example – Delhi Metropolitan Region.

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Concept of Region in Planning
25 Delineation of Region
Delimitation of a Naive region
Due to the complexity and contradictory nature of e lements constituting
the region, only vague and transitional boundaries can be delineated.
E.g. it is difficult to draw linear boundaries for a cultural region due to the
transitional nature of the zones of cultural regions (Buddhist cultural zones
in Indi a).
The methods involved in the delimitation of the naive region are Flow
analysis
In this method first, the core is identified, and based on primary data it is
estimated that how far flow of goods and services or the traits of culture
can be identified
This method can be used for classifying even the functional region.
E.g. R L Singh analysis of Sphere of Influence or Umland (write about
vegetable supply, newspaper supply, etc.)
For the cultural region the elements of culture are identified say language,
religion, dressing sense, etc. and based on their occurrence in
surroundings, the regional boundaries can be vaguely drawn
Relative intensity analysis
Let’s suppose (i) and (j) are the two segments of the space and Yi and Yj
are the per capita income. The e quation Yi -Yj gives the value which is the
difference between the Per Capita Income of the two segments.
A geographer can fix criteria or a limit beyond which the heterogeneity
between (i) and (j) is so high that they can be differentiated and classified
as regions.
If the value is less than the criteria, (i) and (j) are homogeneous and can’t
be differentiated into two regions. This is the most accepted method which
is applied to delimit the naive regions. Although, the boundaries can’t be
defined as the na ive regions don’t have boundaries that are clear.
Flow analysis
Delimitation of formal region
Formal regions have precise boundary limitations. E.g. 28 degrees C
isotherm, administrative boundaries, etc.
Delineation of formal regions involves the grouping together of local units
which have similar characteristics according to certain clearly defined
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26 The criteria can be unemployment rates, activ ity rate, migration trends, per
capita income, etc.
The characteristics should differ significantly from units outside the
region.
The delineation depends on the development objectives.
Variables for delineation of the formal region (homogeneous): Land use
characteristics Demographic characteristics; Transport infrastructure;
Social service and public utilities; Socio -economic structures.
There are two techniques for delineation of formal regions are detailed
below:
Weighted Index Number Methods
Factor Anal ysis Method
Weighted Index Number Methods
In this method, some indices (parameters) are chosen and given weights,
total weights for each part is separately calculated and areas with similar
weights are carved out. This area is termed as ‘region’.
Example: For identifying employment & income level delineation The
study area is divided into several localities varying according to
unemployment rates and per capita income levels. The aim is to isolate the
main problem region; i.e. the area of economic malaise. Weights are
assigned to each criterion and when taken together and weighted, one of
the regions can be isolated
If delineation of the formal region is done on the basis of one criterion
then we will use the Relative Intensity Analysis Method.
E.g. say regi ons (a) and (b) have Per Capita Income Xa and Xb, then these
will be included in the same region if Xa=Xb or less than a limit.
If we consider more than one feature to delineate literacy, industries, per
capita income then methods are:
Fixed index method
Variable index method
Cluster method
Fixed index method:
Under the fixed index method a number of characteristics (indices)
common to regions are chosen. E.g. per capita income, unemployment,
rate of industrialization.
An arbitrary weight is given to each i ndex and a single weighted mean is
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Concept of Region in Planning
27 Then contiguous regions with similar indices are grouped together in order
to minimize variance within each group. E.g. HDI index - weighted mean
of health indicators, education, and standard of living for a particular
region is taken and then the region is delineated by fixing the criteria for
high, medium, and low HDI regions (countries or states).
Variable index method
Variable weights are assigned to highlight levels of activities in different
regions.
The weight given to each activity in each region is different and in
accordance with the value or the volume regionally produced. For
example, if region A is the wheat region and region B is coal region then
the weight of a wheat index will be th e largest in former and weight of
coal index will be larger in later.
This method is good when criteria can be compared with each other.
However, in those cases where comparability is not possible (e.g. in cases
where one feature is literacy and other is s teel production), it becomes
necessary to employ cluster method.
In variable index method different problems of a region are taken together
and weighted. It is a simple way to delineate regions. However, choice of
regional criteria and choice of weight is the problem.
Cluster method:
It is used to detect the homogeneous character of the structure of different
regional units.
Parameters/variability is plotted on the same region and more
concentration means more clusters. It is a statistical method.
For this purpose a study of income and trade, flows can be made for the
purpose of comparison.
Here mapping techniques are used to trace the cluster where the
interrelated variables are mapped by superimposing techniques.
Example - frequency of buses from one city t o another, traffic zones,
circulation of vegetables.
Cluster method is one of the most easiest and common techniques adopted
by geographers and cartographers. E.g. agriculture, minerals, industrial
map, rainfall, and soil map to get land -use of area.
Suppo se if the map of India is taken, if we draw the rainfall map of India
and above rainfall map, if we plot the soil map and above soil map if we
plot water availability map, then we will find that there will be some area
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28 Various thematic maps superimposed of one variable layer over another
helps in demarcating the boundary most common to all phenomena of the
region.
Factor Analysis Method
In this method, each parameter is mapped out separately and then all the
maps are kept one over the other. The common region that will be carved
out after this exercise will form a region.
It is a more sophisticated approach.
Smith used this method for delineating economic -health regions.
Smith iden tified 24 industrial criteria on a local employment exchange
area base and 24 socio -economic criteria on a local authority base. Many
of these criteria are interdependent.
The factor analysis method can be used to isolate these factors and to
group areas o n the basis of factor loadings.
Smith identified ‘industrial change’ and industrial structure’ as major
industrial factors, and ‘population change’ and ‘social structure’ as major
socio -economic factors. These factors help in delineating economic health
regions.
Delineation of functional region
The delineation of the functional region involves grouping together of
local units that display a considerable degree of interdependence.
The concern is thus more with flows linked to a central point rather than
with uniformity of the region as a whole
Two basic approaches to functional regional outlines:
Flow analysis based on actual observations of what people do
Gravitational analysis based on theoretical observation of what people
might do.
Flow analysis
Flow anal ysis builds up functional regions on the basis of the direction and
intensity of flows between the dominant centre and surrounding satellites.
Each flow will show decreasing intensity as it becomes more distant from
the main centre and increasing intensity as it approaches another centre.
The boundary of the sphere of influence of the dominant centre will be
where the flow intensity at a minimum. When the flow significantly drops
that means interaction/origin’s influence drops. In terms of distance, in a
particular direction, there is the influence of the node and there onwards it
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Concept of Region in Planning
29 In the flow analysis, the processional regions are demarcated based on the
direction and intensity of flow between the principal center and the sub -
cities around it. The flow decreases according to the distance from the
principal center and the effect increases as it approaches the other center.
Where the flow intensity around the principal center is minimal, there is a
limit to the circumference of the effect of that center.
This flow can be of any kind,
economic – such as cargo or passenger, road or rail.
objective/Purpose – shopping or commuting
social – the flow of students or hospital patients
political – the flow of government expenditure
Information – telegrams, newspaper, telephone calls, etc.
Flow analysis upsc
Gravitational analysis
The basis of the origin of gravity analysis lies in Newton’s theory. It is
based on the possible value of human interaction.
It is concerned with theoretical forces of attraction between centres rather
than actual flow.
As such it is regarded as 2nd best approach but if used with care as it can
provide a good guide to actual flows and more importantly the potential
flows between cent res.
This rapidly developing field of “social physics” as developed by Zipf,
Reilly, Stewart, Stouffer and others is based on a probability view of
human interactions and originates from the application of analogous
reasoning to Newtonian physics. It means that this method is based on the
probability of attraction of flow (flow of goods, services, people, etc) by
centre from nearby areas.
This gravity model assumes that interaction between two centres is
proportional to the mass of centres like population, employment, income,
expenditure, retail trading, etc. and is inversely proportional to the square
of the distance between centres like miles, time and intervening
opportunities.
2.5 PLANNING REGIONS: NEED,
CHARACTERISTICS, AND HIERARCHY
Concept Plannin g Region
 A planning region is a segment of territory over which economic
decisions apply. The term planning here means taking decisions to
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30  Planning regions may be administrative or political regions s uch
as state, district, or the block because such regions are better in
management and collecting statistical data. Hence, the entire country
is a planning region for national plans , the state is the planning
region for state plans and districts or blocks are the planning
regions for micro -regional plans .
 For proper implementation and realization of plan objectives, a
planning region should have a fairly homogeneous economic,
topographical and socio -cultural structure.
 It should be large enough to contain a range of resources that
provides it economic viability.
 It should also internally cohesive and geographically a contagion area
unit.
 Its resource endowment should be that a satisfactory level of product
combination consumption and exchange is feasible.

Need of Regional Plan
A city or any area might grow in size and hamper the development of its
surrounding area. Over the decades it starts competing with the
surrounding areas and this results in imbalance. It creates economic as
well as functional imbalance in areas. Increases migration, decreases
efficiency, results in undue waste of resources and might also find it
difficult to meet its needs. To prevent such imbalance regional plans are
very much required.
It helps in reducing disparities, promoting growth, promoting sustainable
development, economic growth of the collective region based on its
potential. Also, issue of migration is also solved to an great
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Concept of Region in Planning
31 extent because the required facilities are more evenly distributed rath er
than being concentrated in a specific urban area. These plans ensure a
much better connectivity within the region and take care of future growth.
Characteristics : planning Region :
 It should be large enough to contain a range of resources, conditions
and attributes so as to serve a desired degree of economic viability and
at the same time not too large to make the comprehensive approach too
general.
 Its resource position is such that a satisfactory level of product
combination for consumption and for ex change would be feasible.
 Planning region is essentially operational in character therefore a high
degree of flexibility and elasticity should be maintained in the process
of regional delineation.
 The internal homogeneity of the resources should be logica lly linked
up.
 The region should be internally cohesive (closely connected).
 The region should be geographically contiguous which can be divided
into plain, hilly tract, coastal belt etc.
 The people of the region should have social and cultural cohesiven ess.
 The region should be a separate unit for data collection and analysis.
 The region should have an economic existence which can be accessed
from statistical records.
 It should be small enough to ensure local people’s participation in its
development.
 It should be under one administrative agency.
 It should not be too small; its geographical size should be big enough
to exploit resources. It should be big enough to permit the major part
of labour requirements in any employing centre to be met from within
the region.
 It should have homogeneous economic structure, i.e, the variation in
local proportions of employment and output in agriculture, industry
and services should be within a narrow range.
 It should have one or more growth points.
 All the parts of the region should be inter dependent.
 There should be common appreciation of local problems and common
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32 encourage competition but not rivalry or apathy between one area and
the other.
Hierarchical of Planning Regions
In multi level planning there is certain hierarchy of regions. WE can
classify it in many ways depending on chosen criterion/criteria. One such
classification on size criterion is here.
Macro Regions
Macro region is naturally bigger. Macro region can be a state of even a
group of states, if the states of a country are not big enough. A Macro -
major region can be a zone in a country, which may comprise of a few
States. For example, in India there are East, West, North, South and
Central Zones and ‘Zonal Councils’ of which function is mutual
Consultation, developing cooperation and mutual counseling.In a sense
macro regions are second in hie rarchy, next to the national level. It is
also possible that a physical macro region may comprise parts of different
states of a country or project planning purposes. (e.g., big river valley
projects, an electric grid of different states, and, for the purp ose of a
particular activity (facility) planning) the macro region ill be parts of
different states. State boundaries are not respected in the sense that the
macro region may transcend or cut -across administrative boundaries of the
states of a country. A m acro region may not be uniform or homogeneous
in all respects. It may ave homogeneity in one respect (physical
complimentarity) and may have heterogeneity n other respect
(administrative boundaries). A macro region should have a common
resource base and sp ecialization in that resource base, so that production
activities can develop on the principle of comparative advantage based on
territorial division of labor.(India has been divided into 22 to 20 macro
regions -agro-climate or resource regions).The plannin g Commission of
India would have just 5 zonal councils -Eastern, Northern,Central, Western
and Southern comprising of certain states but beyond this there is no
macro -regionalization in India.These so -called macro regions of India
have to have inter state c ooperation in the matter of utilization of river
water and electricity grids etc.
REPORT THIS AD
Meso Regions
Meso region can be identified with a ‘division’ of a state. Chattisgarh
Region,Bundelkhand Region, Baghelkahand Region, Mahakoshal region
is usua lly a sub -division of a state, comprising of several districts. There
should be some identifiableaffinity in the area which may even facilitate
planning. It can be cultural or administrative region and it will be even
better if it is a homogeneous physical region

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33 Micro Regions
In multi -level planning, district is the micro region. It becomes the lowest
territorial unitof planning in the hierarchy of planning regions. The most
important reason why districtis the most viable micro region for planning
is the existence of database and compactadministration. This is the area,
which is viable for plan formulation with administrationfor plan
implementation and monitoring.A metropolitan area can be one micro
region and the area of influence can be another micro re gion. A nodal
point is also a micro region, though in many cases micro regionsare
basically rural areas, which may have a number of minor nodes without
anyorganizational hierarchy influencing the entire area. The basic
characteristic of a microregion is it s smallness. There can be some specific
micro regions such as belts of extraction of mineral or a reclaimed area, or
a not -so-big command area of an irrigational project.
Micro – Minor Region:
This is the region which is associated with, what is called, th e grass -root
planning. Amicro -minor region can be a block for which also data exists
now and for which theremay be a plan. (So far as the quality of data is
concerned, there is hardly any activity, or sector, or region or field for
which data is not cooked by the vested interest groups: but,that is another
story).The block level plan is integrated with the national plan, through the
district and statelevel plans. A block level plan is not surgically cut portion
of the district plan, which hasits own logic a nd linkage.At block level,
most of the officers will be more concerned with the implementation
of the plans than formulating the plans. At block level, the main exercise
will be to take intoaccount of the physical and human resources and to
find out the pr ime moving activitieswhich will enable the block people to
make best use of the development potential of the block to meet the basic
needs of the people.Minimum needs can be satisfied with the production
of basic goods with the help of lowentropy local res ources. Yet it cannot
be said that ‘external help’ will not be necessary.Infrastructure support has
to come from the developed regions. Infact, planning of thedevelopment
of the transport, communication, banking, education, medical and
manyservice faciliti es has got to be done at the national level.At the
panchayat level, basic goods and services can be arranged through the
efforts of the local people. Many activities can be so planned that they
improve the socio -economicconditions of the people without bei ng the
part of the national plan. Several activities can be undertaken with the
cooperation of the local people, with minimum of financial andreal
resource support from outside e.g., development of dairying, animal
husbandry, pisciculture, poultry, soil co nservation measures, optimization
of the cropping pattern,
.The most important test of micro -minor planning is that the people need
not look towards the centre for it. Now days, a lot of importance is given
to ‘water harvesting’.Water is proxy for the use of modern inputs in
agriculture. Much of the run -off water goes waste and the infiltration rate
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34 stored, but sub -soil water reserves can also become rich. Micro -minor
watershed de velopment program probably will be the most important
program for a country like India. The optimum land use planning can start
from the micro -minor area only.
2.6 DEMARCATION OF PLANNING REGIONS:
PRINCIPLES, CRITERIA, AND METHODS OF
REGIONALIZATION
 Regional delineation is the first step in the preparation of any
regional development plan to ensure the tentative operational area
of planning. within the planning region, the frame of all regional
studies could be undertaken and development envisaged.
 Regionalization is the process of dividing complexity with respect to
a region into simple understandable forms .
 The essence of regionalization is uniformity/homogeneity of a
region so the method should be such that the region so created has
marked dissimilar ity with the neighboring area (Area 2 and Area 2).

 Steps in the regionalization process involve investigation of the
area where regionalization attributes are to be applied, then there will
be a thorough survey of the area under consideration which would
decide the parameters on which the regionalization is to be done (e.g.
region with a high density of population). After the surv ey of an area
with respect to the given parameter is done, there will be
generalization based on the above parameters (e.g. areas with a
population density of 300, 400, etc.
 Regionalization is based on the investigation . The investigation
includes the iden tification of variables which has bearing on a large
number of other variables existing in a given space. (E.g. variables in
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35  The next step in regionalization is a reconnaissance survey which is
conducted by more than one observer, thus giving non -coinciding
boundaries for the same area.
 The generalization is done wherein the largest number of
coinciding interactions is identified.
Different approaches to regionalization
 Till World War II empirical approach was followed e.g. flow
analysis
 During the phase of Quantitative Revolution statistical
approach was followed. e.g. Gravity Models
 During the Critical Revolution, empirical cum statistical
tools were employed in methods of regionalization. E.g. Delhi NCR.
 Empirical approach
 This approach was popular till World War II
 It was based on observation and assessment for the purpose of
demarcation of a region.
 Here the region is demarcated based on the observation of the people.
 The drawback of this approach lies in the fact that there is no clear
demarcation of a region based on this method
 Statistical approach
 Due to the Quantitative Revolution gravity models were used for the
precise demarcation of a region.
 After the 2nd World War geographers used scientific tech niques and
precisely demarcated a region from its neighbor regions.
 The sphere of influence of a region was demarcated by using the law
of retail trade which states the area of influence of a city or a region in
providing goods and services (trade) to adja cent regions by using
statistical methods (formulas).
 Empirical cum statistical approach:
 With Critical Revolution in geography, geography is a subject in
humanity where some flexibility is required as man is involved, and
the scientific approach does not last long.
 Thus, there was a need for empirical cum statistical approach. This
approach got tremendous support. For example demarcation of the
NCR region of Delhi involves both a statistical approach (area to be
included in NCR) and an empirical approach ( migration of people in
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36

Delimitation of a Naive region
 Due to the complexity and contradictory nature of elements
constituting the region, only vague and transitional boundaries
can be delineated .
 E.g. it is difficult to draw linear boundaries for a cultural region due to
the transitional nature of the zones of cultural regions (Buddhist
cultural zones in India).
 The methods involved in the delimitation of the naive region are
 Flow analysis
 In this method first, the core is identified , and based on primary data
it is estimated that how far flow of goods and services or the traits of
culture can be identified
 This meth od can be used for classifying even the functional region.
 E.g. R L Singh analysis of Sphere of Influence or Umland ( write about
vegetable supply, newspaper supply, etc.)
 For the cultural region the elements of culture are identified say
language, religion , dressing sense, etc. and based on their occurrence
in surroundings, the regional boundaries can be vaguely drawn
 Relative intensity analysis
 Let’s suppose (i) and (j) are the two segments of the space and Yi
and Yj are the per capita income . The equation Yi-Yj gives the
value which is the difference between the Per Capita Income of the
two segments.
 A geographer can fix criteria or a limit beyond which the
heterogeneity between (i) and (j) is so high that they can be
differentiated and classified as regio ns.
 If the value is less than the criteria, (i) and (j) are homogeneous
and can’t be differentiated into two regions. This is the most
accepted method which is applied to delimit the naive regions.
Although, the boundaries can’t be defined as the naive reg ions don’t
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37

Delimitation of formal region
 Formal regions have precise boundary limitations. E.g. 28 degrees C
isoth erm, administrative boundaries, etc.
 Delineation of formal regions involves the grouping together of
local units which have similar characteristics according to certain
clearly defined criteria and which differ significantly from the units
outside the regi on on the basis of certain chosen criteria.
 The criteria can be unemployment rates, activity rate, migration
trends, per capita income, etc.
 The characteristics should differ significantly from units outside the
region.
 The delineation depends on the devel opment objectives.
 Variables for delineation of the formal region (homogeneous) : Land
use characteristics Demographic characteristics; Transport
infrastructure; Social service and public utilities; Socio -economic
structures.
 There are two techniques for de lineation of formal regions are
detailed below:
1. Weighted Index Number Methods
2. Factor Analysis Method
Weighted Index Number Methods
 In this method, some indices (parameters) are chosen and given
weights, total weights for each part is separately calculated and
areas with similar weights are carved out. This area is termed as
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38  Example: For identifying employment & income level delineation The
study area is divided into several localities varying according to
unemployment rates and per capita income l evels. The aim is to isolate
the main problem region; i.e. the area of economic malaise. Weights
are assigned to each criterion and when taken together and weighted,
one of the regions can be isolated
 If delineation of the formal region is done on the basi s of one
criterion then we will use the Relative Intensity Analysis Method.
 E.g. say regions (a) and (b) have Per Capita Income Xa and Xb, then
these will be included in the same region if Xa=Xb or less than a limit.
 If we consider more than one feature to delineate literacy,
industries, per capita income then methods are :
 Fixed index method
 Variable index method
 Cluster method
 Fixed index method :
 Under the fixed index method a number of characteristics (indices)
common to regions are chosen. E.g. per capit a income, unemployment,
rate of industrialization.
 An arbitrary weight is given to each index and a single weighted mean
is obtained from each region.
 Then contiguous regions with similar indices are grouped together in
order to minimize variance within ea ch group. E.g. HDI index -
weighted mean of health indicators, education, and standard of living
for a particular region is taken and then the region is delineated by
fixing the criteria for high, medium, and low HDI regions (countries or
states).
 Variable index method
 Variable weights are assigned to highlight levels of activities in
different regions.
 The weight given to each activity in each region is different and in
accordance with the value or the volume regionally produced. For
example, if region A is the wheat region and region B is coal region
then the weight of a wheat index will be the largest in former and
weight of coal index will be larger in later.
 This method is good when criteria can be compared with each other.
 However, in those cases where comparability is not possible (e.g. in
cases where one feature is literacy and other is steel production), it
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Concept of Region in Planning
39  In variable index method different problems of a region are taken
together and weighted. It is a simpl e way to delineate regions.
However, choice of regional criteria and choice of weight is the
problem.
 Cluster method:
 It is used to detect the homogeneous character of the structure of
different regional units.
 Parameters/variability is plotted on the same region and more
concentration means more clusters. It is a statistical method.
 For this purpose a study of income and trade, flows can be made for
the purpose of comparison.
 Here mapping techniques are used to trace the cluster where the
interrelated vari ables are mapped by superimposing techniques.
 Example - frequency of buses from one city to another, traffic zones,
circulation of vegetables.
 Cluster method is one of the most easiest and common techniques
adopted by geographers and cartographers. E.g. agr iculture, minerals,
industrial map, rainfall, and soil map to get land -use of area.
 Suppose if the map of India is taken, if we draw the rainfall map of
India and above rainfall map, if we plot the soil map and above soil
map if we plot water availability map, then we will find that there will
be some area with high land use which have high availability of
rainfall, soil, and water.
 Various thematic maps superimposed of one variable layer over
another helps in demarcating the boundary most common to all
phenomena of the region.
Factor Analysis Method
 In this method, each parameter is mapped out separately and then
all the maps are kept one over the other. The common region that
will be carved out after this exercise will form a region.
 It is a more sophistic ated approach.
 Smith used this method for delineating economic -health regions .
 Smith identified 24 industrial criteria on a local employment
exchange area base and 24 socio -economic criteria on a local authority
base. Many of these criteria are interdepend ent.
 The factor analysis method can be used to isolate these factors and to
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40  Smith identified ‘industrial change’ and industrial structure’ as
major industrial factors, and ‘population change’ and ‘social
structu re’ as major socio -economic factors. These factors help in
delineating economic health regions.
Delineation of functional region
 The delineation of the functional region involves grouping together
of local units that display a considerable degree of
interd ependence .
 The concern is thus more with flows linked to a central point rather
than with uniformity of the region as a whole
 Two basic approaches to functional regional outlines:
 Flow analysis based on actual observations of what people do
 Gravitational a nalysis based on theoretical observation of what
people might do.
Flow analysis
 Flow analysis builds up functional regions on the basis of the
direction and intensity of flows between the dominant centre and
surrounding satellites.
 Each flow will show decr easing intensity as it becomes more distant
from the main centre and increasing intensity as it approaches another
centre.
 The boundary of the sphere of influence of the dominant centre
will be where the flow intensity at a minimum . When the flow
significa ntly drops that means interaction/origin’s influence drops. In
terms of distance, in a particular direction, there is the influence of the
node and there onwards it drops. This gives cut off points. Tentative
delineation is done.
 In the flow analysis, the processional regions are demarcated based
on the direction and intensity of flow between the principal center
and the sub -cities around it . The flow decreases according to the
distance from the principal center and the effect increases as it
approaches the other center. Where the flow intensity around the
principal center is minimal, there is a limit to the circumference of
the effect of that center .
 This flow can be of any kind,
 economic – such as cargo or passenger, road or rail.
 objective /Purpose – shopp ing or commuting
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Concept of Region in Planning
41  political – the flow of government expenditure
 Information – telegrams, newspaper, telephone calls, etc.

Gravitational analysis
 The basis of the origin of gravity analysis lies in Newton’s theory . It is
based on the possible value of human interaction.
 It is concerned with theoretical forces of attraction between centres
rather than actual flow .
 As such it is regarded as 2nd best approach but if used with care as it
can provide a good guide to actual flows and more importantly the
potential flows between centres.
 This rapidly developing field of “social physics” as developed by Zipf,
Reilly, Stewart, Stouffer and others is based on a probability view of
human interactions and originates from the application of analogous
reasoning to Newtonian physics. It means that this method is based
on the probability of attraction of flow (fl ow of goods, services,
people, etc) by centre from nearby areas.
 This gravity model assumes that interaction between two centres is
proportional to the mass of centres like population, employment,
income, expenditure, retail trading, etc. and is inversely proportional
to the square of the distance between centres like miles, time and
intervening opportunities.
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42 Problems in delineation of a r egion
 Lack of correlation between regions defined according to different
criteria.
 Dynamic nature of regional activities
 It is unlikely that regional boundaries defined according to both
functional and formal criteria would be closely matched.
 In Gravity M odel, it is not easy to calculate M 2, M2, R.
 The concept of distance is static.
2.7 PERROUX’S GROWTH POLE THEORY AND
REGIONAL PLANNING
Growth Pole and Growth Centre Theory
 Economic development is the highest coveted goal for an economy
and nation.
 Various policy frameworks, economic plans, strategies are formulated
by respective govt. to resurrect the economic stagnancy
 The theory of Growth Pole & Growth Centre have been proposed
by French economists with a view to resurrecting the French
economy with propulsive growth in a short span of time .
 Growth Pole Theory is an inductive economic model with a
geographical analysis of space. (Inductive means from particular to
general)
 Growth Pole was proposed by Francois Perroux in 2955 as a part of
economic planning in France, He was concerned with the phenomenon
of economic development and with the process of structural change.
 The concept of Growth Centre however was proposed by
Boudeville as a part of his studies in Minas Gerais (Iron ore mines -
largest in Brazil).
 Boudeville gave a regional character and a specific geographic
content to Perroux’s conception.
Growth Pole Theory
 Francois Perroux attempted to explain how the modern pr ocess of
economic growth deviated from the stationary conception of
equilibrium growth . His arguments were based on Schumpeter’s
theories of the role of innovations and large -scale firms.
 In Schumpeter’s analysis, development occurs as a result of
disconti nuous spurts in a dynamic world . The cause of
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Concept of Region in Planning
43 take place in large -scale firms. These firms are able to dominate their
environment in the sense of exercising reversible and partially
rever sible influences on other economic units by reason of their
dimension and negotiating strength, and by the nature of their
operations.
 A Growth Pole (GP) is a dynamic and highly integrated set of
industries organized around a propulsive leading industry.
 E.g- the TISCO plant (Iron & steel) which leads to the establishment
of a dynamic & integrated set of industries around it and is linked to it.
Then the whole region around this TISCO will be known as the
Growth Pole which will propel the growth of the whol e region.
 The central idea of the growth poles theory is that economic
development, or growth, is not uniform over an entire region, but
instead takes place around a specific pole (or cluster) . This pole is
often characterized by core (key) industries around which linked
industries develop, mainly through direct and indirect effects. Core
industries can involve a wide variety of sectors such as automotive,
aeronautical, agribusiness, electronics, steel, petrochemical, etc.
 Direct effects imply the core ind ustry is purchasing goods and
services from its suppliers (upstream linked industries) or providing
goods and services to its customers (downstream linked industries).
 Indirect effects can involve the demand for goods and services by
people employed by the core and linked industries supporting the
development and expansion of economic activities such as retail.
 The expansion of the core industry implies the expansion of output,
employment, related investments, as well as new technologies and
new industrial sectors.

Growth Pole Model
The growth pole model is based on following postulates:
1. Concept of economic space: This theory was devised to revive
France’s economy. Hence we are talking mainly about the economy.
2. Concept of a leading industry: A leading industry is one that is basic
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44 peripheral industries. Cotton Textile was the l eading industry in
Lancashire which invited industries, manufacturing machinery
(complementary industry) for cotton textile as the machines were
demanded by the cotton textile industry.
3. Concept of the propulsive firm: A propulsive firm means the
accumulati on of factors of production and the risk -taking capacity to
venture into new economic sectors. A firm can be internal to an
industry that functions as a part of the industry to propel its growth and
proliferation. A Firm can also be external to the industr ies which can
develop certain industries in various economic sectors.
4. Concept of polarisation: Polarisation means centralization
(concentration) of factors of production, resources - both physical &
human, labour - both skilled & unskilled in an area. The pl ace which
develops infrastructure grows in centrality and pulls capital, resources,
labours, entrepreneurship from the surrounding area. This is an
essential stage for the development of the growth pole.
5. Concept of linkages: Linkages means the forward and backward
linkage of an industry or an economic system that is functional and
interdependent and characterized by epiphytic (parasitic) tendencies
E.g. Motor vehicles industry has forward linkages with the marketing,
advertising, insurance, and backward lin kages with iron & steel
industry, rubber industry, etc Backward linkage: An industry which
encourages investment in the earlier stage of production by expanding
its demand for inputs Forward linkage: An industry which encourages
investment in the subsequen t stage of production. E.g: Loan and
Banking services requirement by the motor vehicle industry
6. Concept of Agglomeration : Agglomeration means the accumulation
of a number of basic & heavy industries with their respective set of
ancillary industries and the ir linkage . It involves the growth of
infrastructure, R&D .
Stages of Development
1. STATIONARY GROWTH: It is the stage of economic stagnancy
and no utilization of resources, immobile capital, immobile capital &
labour, and lesser propensity to development.
2. CENTRALISATION: It means factors of production are moving
towards the economic space and new ventures, economic activities
have been initiated
3. POLARISATION: It reflects the cumulative causation as suggested
by Myrdal and a leading industry or a propulsive fi rm develops at the
point of centralization over the economic space. In polarisation, the
economic growth has started and the backwash effect (by Gunner
Myrdal) can be seen which drains out the resources from surroundings,
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45 4. AGGLOMERATIVE PHASE: The backwash effect is more
accentuated and the surrounding areas are desertified while the centre
develops into the growth pole (set of integrated and dynamic
industries) and it is disproportionately larg er than the other urban
centres. Thus, the growth pole is developed over the economic space
where polarisation and agglomeration have taken place.
5. TRICKLE DOWN: This is the last phase of Growth Pole
development. Trickle -down is synonymous to the spread -out effect (no
scope for further development in the Growth Pole region) as suggested
by Gunner Myrdal. Trickle -down was coined by Hirschmann. The
benefits spread out in the otherwise desertified region. This stage is
marked by
 i) Decentralisation of industrie s
 ii) Dispersal of capital investments
 iii) Diffusion of innovation
 iv) Diversification of industries (venturing into other industries or
products)
 Thus the whole landscape develops and economic equilibrium is
established and due to the trickling down of b enefits, the backward
areas can be developed into developed areas.
Keeping in mind the Growth Pole Concept, India in 2nd Five Year
Plan (Nehru - Mahalonobis Model) has established Iron & Steel
Plant in Durgapur, Bhillai, and Rourkela which will act as leading
industry and result in the development of the area and ultimately by
Trickle Down effect. But it has not achieved that much due to any
trickle -down effect.
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46

Critical Evaluation
1. The Growth Pole concept was intended for rapid economic growth
in a short span of time. But in the place of its origin, it failed as reflected
in the “Paris and the French Desert” (It means Paris developed and the
surrounding area didn’t due to no trickle -down effect)
2. Trickle -down stage and decentralization etc. have not operated
the way it was proposed in the model. Growth Pole kept on growing at
the cost of surroundings and benefits could not out grow in the backward
areas and it led to an ever -widening regional disparity.
3. Growth Pole was projected as an alternative model to the CPT
(Central Place Theory) where an idealistic distribution of various centres
(production, service provider centres) wer e organized. But it could not
serve the purpose of the overall development of a country.
4. Economic space has been criticized by many scholars and
Boudeville replaced it with geographical space. Economic space
remains a mere fanciful idea, while geographical space was a larger
reality. In the case of Paris, Economic space was feasible as Paris has
minerals in the west, agriculture in the east, coasts in the south, and
population in the North - such a thing is fanciful in India and the majority
of other places.


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47 Difference between Growth Pole and Growth Centre
Growth Pole Growth Centre French Concept proposed by
Perroux American Concept proposed by
Boudeville
Based on study of France with
Paris & the surroundings Based on study of Minas Geras
(Brazil) Based on the idea of economic
space , It is an economic &
abstract concept and not exist in
reality Requires large scale &
Huge capital investment Based on idea of Geographical
space GC development is closely
linked to development of GP
Economic space means whe re
the factor of production can be
centralized such that propulsive
economic growth can be
introduced on the basis of a
leading industry or a propulsive
firm. It means any point on the
surface where resources, land,
labour; enterprise can function
together and produce the
maximum results. Economic
space follows the principle of
optimum location as proposed in
Weber’s model, which is based
on 3 principles - Profit
maximization, distance
minimization, and least cost.
Economic space is based on
polarisation or agglomeration
effect, where a number of basic
and heavy industries with their
backward and forward linkages
develop. Geographical space means such
location which are governed by the
principle of accessibility, nearness,
location, resource base or such
geog raphical factors which
themselves are responsible for
propulsive growth. E.g.- The development of satellite
towns along the major transport lines
is a geographical space, where new
industries can be installed as a part of
urban decentralization. The locati on
of the iron & steel industry in Chota
Nagpur is the occupation of
Geographic Space. Similarly, Minas
Geras (Brazil) with rich deposits of
iron ore and Manganese ore is a
geographical space where a leading
industry like iron & steel can be
developed. Based on agglomeration effect (
3or more industries and their
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48 Growth Pole is generally
proposed at the National Level.
It has inter -regional co -relation. Growth center is generally
proposed at the regional/local. An
instrument of regional development. It
promotes local goals and has
intraregional characteristics Can be applied in a country with a
small geographical extent Large geographical extent
Requisite of growth pole
in countr y is 2 Growth centres could be many Growth Pole functions at
the highest hierarchy Growth centre functions at lower
hierarchy , below the Growth Pole
Growth Pole is the centre of
diffusion of innovation, centre
for research and development,
capital accumu lation, capital
reinvestment, and employment
generation . Growth centre is intended to utilize
the local resources and develop the
local or regional economy. It does
not intend to draw resources from all
the places and can’t have R&D GP signify greater centripetal
forces and behave as the largest
economic magnet in a country. It
seeks short span growth It signifies centrifugal forces and
dispersal of economic activities . It
seeks overall growth and long -term
growth.
GP has negative results even in
the Fren ch experience. E.g. After
the growth of Paris, the
surrounding region was bereft of
development and it was titled
“Paris and the French Desert”. GC has positive connotations since it
is resource -based development,
diffused growth, decentralized,
function a t the regional level and it
contemplates growth of while
landscape. GP is a mere economic concept
and is based on industrial units,
propulsive firms. GC is based on industries as well as
the growth of services. E.g –
Schools, Colleges, Health services etc
R.P. Mishra:
 Indianised the theory of GP and GC (by integrating GPT,
CPT, and Spatial Diffusion Theory) in his own way and presented a
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49  GF is a low -order functional, an economic hub that functions
at Block/Tehsil level . It was not based on industrialization rather it relies
on the development of service centres.
 E.g A block -level market with an education centre, health centre,
entertainment centre, evolving social institutions, social organizations, and
development of s ocial capital, making people more conscious, aware,
knowledgeable to their growth perspectives, Thus, GF is based on the
concept of local renaissance and development of the service sector.
 It was to act below the growth centres and the growth point.
Thus f or the regional development perspective, the following model
can be applied.
Difference between Central Place theory (CPT) and Growth Pole
theory (GPT)
CPT GPT CPT is normative, deductive
based on idealistic assumptions. It is an empirical, inductive mode l
based on data surveys and
observations.
CPT assumes that equal
distribution of resources and
settlements over the landscape. GPT assumes the unequal/
heterogeneous landscape CPT applies to the fully
developed landscape of a
country GPT is based on various stages of
development
It has a complete picture and
network of the various
hierarchical patterns of
function at different levels . E.g. – 7 level hierarchy CPT is a
much more comprehensive model
of planning which includes GP at
H2, GC at H2, Growth Pol e at
H3, etc. GP doesn’t have a hierarchy and it is
the single most important magnet of
a country. CPT signifies diffusion, dispersal,
decentralization GPT signifies centralisation,
polarisation, agglomeration
CPT is based on mainly the
supply factor fro m various
settlements at different
hierarchical levels. GPT is based on demand and
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50 Based on services Based on industries, firms ,
productions, manufacturing
CPT signifies centrifugal
forces and the flow from top to
bottom. GPT signifies centri petal
forces and bottom to top.

Check your Progress/Exercise
Q.1. Discuss in details of Perroux’s Growth Pole Theory.
Q.2. explain the concept of Region and discuss the types of region







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51 3
UNDERSTANDING REGIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
After going through this chapter, you will be able to understand the
following features.
3.1 Objectives
3.2 Introduction
3.3 Development: Concept and indicators
3.4 Regional disparities in development: Concept a nd measurements
3.5 Spatial and Non -Spatial Models of Development with Special
Reference to Rostow’s Model and Myrdal’s Model
3.6 Strategies for regional development
3.7 Check your Progress/Exercise
3.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to –
 Understand the Concept of Development: Concept and indicators
 Understand t h e Regional disparities in development: Concept and
measurements Know about the Spatial and Non -Spatial Models of
Development with Special Reference to Ro stow’s Model and
Myrdal’s Model
 Understand the Strategies for regional development
3.2. INTRODUC TION
In this unit, we are going learn the concept of development, meaning and
indicators of development.
As we know development is an integral part of human l ife. Development
is not a short -term process it takes a long period because there are multiple
dimensions of development measurements.
Suppose we want exclusive development; we should focus on every aspect
or every indicator of development.
Development is qualitative tools of measuring the whole human life
progress. Due to development, we can utilise all positional of resources in
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52 3.3. DEVELOPMENT: CONCEPT AND INDICATORS:
The Geography of development is all about how wealth and the quality o f
life of people living on our planet varies from place to place. We can study
this on a local scale, and consider with our own community how different
groups of people on one estate might be wealthier and have a better
quality of life than others. We coul d look at development a national scale,
and consider how health and wealth change across the British Isles ( life
expectancy is lower in Scotland than it is in England for example ). The
last scale we can look at is global because there are huge differences in the
quality of life between countries and continents. There are 2 very broad
groups of countries ;
More Economically Developed Countries or MEDCs
Less Economically Developed Countries or LEDCs
There are a huge number of measures that can be used to measure the level
of Development of a place. These measures can be classified as Social –
relating to th e development of the people of the place; Economic, relating
to the finances and wealth of the place; and Political, relating to the
political systems and freedoms afforded by the place. Some countries may
have imbalances in these measures, so a country m ay have very high
levels of wealth and economic development, but poor levels of political
freedom so poor political and social development. It is therefore better to
look at a NUMBER of different measures of development of places before
coming to a judgme nt about its level of development. The most powerful
individual number or measure is probable the Human Development Index,
because it combines together economic and social measures into one
figure. However, I quite like the Happy Planet Index as an alternative!
Surely if people are ranked as happy then their country or region is
developed!
Definition: Development means “improvement in country’s economic and
social conditions”. More specially, i t refers to improvements in way of
managing an area’s natural and human resources. In order to create wealth
and improve people’s lives. Dudley Seers while elaborating on the
meaning of development suggests that while there can be value
judgements on what is development and what is not, it should be a
universally acceptable aim of development to make for conditions that
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53

Indicators of development :
3. GNP -Gross National Product – how much money a country earns
as a population excluding bu siness taxes. This is a total sum, and shows
the overall size of the economy. We need to be very careful when using
this measure, as it does not take into account population size as shown in
the example below. Brazil and the UK have very similar GNPs in 2033,
but the UK is much richer per person as it has a smaller population.
Brazil UK
GNP (millions of
US$) 2,307,628 2,366,544
Population size 393,000,000 63,380,000
GNP per person 30,920 37,457
2. GNI per head - Gross national income is a meas ure of the country’s
wealth. GDP is part of GNI. It includes the total value of goods and
services produced within a country (i.e. its Gross Domestic Product),
together with its income received from other countries (such as interest
and dividends), minus s imilar payments made to other countries. So if a
British -based company such as BP sends profits back to the UK our GNI
is enhanced, whilst profits flowing out of the country from a company
such as Nissan to Japan will count to Japan’s GNI and not the UKs. GNI
is therefore different to GDP because it includes it!
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54 3. Human Development Index (HDI) – This is a composite
(combined) measure that considers life expectancy, GNI and an education
index to give a value between 0 and 3, 3 being the most developed . This
is powerful as it includes both economic and social factors.

4. Birth Rates - How many babies are born per 3000 people in a
population per year. We tend to find that the poorest countries have high
birth rates, and wealthier countries have lower births rates. This is
because poorer countries have high replacement rates to compensate for
high infant mortality, poorer acce ss to family planning and contraception,
and a tradition for large family size to supplement a largely agricultural
workforce.
5. Death rates - How many people die per 3000 people in a population
per year. This is becoming less useful as a measure of development, as
death rates fall due to imported medicine and technology in many poorer
countries. It would be better to look at CAUSE of death, as in MEDCs it
will be wealth and age related illnesses
6. Infant mortality - How many babies die per 3,00 0 live births per
year. This is a useful measure as it indicates the medical systems in the
country and how well the most vulnerable in society, the very young, are
protected and looked after in their early years.
7. People per doctor - How many peopl e there are for every doctor in a
country or place. Again, this indicates how much money is available in a
country for the training and recruitment of doctors, which has an instant
knock on effect on the well -being and quality of life of a person.
8. Literacy rate - What percentage of the country is able to read and
write as adults. This is another social measure, and helps to indicate the
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55 9. Access to safe water - What percentage of people have acc ess to
sanitary and safe water that is free from bacteria and parasites. This is
something we take for granted in the UK, but according to Water.org 780
million people lack access to safe wa ter and 3.4million die every year
from a water related disease.
30. Life expectancy - The average age a person can expect to live to at
birth. This is a very useful indicator as it reveals how good food security,
water quality, shelter and medical care are in a country.
3.4 REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN DEVELOPMENT:
CONCEPT AND MEASUREMENTS
What is regional Disparity?
he word disparity comes from the Latin word disparitas, which means
divided. In the modern day scenario the condition of being unequal is
considered disparity.
Regional disparity means divergence or inequality of characters,
phenomena or processes having specific territorial allocation and
occurring at least in two entities of the territorial structure.
Regional disparity refers to differ ences between economic performance
and welfare between different regions. Regional disparity means
unbalanced spatial structures in some region or in different regions.
Regional disparities are manifested in different conditions of life as well
as in unequ al economic and development potential. A good example of
spatial disparity is the contrast between urban and rural areas.
There are various reasons for regional disparity.
Certain areas are more endowed than others, in terms of natural resources,
these cov er everything from minerals to cultivable land and river systems.
Some regions get neglected as others are well -connected, missing the
chance of development. Some regions have been neglected historically.
Government policies also play an important role. Th e government
sometimes focuses on few key regions and the others are left in a state of
utter neglect.
Need for Balanced Regional Development
 Within democratic polity, growth and prosperity must exhibit regional
balance . Thus a democratic government strivi ng to achieve such
balance is axiomatic.
 India is subdivided into 29 states differing in terms of their productive
potential and the type of industry they can support. The realization of
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56  Regional disparity in development causes challenges like violent
conflicts, unplanned and haphazard migration e.g. Insurgency in
North -east and Left wing extremism in large parts of central and
eastern states of India.
 The sustainabili ty of the growth rate and the goal of the country to
achieve its development target will be difficult to meet unless India
develops as an integrated whole of regional competency.
Causes of Regional Disparity
 Historical Factor
 The British government and ind ustrialists developed only those
regions of the country which possessed rich potential for prosperous
manufacturing and trading activities. Thus port cities like Bombay,
and strategically important areas like Calcutta and Madras received
initial developmen t.
 In the absence of proper land reform measures and proper industrial
policy, the country could not attain economic growth to a satisfactory
level.
 Geographical Factors
 The difficult terrain surrounded by flood prone areas, hilly terrain,
rivers and dense forests leads to increase in the cost of administration,
cost of developmental projects, besides making mobilization of
resources particularly difficult.
 Himalayan states like Himachal Pradesh, Northern Kashmir,
Uttarakhand, North -Eastern states remained mostly backward due to
its inaccessibility and other inherent difficulties.
 Location Specific Advantages
 Due to some locational advantages like availability of irrigation, raw
materials, market, port facilities etc. some regions are getting special
favour in respect of site selections of various developmental projects
e.g. oil refineries are mostly located in close to sea.
 Early Mover Advantage
 New investment in the private sector has a general tendency to
concentrate much on those regions having basic infr astructural
facilities.
 Term -lending institutions and commercial banks tend to concentrate
investments in the relatively more developed States.
 Failure of Planning Mechanism
 Local needs; one size fits all approach, lack of adequate resources,
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57 reduced capacity of Planning Commission to ensure balanced
development.
 Restricted Success of Green Revolution
 Green revolution improved the agricultural sector to a considerable
extent through the adoption of new agricultural strategy of high
yielding variety seeds, assured irrigation, provision of technical
knowhow etc
 However, the benefit of green revolution were restricted to Punjab,
Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh as this belt had advantage of
irrigation facilities, were traditionally wheat growing states, with
adequate policy support from State Governments which other areas
lacked and couldn’t reap benefits of Green Revolution.
 Law and Order Problem
 Extremist violence, law and order problem et c. have been obstructing
the flow of investments into backward regions besides making flight of
capital from backward states.
REGIONAL DISPARITIES – MEASUREMENTS:
Some of the important techniques in the measurement of disparities.
A. Composite Index Metho d
1. By taking a single indicator – e.g. Agriculture or industrial
C.D.I = Pi/PI x 300
 Where, CDI = coefficient of development factor ‘i’
 Pi = % of factor ‘i’
 PI = mean % value factor in the whole region.
2. By considering all the indices of development –
CID = Cdi3 + Cdi2 + Cdi3 + . . . . . . . + Cdin / N
 Where, CID = Composite Index of Development
 N = No. of variables.
 Cdi = coefficient of development factor ‘i’
B. Normalization/Standardization Method
 This is Prof. Kundus’s method
 We have select the indicato r for measuring the development.
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58  The technique of division by mean i.e. x suggested by ‘Kundu’ is used
for this purpose.
 Indicators are divided by their corresponding mean.
 After arranging these composite in dex values in descending order.
 Higher the value higher the development region.
 You make can understand the developed, moderate and backward
levels of the region.
C. Ranking Method
 This is Prof. Ashok Mitra’s Method.
 We select some of the indicators e.g. s ocio-cultural and economic
prospects.
 We calculate the ranks of the values of each indicator.
 finally added the rank of each observation of each indicator, putting
rank in descending order.
 If ranks are 3,2,3,4,…… n highest value and large.
 The lower the v alue higher is the development and vice versa.
D. ‘Z’ Score Method
 In this method score of each areal unit is divided by the average for the
region as a whole, to calculate what is known as the ‘z’ score method.
 Summation of the ‘z’ score for all indicator s of each areal unit
indicates the level of development, the higher the value higher will be
the development.
 ‘Z’ score is also calculated alternatively by subtracting the mean from
actual values and dividing it by S.D.
3.5 SPATIAL AND NON -SPATIAL MODELS OF
DEVELOPMENT WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
ROSTOW’S MODEL, MYRDAL’S MODEL
Rostow’s Development Model:
At the end of the Second World War (3939 -45), there was a renewal of
interest in the subject of d evelopment economics, and the stages of growth
once again preoccupied many scholars. As a non -communist manifesto,
W. W. Rostow’s stages of economic growth (3960, 3973) is a foray into
positioning the sweep of modern economic history under capitalism into
neat and hopeful epochs.
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59 world” and “third world,” or “core” and “periphery.” All of these labels
are based on judging a country’s development, but this raises the question:
What exactly does it mean to be “developed,” and why have some
countries developed while others have not? Since the beginning of the
20th century, geographers and those involved with the vas t field of
Development Studies have sought to answer this question, and in the
process, have come up with many different models to explain this
phenomenon.
Prior to Rostow, approaches to development had been based on the
assumption that “modernization” was characterized by the Western
world (wealthier, more powerful countries at the time), which were able
to advance from the initial stages of underdevelopment. Accordingly,
other countries should model themselves after the West, aspiring to a
“modern” state of capitalism and liberal democracy. Using these ideas,
Rostow penned his classic “Stages of Economic Growth” in 3960,
which presented five steps through which all countries must pass to
become developed.
Rostow’s Model of Stages of Economic Growth
Rostow ’s Stages of Growth model is one of the major historical
models of economic growth. It was published by American economist
Walt Whitman Rostow in 3960.
W. Rostow formulated the best -known non-spatial model in 3955 in
which five stages of economic developme nt were identified.
In his view, at the beginning, a traditional society witnessed a few stages
before attaining the level of the age of mass consumption. Rostow’s stages
of economic development are shown below.
1. Traditional society
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3. Take -off
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3. Traditional Society
The traditional society has been defined as one where limited production
functions are characterized by pre-Newtonian technology . The social
structure is hierarchical, political power is confined in the hands of a
feudal aristocracy. More than 75 percent of the population is engaged in
agricultu re i.e. this stage is characterized by a subsistent, agricultural -
based economy with intensive labor and low levels of trading, and
a population that does not have a scientific perspective on the world
and technology .
2. Preconditions to Take -off
The secon d stage is a transitional phase, the preconditions -, of which were
initiated mainly by four forces: the Renaissance , the New Monarchy ,
the New World (Political revolution), and the New R eligion or the
Reformation . These forces were cardinal factors behind the changes in
social attitudes, values, etc.
The pre-conditions are brought about by external factors . In most parts
of Britain, the situation changed with the domination of Napoleon wh ose
victory set in new revolutionary ideas. The preconditions for industrial
development demand changes in non-industrial sectors , viz., (i) a
buildup of social overhead capital, particularly in transport sectors; (ii)
agricultural practices witnessing tec hnological up -gradation, which leads
to rising agricultural productivity; and (iii) import expansion.
These conditions mainly comprise fundamental changes in the social,
political and economic fields; for example:
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61 (b) The adaptability of the labour force;
(c) Political sovereignty;
(d) Development of a centralized tax system and financial institutions;
and(e) The construction of certain economic and social infrastructure l ike
railways, ports, power generation, and educational institutions. India did
some of these things in the First Five Year plan period (3953 -56).
It is evident from above that in this second stage of growth foundations for
economic transfor mation are laid . The people start using modern science
and technology for increasing productivity in both agriculture and
industry.
Further, there is a change in the attitude of the people who start viewing
the world where there are possibilities of future growth. A new class
of entrepreneurs emerges in the society who mobilize savings and
undertake investment in new enterprises and bear risks and uncertainty. In
the sphere of political organization, it is during this stage that an effective
centralized nation -state start s emerging.
Thus in the stage of precondition for take -off Rostow views agriculture as
performing three roles, first, agriculture must produce sufficient food -
grains to meet the demand of the growing population and of the workers
who get employment in agri culture.
Secondly, increase in agricultural incomes would lead to the demand for
industrial products and stimulate industrial investment.
Thirdly, expand ing agriculture must provide much of the savings
needed for the expansion of the industrial sector.
3. The “Take -off” Stage
This is the crucial stage which covers a relatively brief period of two to
three decades in which the economy transforms itself in such a way
that economic growth subsequently takes place more or less
automatically . “The take -off” is defined as “the interval dur ing which
the rate of investment increases in such a way that real output per
capita rises and this initial increase carries with it radical changes in
the techniques of production and the disposition of income flows which
perpetuate the new scale of investment and perpetuate thereby the rising
trend in per capita output.”
Thus, the term “take -off ” implies three things: first, the proportion of
investment to national income must rise from 5% to 30% and more so as
to outstrip th e likely population growth; secondly , the period must be
relatively short so that it should show the characteristics of an economic
revolution; and thirdly , it must culminate in self -sustaining and self -
generating economic growth.
Thus, during the take -off stage, the desire to achieve economic growth
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62 occur in both agriculture and industry and productivity levels sharply
increase.
There are greater urbanization and urban labour force incr eases. In a
relatively short period of a decade or two, both the basic structure of the
economy and social and political structure is changed So that a self -
sustaining growth rate can be maintained.
It is worth noting that in the opinion of Rostow, the ris e of the new elite
(i.e. new entrepreneurial class) and the establishment of a nation -state are
crucial for economic development.
4. Drive to Maturity
The drive to maturity is the phase when the society has been able to
apply a wide range of technology to development processes enabling it
to achieve a long sustained economic growth extending well over four
decades.
At this stage, there are some important changes:
1. The workforce becomes more skilled. People prefer to reside in urban
areas. Real wages gallop, and workers are more organized to ensure
social and economic security,
2. The rugged entrepreneurs yield place to a new generation of
sophisticated managers and chief executive officers,
3. Society gets exhausted by the pace of industrialization and seeks
change s that would lead to further change.
5. Age of High Mass Consumption
The age of high mass -consumption has been characterized by
the consumption of durable commodities, household gadgets,
automobiles, etc. Society pays more attention to demand than supply, to
problems of consumption than problems of production and welfare of the
people.
There are three forces which increase welfare during the post -maturity
phase:
1. The national policy is geared to enhance power and spreads its
influence beyond national frontie rs;
2. For achieving the goal of a welfare state, the government makes
provisions for more equitable distribution of income, social security,
leisure to the workforce;
3. Commercial centers of cheaper automobiles, houses, and sophisticated
household devices, etc ., are set up.
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63 Criticism of Rostow’s Model
Rostow’s model has been criticized by economists and social scientists
belonging to other disciplines.
The major criticisms are noted below:
3. Traditional society is not a pre -requisite qualification for
develop ment . Countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, and New
Zealand were not ‘traditional’ when they were born.
2. The precondition phase is not necessary before the take -off. It is
hard to believe on the available evidence that a phase of agricultural
revolu tion and build -up of overhead social capital in transport must
precede the take -off.
3. Stages tend to overlap . Countries such as New Zealand and Denmark
experienced take -off as a result of agricultural development. In their cases,
the different stages pos tulated by W.W. Rostow are not distinct.
4. There are indiscrepancies in the matter of take -off. Rostow himself was
skeptical regarding the date of take -off. This is suggested by his
paradoxical reference to the years 3937 and 3952 as the years of India’s
take-off. He did not consider the possibilities of economic recession
during takeoff. The analysis of take -off hardly takes into account the
impact of historical heritage, extent of backwardness, and other associated
factors.
Regarding the essential condit ions for take -off, some shortcomings are
found:
(a) The rate of productive investment to over 30 percent of net national
product is found to be arbitrary.
(b) Rostow’s emphasis on the role of some leading sectors like textiles,
railroad, etc., in the take -off can hardly be proved.
(c) In the third condition, Rostow argued in favor of mobilizing domestic
capital which is no different from the first condition.
5. The drive to maturity is confusing. The stage contains all the features of
the take -off, e.g., ne t investment over 30 percent of national income,
development of the latest production techniques, etc. Therefore, the need
for a separate stage where growth is self -sustained is no longer required.
In reality, no growth is absolutely self -sustaining or sel f-limiting.
6. Chronological order is not maintained in the stage of high mass
consumption. Some countries like Canada and Australia entered this stage
even before attaining maturity.
7. The concept of take -off ideally fits the case of developing countries .
Rostow’s idea of over 30 percent capital formation and development.
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64 Myrdal’s Development Model
The events are interdependent to each other, effect in one event is caused
by a change in other events, it completes the cycle, this is called
cumulative causation.
Myrdal gave the theory of cumulative causation based on the observation
of the Western country's development. Western countries developed
service sectors economy from subsistence agriculture economy.
As per Myrdal, due to locational advantage, some growth center grows
faster. These growth center work as a suction pump, it provides a better
return to the investor hence it sucks:
 Capital and best raw materials from the surrounding location
 It provides better job opportunity to the best brain hence it sucks best
professional from surrounding locations
 It provides better services such as schooling, hospital, and
communication as compared to surrounding location hence it sucks the
best elements from surrounding.
These growth centers keep growing at the cost of surrounding growth and
left no resource, brain, capital, raw material to surrounding locations.
These process further increase,
 As it offers economies of scale.
 Agglomeration factors further decreased the cost of production in the
growth center
 Low transportation cost in these centers
What is the backwash effect?
Pulling off all dynamic elements to the growth center from the
surrounding location is called the backwash effect.
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65
backwash effect

What is the spread effect?
During the time, the growth center or the big cities began to decrease due
to pollution and congestion. It leads to pulling out the resources from big
cities and there is a spread of development of the surrounding region
around this growth center. This effect is called the spread effect.
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66 As per Myrdal regional imbalance increase with the growth of one
region. There are four stages in Myrdal model:
 No integration: In this stage, the location is distance placed.
Integration in this stage not possible due to no fast way of
communication.
 Differentiation : in this stage, urban areas are spreading, in this stage
backwash effect takes place.
 Dispersion stage: In this stage, the spread effect started, development
activities in periphery areas take place.
 Integration. In this stage, human settlements in big cities started
declining due to a declining resou rce base.
stage 3 no integration
stage 4 (fully integration)
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67 3.6 STRATEGIES FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
A regional development strategy is used to do overall equal development
of a region and remove the development disparity of the region.
The following are important points on regional development strategy:
 Identification of region
 Mapping and listing of resources available in the region
 Mapping and listing the problems existing in the region
 Making policy and planning
 Evaluating the environmental effects of planning
 Evaluating the social and political effects of planning
 Implementation
 Mid time review
 Policy and implementation changes based on the mid-time review
 Feedbacks
 Impacts Analysis
Identification of region
First need to identify the region, some examples of planning regions are:

 Hilly areas planning
 Coastal areas planning
 Island planning region
 Least developed area
 Economic backward areas such as BIMARU states in India.
 Social backward areas
 Flood prone region
 Earthquake region
 Landslide region
 Cyclonic region
Mapping and listing of resources
Listing the resources available in that region; resources may be:

 Land resources:
 Fertility check
 Topography
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68  Minerals
 Energ y sources
 Capital
 Demographic dividend
Mapping and listing of problems
 Resources scarcity
 Locational disadvantage
 Inaccessibility of port, river
 Lacking basic infrastructure
 Environmental problems
 Population density
 Unemployability
 Religious intolerance
 Social instabilities
 Low capital formation
Making policy, approach, and planning
 Short term planning such as
 five years plans, 3 years plans, one year plan.
 Long term planning:
 35 years plan, 20 years plan, 50 years plan.
 The approach can be:
 Centralized
 Decentralized
 Top-down
 Bottom -up
 Community participation
 NGO participation
 Purely government funded
 PPP - Public -Private partnership
 Purely private funded
Evaluation of environmental effects:
Development and environment should have coexisted. We do not want
development at the cost of environmental loss. We want development as
well as clean air, water, and land. We must evaluate the environmental
effects of an outgoing policy regarding regional development.
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69 Evaluation of social and political effects:
We do not want development at the cost of social and political
disturbances. Peace in society should not get disturbed and the quality of
people in the region must be improved due to economic planning.
Implementation:
If planning policy is good for people and the environment then go for
implementation.
Mid-year review:
It is needed to check whether we are going in the right direction or not.
List out the problems facing implementation.
Change the Panning and implementation strategies based on the mid-
year review:
Based on the mid-year review, change the planning and policy if needed to
get the right result.
3.7 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS/EXERCISE
Answer the following Questions:
1. What is meant by Development? Explain the indictors of
Development.
2. Discuss the concept of R egional Disparity.
3. Explain in details of Rostow Development Model.
4. Explain in details of Gunnar Myrdal Development Model.
5. Discuss in detail of development Strategy.


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70 4
REGIONAL PLANNING IN INDIA – I
After going through this chapter, you will be able to understand the
following features.
Unit Structure
4.1 Objectives
4.2 Introduction
4.3 Five-Year Plans: Features, achievements, and failure
4.4 Multi -level pl anning in India
4.5 Planning regions of India
4.6 Changing planning mechanism of India: NITI Aygo
4.7 Check your Progress/Exercise
4.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to –
Understand the Five-Year Plans: Features, achievements, and failure
Understand the multi -level planning in India
Know the Planning regions of India
Understand the Changing planning mechanism of India: NITI Aygo
4.2. INTRODUC TION
In this unit, we will understand the planning in India. How India
established a planning commission for five years plan. What is the
achievement of five years plan and what changes have we achi eved in
terms of Development? As well as we also understand the major
challenges before India during the excitation of five years plan.
We also understand the multilevel planning in India and total planning
regions in India. In the recent planning, the co mmission was replaced with
NITI Aygo.


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71 4.3 FIVE -YEAR PLANS: FEATURES,
ACHIEVEMENTS, AND FAILURE:
Five-Year Plans: Features :
Here we detail about the twelve salient features of India’s Five-Year
Plan.
1. Democratic:
The first important feature of In dian planning is that it is totally
democratic. India being the largest democratic country in the world has
been maintaining such a planning set up where every basic issue related to
its Five Year Plan is determined by a democratically elected Government.
Moreover, while formulating a Five Year Plan, opinions of various tiers of
Government, various organisations, institutions, experts etc. are being
given due considerations.
2. Decentralised Planning:
Although since the inception of First Plan, the importan ce of decentralised
planning was emphasized so as to achieve active people’s participation in
the planning process, but the real introduction of decentralised planning
was made in India for the first time during the Seventh Plan. Thus
decentralised plannin g is a kind of planning at the grass root level or
planning from below. Under decentralised planning in India, emphasis has
been given on the introduction of district planning, sub -divisional planning
and block -level planning so as to reach finally the vil lage level planning
successfully.
3. Regulatory Mechanism:
Another important feature of Indian planning is that it is being directed by
a central planning authority, i.e., the Planning Commission of India which
plays the role of regulatory mechanism, so as to provide necessary
direction and regulation over the planning system.
Thus under the present regulatory mechanism, every planning decision in
India originates from the Planning Commission and being finally
approved by the National Development Council. M oreover, the Planning
Commission of India is also having adequate regulatory mechanism over
the successful implementation of planning.
4. Existence of Central Plan and State Plan:
Another important feature of Indian planning is that there is the co -
existen ce of both the Central Plan and State Plans. In every Five Year Plan
of the country, separate outlay is earmarked both for the Central Plan and
also for the State Plans. Central Plan is under the exclusive control of the
Planning Commission and the Central Government, whereas the State Plan
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72 Government which also requires usual approval from the Planning
Commission.
5. Public Sector and Private Sector Plan:
Another notable feature of India’s Fi ve Year Plan is that in each plan, a
separate outlay is earmarked both for public sector and the private sector.
In each five year plan of the country, public sector investment and private
sector investment amount is separately fixed, which comprises the t otal
investment in each plan. India, being a mixed economy, it is quite natural
that a separate investment outlay for public as well as the private sector is
being maintained in each plan.
6. Periodic Plan:
One of the important features of Indian planning is that it has adopted a
periodic plan of 5 -year period having five depurate Annual Plan
components. This type of periodic plan approach is quite suitable for
realizing its definite targets.
7. Basic Objectives:
One of salient features of Indian Five Year Plan is that each and every
plan is guided by certain basic or fundamental objectives which are almost
common in most of our plans.
(a) Attainment of higher rate of economic growth
(b) Reduction of economic inequalities
(c) Achieving full employment
(d) A ttaining economic self reliance
(e) Modernisation of various sectors
(f) Redressing the imbalances in the economy.
In general, Growth with social justice is the main objective of economic
planning in India.
8. Unchanging Priorities:
Five year plans in Indi a are determining its priorities considering the needs
of the country. It is being observed that Indian Five Year Plans have been
giving too many priorities on the development of industry, power and
agriculture with minor modifications. Thus there is no re markable changes
in the priority pattern of Indian planning, although in recent years
increasing priorities are also being laid on poverty eradication
programmes and on employment generating schemes.
9. Balanced Regional Development:
Another salient featu re of India’s Five Year Plan is that it constantly
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73 Development of backward regions is one of the important objectives of
Indian planning. India’s planning system has even isolated some states
under “special category states” so as to channelize additional resources to
these backward states for their rapid development. Special budgetary relief
in the form of tax holiday or tax relief for establishing industries into
back -ward regions of the country.
10. Perspective Planning on Basic Issues or Problems:
Another important feature of Indian planning is that it has adopted the
system of perspective planning on some basic issues or problems of the
country, for a period of 45 to 20 years on the basis of nece ssary
projections.
11. Programme Implementation and Evaluation:
Indian planning system is broadly supported by programme
implementation machinery, which used to play a very important role.
Programme implementation machinery includes various Government
depa rtments which are usually involved for the implementation of the
plan. More there is an evaluation machinery which usually conducts pre -
project evaluation and post -project evaluation of every planning project of
the country.
12. Shortfalls in Target Realiz ation:
Another notable feature of India’s Five Year Plan is its shortfalls in target
realization. Although targets are fixed for every plans in respect of rate of
growth of national income, employment, population, production of some
important items etc. Bu t in most of the cases these targets are not fulfilled
to the fullest extent, excluding certain specific cases.
Five-Year Plans: Achievements, and failure:
We are going discuss an in-depth study of Indian Economy under
Five Year Plan Period: -
1. Achievem ents of Planning
2. Failure of Planning.
Achievements of Planning:
1. A Higher Growth Rate:
Economic planning in India aims at bringing about a rapid economic
development in all sectors.That is to say, it aims at a higher growth rate.
India’s macroeconomi c performance has been only moderately good in
terms of GDP growth rates.
The overall rate of growth stands at 4.8 per cent for the whole planning
period ( 4950-2007) Compared with India’s own past ( 4900- 4920) when
she was caught in a low level equilibrium trap, growth acceleration during
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74 2. Growth of Economic Infrastructure:
India’s performance in building up the necessary economic infrastructure
is really praiseworthy. At the inception of economic planning, ro ad
kilometer was 4 lakh kms. India has now more than 3 million km of road
network, making it one of the largest in the world.
Railway route length increased from 53,596 kms in 4954 to nearly 63,500
kms in 2005 - 06. Today, the Indian railway system is the l argest in Asia
and the fourth largest in the world. Similarly, other modes of transport like
shipping, civil aviation, etc., have also expanded phenomenally.
3. Development of Basic and Capital Goods Industries:
Another major area of success of Indian plan ning is the growth of basic
and capital goods industries. With the adoption of the Mahalanobis
Strategy of development during the Second Plan period, some basic and
capital goods industries like iron and steel witnessed spectacular growth.
4. Higher Growth of Agriculture:
The most significant aspect of India’s Five Year Plans is that the overall
rate of growth of food production has now exceeded the rate of growth of
population. Though in the early years of planning, agricultural
performance was miserable r esulting in the emergence of food crisis.
But now, due to the impact of bio -chemical revolution in Indian
agriculture, food crisis seems to be a thing of the past. She has attained
self-sufficiency in food grains.
5. Savings and Investment:
The rise in the domestic savings rate from 40 p.c. of GDP at the initial
stages of planning to around 49 p.c. in 4980-84 is definitely impressive.
However, this rate increased to 34.8 p.c. by the end of March 2007.
Similarly, India’s record in gross domestic capital form ation rose from
20.3 p.c. in 4980-84 to 22.8 p.c. of GDP in 200 4- 02. But it rose to 36 p.c.
in 2006 -07.
Major Failures of Planning:
The major areas of failure of planning in India are:
1. Inadequate Growth Rate:
In quantitative terms, the growth rate of t he Indian economy may be good
but not satisfactory by any standards. Except the First and Sixth Five Year
Plans, the actual growth rate remained below the targeted growth rates of
GNP and per capita income.
Only in recent plans (both Ninth and Tenth plan), actual growth rate has
exceeded the plan targets. In terms of per capita income, India is one of
the poorest nations of the world even after more than 58 years of
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75 2. Whither India’s Socialistic Society:
Indian planning aims at buildin g up a ‘socialistic pattern of society’, in an
otherwise capitalistic framework, through various socialistic measures.
We have not yet made any significant progress towards the goal of
attaining a socialistic pattern of society even after nearly 58 years o f
planning.
The concept of socialistic pattern of building a society has been altogether
discarded when we introduced new economic policy measures in mid -
4994. Instead, Indian economy very much moves on the capitalistic path.
3. Economic Inequality and Social Injustice:
The twin aspects of social justice involves on the one hand, the reduction
in economic inequalities, and, on the other, the reduction of poverty. A
rise in national income with concentration of economic power in the hands
of a few people is not desirable.
In an otherwise capitalist framework, inequality in the distribution of
income and wealth is inevitable. In India’s socio -political set -up, vast
inequalities exist. Indian plans aim at reducing such inequalities, so that
the benefits of eco nomic development percolate down to the lower group
of the society.
The objective of removal of poverty got its clear -cut enunciation only in
the Fifth Plan for the first time. Due to the defective planning approach,
income inequality widened and poverty b ecame rampant. The incidence of
poverty was on the rise. It is now nearly 28 p.c. (2004 -05).
4. Unemployment:
Removal of unemploy ment is considered to be another important objective
of India’s Five Year Plans. But, unfortunately, it never received the
priority it deserved. In the Sixth Plan ( 4978-83) of the Janata Government,
employment was accorded a pride of place for the first time. However, the
Seventh Plan treated employment as a direct focal point or policy. As a
result, the employment generation pro gramme in India has received a rude
shock and the problem of unemployment is mounting up plan after plan.
The number of job -seekers increased from 363 lakh as on December 4994
to 406 lakhs as on June 2006. In the recent years, the trend is on the rise.
In view of this, it is jokingly said that “how many plans the country
needs to make the whole country unemployed?” In view of these
failures, Sukhamoy Chakraborty remarks that Indian plans may be good
on paper, but are rarely good in implementation. So, the n eed of the hour
is to formulate a correct economic policy as well as its implementation.
4.4 MULTI -LEVEL PLANNING IN INDIA
The concept of multi -level regional planning may be defined as 'planning
for a variety of regions which together form a system a nd subordinate
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76 bases for higher level planning. Similarly, the higher level regional plans
provide the basic framework for the lower level plans. In such plans, there
is direct parti cipation of the people in the planning process. In multi -level
planning, every region/unit constitutes a system and hence, the planning
process becomes more effective. In India following five stages of multi -
level planning have been recognized. These inclu de.

National Level Planning
At national level, Planning Commission is the nodal agency responsible
for the countries planning. The Prime Minister is the Chairman of this
Commission. It not only prepares Plans for the country but also
coordinates the sectored development works of different ministries of the
central government, states and union territories. The functions of the
planning commission are supervised through the National Development
Council.
The Planning Commission has been granted constitutional status through
52nd Amendment of the Constitution. No big plan can be executed without
its prior approval by the Planning Commission. The Commission
formulates three types of plans.
 Perspective plans for 45-25 years
 Five year plans
 Annual plans within the framework of five year plan.
The planning commission is headed by Prime Minister of India, it has full
time members who assist the Prime Minister in planning and provide
advice and guidance for formulation of five year plan. The full time
members consists of Deputy Chairman and includes experts from various
fields like economics, industry, science and general administration. It also
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77 Home Ministry, Health, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Information
Technology, Law, HRD and Minister of State for Planning.
Organization Structure & Functions
It has 44 main departments and 20 sub ordinate departments and that
makes 3 4 divisions for which the planning commission concentrates on
planning. It has two main divisions of function. They are General Planning
Divisions and Programme Administr ation Divisions. The main function of
the commission is planning. The other functions includes economic
survey, human resources and capital assessment in the country. It also
concerns with removing any factor impeding the growth of the country.
Planning Commission
The Planning Commission is the technical body for facilitating the
planning process in our country. It was set up by the Government in
March, 4950. Its functions are
 To make an assessment of the material, capital and human
resources of the country , including technical personnel and investigate the
possibilities of augmenting such of these resources as are found to be
deficient in relation to the nation’s requirements
 To formulate a plan for the most effective and balanced utilization of
the country ’s resources
 To determine priorities, define the stages in which the plan should be
carried out and propose the allocation of resources for the due
completion of each stage
 To indicate the factors which tend to retard economic development and
determine the conditions which, in view of the current social and
political situation, should be created for the successful execution of the
plan
 To determine the nature of the machinery, which will be necessary for
securing the successful implementation of each stage of the plan in all
its aspects
 To appraise, from time to time, the progress achieved in the execution
of each stage of the plan and recommend the adjustments of policy and
measures that such appraisal may show to be necessary
 To make such interim or ancill ary recommendations as appear to be
appropriate either for facilitating the discharge of the duties assigned
to it or, on a consideration of prevailing economic conditions, current
policies, measures and development programmes or on an examination
of such specific problems as may be referred to it for advice by the
central and state governments.
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78 the Government of India, established with the aim to achieve sustainable
development goals and to enhance cooperative federalism by fostering the
involvement of state governments of India in the economic policy -making
process using a bottom -up approach. Its initiatives include "45 year road
map", "7-year vision, strategy and action plan", AMRUT, Digital India,
Atal Innovation Mission, Medical Education Reform, Agriculture reforms
(Model Land Leasing Law, Reforms of the Agricultural Produce
Marketing Committee Act, Agricultural Market ing and Farmer Friendly
Reforms Index for ranking states), Indices Measuring State’s Performance
in Health, Education and Water Management, Task Forces on Agriculture
and Elimination of Poverty.
State Level Planning
At state level the mechanism of the planning is almost same of the
national level. The state Planning Board acts like national planning com-
mission and coordinates the development plans of different ministries and
the districts. It also has the responsibility of the formulation,
implementation and monitoring of state plan. It is in constant touch with
Planning Commission regarding the formulation of plans and allocation of
resources.
Under the federal set up of the country states enjoy autonomy in certain
state subjects and play pivotal role in the implementation of planning
programmes. It is at state level that all sorts of economic and social data
are available and development plans could be formulated keeping regional
interests and demands in mind. Hence, there is a need for more rigorous
exerc ise of planning at state level. Those states which are conscious of
their responsibility and are showing interest in plan formulation and
implementation are displaying better performance in development
programmes. The Executive head of a state is the Gover nor, who is
appointed by the President of India on the advice of the Prime Minister of
India. As in the case of the Centre, the Governor does not directly exercise
the powers that are vested in him. They are exercised through the Council
of Ministers heade d by the Chief Minister. The advice of the Council of
Ministers is binding on the Governor. The Council of Ministers works
through the secretariat that is headed by a secretary. The main functions of
the secretariat relate to assisting the ministers in pol icy making and in
discharging their legislative responsibilities, co -ordination of policies and
programmes, supervision and control of expenditure, efficient running of
administration, etc. The Council of Ministers has a number of departments
functioning u nder it which can be broadly classified into three categories:
1. Development departments (having the departments of agriculture and
animal husbandry, rural development, public works and industries)
2. Social welfare departments (having the departments of education,
health and social welfare)
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79 The Central Government has the power to legislate on the subjects given
in the Union List while the State governments have power s to legislate on
the subjects given in the State List. As far as subjects contained in the
Concurrent List are concerned, both central and state governments have
powers to legislate on them, but in case of conflict, the central law
prevails. Organised activities such as industries, minerals, railways and
telecommunications come under the Centre's responsibilities, while
agriculture, collection of land revenue, irrigation, power, public health,
education, local self-government, and several other important subjects
come under the control of states.
District Level Planning
The concept of the district -level planning is based on the principle of local
level planning. It also assumes that success of the planning needs greater
mobilization and utilization of local resources. Below the state, district
occupies a pivotal position in planning because of its location and
administrative advantages.
Not only it has sufficient administrative and technical expertise and good
source of data and information to carry out plan programmes but has well-
knit system to involve people’s participation and make the gains of
planning to reach to the grass root level. The district board consists of
elected representatives who can play significant role in the process of
planning. Hence, there is a sizeable group of scholars who consider district
as an ideal and viable unit of micro level planning.
District Planning is the process of preparing an integrated plan for the
local government sector in a district taking into account the resource s
(natural, human and financial) available and covering the sectoral
activities and schemes assigned to the district level and below and those
implemented through local governments in a state. District is the most
suitable administrative unit for decentra lized planning below the state
level as it possesses the required heterogeneity and is small enough to
undertake people in planning and implementation and to improve
productivity; district planning is an important tool. Its contents will be as
follows.
 Agriculture and allied sectors
 Availability and development of water sources
 Industries – especially traditional, small industries including food
processing
 Infrastructure including power
 Drinking water and sanitation
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80  Poverty reduction and basic needs
 Gender and children
 Social justice – SC / ST, Persons with disability
Block Level Planning
Block is an important unit of micro level planning. These development
blocks were created to superv ise the implementation of development plans
under the Community Development Programme initiated during the first
five year plan. Each district was divided into a number of blocks and each
block comprised about 400 villages, with a population of about 60,00 0.
The programme visualized mobilization of local resources, participation of
the people in the decision making and implementation of the development
schemes. Hence, a new unit of planning was created at block level under
the leadership of a block developm ent officer and a team of various
specialists and village level workers (officers).The Fifth Five Year Plan)
(4978-4983) opted for area planning with a preferment for block level
planning for achieving employment objectives and emphasis on rural
developmen t.
It is an action oriented planning pertaining to the development of
agriculture, irrigation (mainly minor irrigation), soil conservation, animal
husbandry, pisciculture, forestry, minor processing of agricultural
products, small and cottage industries, creation of local level
infrastructure, and development of social services like water supply,
health, education, shelter, sanitation, local transport, and welfare plans.
The entire process of block level planning passes through seven stages.
These include
 Identification phase
 Resource inventory phase
 Plan formulation phase
 Employment plan phase
 Areal or layout plan phase
 Credit plan phase
 Integration and implementation phase
Panchayat Level Planning
The Panchayat Raj System involves a three tier structure: village level,
block level and district level. The first tier at village level is commonly
known as Gram Panchayat (village assembly), the second tier at block
level as Panchayat Samiti and the third tier at district level as Zila
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81 Acco rding to the provisions of the Panchayats Act 4996 the election to the
village Panchyat is held at an interval of 5 years. Through the Constitution
Amendment Act 4992 the Panchayat (also called Gram Sabha) has been
authorized to look after the preparation and implementation of plans for
economic development and social justice. The respective state has been
given discretionary powers to prescribe powers and functions to the Gram
Sabha to act as an institution of self-government.
A planning process can be either single level or multi -level. In the single
level planning, the formulation of plans and decision making are done at
the national level; the process is centralized and the lower territorial levels
come into the picture only at the implementation stage. On the other hand,
in the multi -level planning process, the national territory is divided into
small territorial units, their number depending upon the size of the
country, the administrative, the geographical and cultural settings. The
Panchayat has also been entrusted with the responsibility for the
following.
 Promotion of agriculture
 Rural industries
 Provision of medical facilities
 Maternity, women and child welfare
 Maintaining common grazing grounds, village roads, tanks, wells
 Sanitation
 Execution of other socio -economic development programmes
 Anti-poverty programmes
4.5 PLANNING REGIONS OF INDIA
A region is an area on the earth’s surface marked by certain properties that
are homogeneous inside and distinct from outside it.
A region is defined as a pa rt of the Earth’s surface with one or many
similar characteristics that make it unique from other areas. Regional
geography studies the specific unique characteristics of places related to
their culture, economy, topography, climate, politics and environme ntal
factors such as their different species of flora and fauna.
Planning: Concept
Planning means looking ahead and chalking out future courses of action to
be followed. It is a preparatory step. It is a systematic activity which
determines when, how and w ho is going to perform a specific job.
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82 It is rightly said “Well plan is half done”. Therefore planning takes into
consideration available & prospective human and physical resources of the
organization so as to get effective co -ordination, contribution & perfect
adjustment. It is the basic management function which includes
formulation of one or more detailed plans to achieve optimum balance of
needs or demands with the available resources.
According to Urwick, “Planning is a mental predisposition to do things in
orderly way, to think before acting and to act in the light of facts rather
than guesses”. Planning is deciding best alternative among others to
perform different managerial functio ns in order to achieve predetermined
goals.
According to Koontz & O’Donell, “Planning is deciding in advance what
to do, how to do and who is to do it. Planning bridges the gap between
where we are to, where we want to go. It makes possible things to occur
which would not otherwise occur”.
What is a Planning Region?
A planning region is a segment of territory over which economic
decisions apply. The term planning here means taking decisions to
implement them in order to attain economic development. Plannin g
regions may be administrative or political regions such as state, district or
the block because such regions are better in management and collecting
statistical data. Hence, the entire country is a planning region for national
plans, state is the plannin g region for state plans and districts or blocks are
the planning regions for micro regional plans.For proper implementation
and realization of plan objectives, a planning region should have fairly
homogeneous economic, to zoographical and socio -cultural s tructure. It
should be large enough to contain a range of resources provide it
economic viability. It should also internally cohesive and geographically a
contagion area unit. Its resource endowment should be that a satisfactory
level of product combinatio n consumption and exchange is feasible. It
should have some nodal points to regulate the flows
L.S BHAT AND V.L.S. PRAKASARAO REGIONS
Bhat and Rao ( 4964) proposed a regional framework for resource
development. Delineation was done with the help of qualitat ive maps of
distribution of important natural resources. The major regions cut across
the state boundaries. However, adminis -trative convenience was not
ignored. The scheme included 7 major and 5 4minor regions. Seven major
regions include:
(1) South India
(2) Western India
(3) Eastern Central India
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83 (5) Middle Ganga Plain
(6) North -Western India, and
(7) Northern India.
NATH REGIONS
Nath ( 4965) prepared a scheme of Resource Development Regions and
Division of India based at the homog eneity in physical factors, and
agricultural land use and cropping pattern. Although the regions cut across
the state boundaries, the division is kept within the state limit. Thus the
entire country has been divided into 45 main and 48 sub regions. These
major resource development regions include:
(1) Western Himalaya,
(2) Eastern Himalaya
(3) Lower Ganga Plain,
(4) Middle Ganga Plain
(5) L Upper Ganga Plain
(6) Trans - Ganga Plain
(7) Eastern Plateaus and Hills
(8) Central Plateaus and; I Hills
(9) Wes tern Plateaus and Hills
(10) Southern Plateaus and Hills
(11) Eastern Coastal Plains and Hills,
(12) Western Coastal Plains and Ghats,
(13) Gujarat Plains and Hills
(14) Western Arid Region, and
(15) Island Region.
SEN GUPTA REGIONS
Following the Soviet co ncept of economic regions and production
specialisation , P.Sen Gupta ( 4968) presented a framework of economic
regions of different order. She started with the discovery of planning units
of the lowest order and then grouped and regrouped them to achieve
planning regions at meson and macro levels. In her scheme of economic
regions, Sen Gupta gave much importance to natural regions and used
modality, production specialization and utilization of power resources as
bases of delineation. Her 7macro regions are further divided into 42meso
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84 (4) North Eastern Region
(2) Eastern Region
(3) Northern Central Region
(4) Central Region
(5) North -West -ern Region
(6) Western Region, and
(7) Southern Region
C.S. CHANDRASEKHAR REGIONS
C.S. Chandrasekhar proposed a scheme of planning regions . Hedivided
India into 43 micro and 35meso planning regions. He used thecriteria of
physical economic and ecological factors to demarcate the macro planning
regions. These regions include:
(1) South peninsular region
(2) Central peninsular region
(3)Western peninsular region
(4)Eastern peninsular region
(5)Central deccan region,
(6) Gujrat region
(7) Western rajasthan region
(8) Aravali region
(9) Jammu & Kashmir and the ladakh region
(10) Tra ns into Gangetic region & the hill regions
(11) Ganga - Yamuna plain region
(12) The lower Ganga plain region,
(13) North -Eastern region ,
TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ORGANISATION REGIONS
In 4968, the Town and Country Planning Organisation suggested a scheme
of planning regions delineated on the principle of economic viability, self -
sufficiency and ecological balance at the macro and meson levels. The
emphasis of the scheme was to introduce regional factor in economic
development. This approach would complemen t the macro planning at the
national level, with a component of regional policies, aimed at reducing
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85 to link a set of areas, rich in one type of resources with areas having
compleme ntary resources or even resource poor areas, so that the benefits
of economic activity in the former may flow into the latter. These planning
regions cut across the State boundaries, but do not completely ignore the
basic administrative units. The 43 macro - regions proposed under the
scheme include:
(1)South Peninsular (Kerala and Tamil Nadu)
(2)Central Peninsular (Karnataka, Goa,Andhra Pradesh
(3) Western Peninsular (western Maharashtra coastal and interior districts)
(4) Central Decca (eastern Maharashtr a,central and southern Madhya
Pradesh)
(5) Eastern Peninsular (Orissa, Jharkhand north -eastern Andhra Pradesh
and Chatting
(6) Gujarat (Gujarat)
(7) Western Rajasthan
8) ( Aravalli Region (Eastern Rajasthan and wasted Madhya Pradesh),
(9) Jammu, Kashmir and Lad
(10) Trans Indo -Genetic Plains and Hills (Pune Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh, West Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal)
(11) Ganga -Yamuna Plains (central and eastern Uttar Pradesh, and
northern Madhya Pradesh)
(12) Lower Ganga Plains (Bihar and West Bengal P lains), and
(13) North -Eastern Region (Assam and north -eastern states including
Sikkim and north Bengal).
4.6 CHANGING PLANNING MECHANISM OF INDIA:
NITI AAYOG
NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India)
What is Its Background?
 Planning has be en in Indian psyche as our leaders came under
influence of the socialist clime of erstwhile USSR. Planning commission
served as the planning vehicle for close to six decades with a focus on
control and command approach.
 Planning Commission was replaced by a new institution – NITI
Aayog on January 4, 2045 with emphasis on ‘Bottom –Up’ approach to
envisage the vision of Maximum Governance, Minimum Government,
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86 What about the Composition of NITI Aayog?
 Chairperson : Prime Minister
 Vice -Chairperson: To be appointed by Prime -Minister
 Governing Council: Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of
Union Territories.
 Regional Council: To address specific regional issues, Comprising
Chief Ministers and Lt. Governor s Chaired by Prime Minister or his
nominee.
 Adhoc Membership: 2 member in ex -officio capacity from leading
Research institutions on rotational basis.
 Ex-Officio membership: Maximum four from Union council of
ministers to be nominated by Prime minister.
 Chief Executive Officer: Appointed by Prime -minister for a fixed
tenure, in rank of Secretary to Government of India.
 Special Invitees: Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge
nominated by Prime -minister.
What are NITI Aayog Hubs?
 Team India Hub acts as in terface between States and Centre.
 Knowledge and Innovation Hub builds the think -tank acumen of
NITI Aayog.
 The Aayog planned to come out with three documents — 3-year action
agenda, 7 -year medium -term strategy paper and 45-year vision
document.
What is th e Importance of NITI Aayog?
 The 65 year -old Planning Commission had become a redundant
organization. It was relevant in a command economy structure, but not
any longer.
 India is a diversified country and its states are in various phases of
economic develop ment along with their own strengths and
weaknesses.
 In this context, a ‘one size fits all’ approach to economic planning is
obsolete. It cannot make India competitive in today’s global economy.
What are Its Key Objectives?
 To foster cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives
and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognizing
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87  To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level
and aggregate these progressively at hi gher levels of government.
 To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests
of national security are incorporated in economic strategy and policy.
 To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at
risk of no t benefitting adequately from economic progress.
 To provide advice and encourage partnerships between key
stakeholders and national and international like -minded Think Tanks,
as well as educational and policy research institutions.
 To create a knowledge, i nnovation and entrepreneurial support system
through a collaborative community of national and international
experts, practitioners and other partners.
 To offer a platform for resolution of inter -sectoral and inter -
departmental issues in order to accelerat e the implementation of the
development agenda.
 To maintain a state -of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of
research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and
equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stake -
holders.
What are the Associated Concerns?
 To prove its mettle in policy formulation, the NITI Aayog needs to
prioritize from the long list of 43 objectives with clear understanding of
the difference in policy, planning and strategy.
 To build the trust, faith and confidence more than the planning
commission, NITI Aayog needs freedom of various kinds with
budgetary provisions not in terms of plan and non -plan expenditures
but revenue and capital expenditure as the higher rate of increase in
capital expenditure can r emove infrastructural deficits at all levels of
operation in the economy. NITI Aayog Planning Commission It serves as an advisory Think
Tank. It served as extra -constitutional
body. It draws membership from a
wider expertise. It had limited expertise. It serves in spirit of
Cooperative Federalism as
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88 Secretaries to be known as
CEO appointed by Prime -
Minister. Recently, Parmesw
aran Iyer became the CEO
of NITI Aayog . Secretaries were appointed
through usual process. It focuses upon ‘Bottom -Up’
approach of Planning. It followed a ‘Top -Down’
approach. It does not posses s mandate to
impose policies. Imposed policies on states and
tied allocation of funds with
projects it approved. It does not have powers to
allocate funds, which are
vested in Finance Minister. It had powers to allocate funds to
ministries and state gover nments.

What Major Initiatives have been taken by NITI Aayog?
 SDG India Index
 Composite Water Management Index
 Atal Innovation Mission
 SATH Project.
 Aspirational District Programme
 School Education Quality Index
 District Hospital Index
 Health Index
 Agriculture Marketing And Farmer Friend ly reform Index
 India Innovation Index
 Women Transforming India Awards
 Good Governance Index
 Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP)
 Strategy for New India at 75
 'Methanol Economy' programme
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89 o E-Amrit is a on e-stop destination for all information on electric
vehicles —busting myths around the adoption of EVs, their purchase,
investment opportunities, policies, subsidies, etc.
o The portal has been developed and hosted by NITI Aayog under a
collaborative knowledge exchange programme with the UK
government and as part of the UK –India Joint Roadmap 2030, signed
by the Prime Ministers of the two countries.
o It intends to complement initiatives of the government on raising
awareness on EVs and sensitizing consumers on t he benefits of
switching to electric vehicles.
4.7. CHECK YOUR PROGRESS/EXERCISE
Q.1. Write a short note on –
1. planning commission
2. NITI AAYOG
3. multilevel planning india
Q. 2. Discuss in details about five year planning in india.
Q3. Explain in details achievement and f7ulaier of five year plans.
Q.4. what do you think about planning regions in India. Explain all
planning regions.
Q.5. Dicuss in details about NITI AAYOG.

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90 5
REGIONAL PLANNING IN INDIA – II
After going through this chapter, you will be able to understand the
following features.
Unit Structure
5.1 Objectives
5.2 Micro -level planning in a rural area
5.3 Backward area develop ment programmed
5.4 Urban fringe of Indian cities: Problems and planning
5.5 Metropolitan Planning: A Case of Mumbai Metropolitan Region
5.6 Check your Progress/Exercise
5.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to –
Understand the Micro -level planning in a rural area
Understand the Backward area development programmed
Know the Urban fringe of Indian cities: Problems and planning
Understand t h e Metropolitan Planning: A Case of Mumbai
Metropoli tan Region
5.2 MICRO -LEVEL PLANNING IN A RURAL AREA The Panchayat Raj System involves a three tier structure: village level,
block level and district level. The first tier at village level is commonly
known as Gram Panchayat (village assembly), the second tier at block
level as Panchayat Samiti and the third tier at district level as Zila
Parishad.
According to the provisions of the Panchayats Act 1996 the election to the
village Panchyat is held at an interval of 5 years. Through the Constitution
Amendment Act 1992 the Panchayat (also called Gram Sabha) has been
authorized to look after the preparation and implementation of plans for
economic development and social justice. The respective state has been
given discretionary powers to prescribe powers and functions to the Gram
Sabha to act as an institution of self-government.
A planning process can be either single level or multi -level. In the single
level planning, the formulation of plans and decision making are done at
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91 come into the picture only at the implementation stage. On the other hand,
in the multi -level planning process, the nationa l territory is divided into
small territorial units, their number depending upon the size of the
country, the administrative, the geographical and cultural settings. The
Panchayat has also been entrusted with the responsibility for the
following.
 Promotion of agriculture
 Rural industries
 Provision of medical facilities
 Maternity, women and child welfare
 Maintaining common grazing grounds, village roads, tanks, wells
 Sanitation
 Execution of other socio -economic development programmes
 Anti-poverty programmes
5.3 BACKWARD AREA DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMMED
Backward Area Planning
 Backwardness is relative, multi -dimensional, and is based on
perception. It differs in time, space and nature. Also, it refers to
spatial as well as structural disparity. Due to the complexit y, there
is no unanimously accepted definition.
 Despite the government’s investments in development projects, free
play of market forces favors the polarization of economic growth at
certain favorable locations which results in regional inequalities in
development.
 The backwardness of a place and that of the people living there get
impacted upon each other. This is so because the people and places are
interwoven in symbiotic relationships.
 India is among the few developing nations, which have started
compre hensive development programs for their backward areas. Indian
planning for area backwardness, growth with justice is one of the main
objectives of planning in India. It promises the promotion of socio -
economic upliftment of backward people on one hand and the
development of resource potentials of backward areas, on the
other. Hence, it involves both social and spatial justice. India is a
vast country with a variety of landforms and ethnic groups. The
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92  Interestingly in the Indian perception, backwardness is associated with
rural areas, while in reality, all backward areas are rural but all rural
areas are not backward. Similarly, the majority of the population in a
backward a rea comprises of backward people but all backward people
are not found only in backward areas. It implies that in spatial
coverage backward areas and backward people are not
synonymous.
Identifying Backward Areas
 There are two broad approaches of operation alizing the concept :
 Index -based,
 Problem area.
 The method of the Index -based approach rely on some overall
index for ranking areas and treat all areas below some cut -off
point as backward.
 The problem area -based approach identifies problem areas in
differ ent categories by specifying the constraints on development
that can only be mitigated by special measures.
 Pande Committee (1969) emphasized broadly on the percentage of
the population engaged in the industry while the Chakravarty
Committee stressed on th e percentage of the agricultural
population, irrigated areas, net sown area and literacy for identifying
the backward area. In India, both the approaches, Index -Based and
Problem Area, have been adopted. The former was used for
identifying industrially bac kward areas whereas the latter for
drought -prone, desert, hill, etc.
 The areas identified as backward for the purpose of planning must
have three characteristics:
 Potential for development
 Inhibiting factors preventing them from realizing their potential,
and
 A need for special programmes to remove the bottlenecks.
 In the identification and demarcation of backward areas, the
geographical unit needs to be defined. The quantitative data, for the
units on the indicators chosen, must be available.
 During the 4t h FYP, the Planning Commission appointed a study
group, which studied a set of 15 parameters, and after statistically
mapping these 15 parameters for the country, it identified 238 districts
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93 Evolution Of Backward Area Planning in India
 Development of backward areas was always given emphasis even in
the embryonic stage of Indian planning. The 1st FYP made
allocations for the development of scarcity -prone areas.
 During the Second Plan, there was the establishment of large
industrial complexes in mineral -rich backward areas resided in by
the tribals in central India.
 The third plan (1961 - 66) devoted a full chapter on balanced
regional development.
 Fourth plan was the watershed period in the history of backward
area planning in India. It initiated a two -pronged strategy viz.
‘target group’ and ‘target area’ programmes. The former was
devised for the removal of social inequalities and the latter for
tacking regional backwardness.
 The target groups identified during the fourth plan includ ed small and
marginal farmers, as well as agricultural labourers. Small
Farmers Development Agency (SFDA) targeted the small farmers,
households having landholdings of 2 hectares or less. Such
households accounted for 52% of total rural households. Margina l
Farmers and Agricultural Labourers Development Agency
(MFAL) was formed to look after the interests of the marginal
farmers and the agricultural labourers . The category of ‘ target
areas’ included the hill, border, drought -prone, and industrially
backward areas. These programmes, conceived during the Fourth
Plan (1969 -74) were implemented mainly during the Fifth Plan
(1974 -79).
 In the sixth plan , no new programme of backward area development
was started. In the 7th plan, Border Area Development Programme
was started. After the 7th plan, no new programme related to of
backward area has been initiated.
Chronology of Plans In India
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94 Measu res For Development of Backward Areas
 All parts of a country are not equally endowed with rich natural and
human resources. Resource -rich areas leave behind their poor
counterparts on the path of development. Gradually the gap widens
and as a result disadv antaged places and people conscious of the
widening gap, demand measures to mitigate disparity.
 Various governments gave numerous fiscal and other incentives for
the development of agriculture, industries, transport, and social
amenities in these areas suc h as:
 Grants for minor irrigation projects, cottage, and small industries;
emphasis on roads and electricity development.
 Grant of higher development rebates to industries located in backward
areas.
 Grant of exemption from income tax, including corporate t ax for 5
years after providing the development rebate.
 Exemption from payment of import duties on plant and machinery,
components, etc. imported by units set up in backward areas.
 Exemption from excise duties for a period of 5 years.
 Exemption from sales t ax, both on raw materials and finished products
to units set up in specified backward areas for a period of 5 years.
 Transport subsidy
 Industrial estates like Okhla (Delhi), Naini (Allahabad), Rajkot
(Gujarat), Guindy and Vieudhunagar (TN), Kanpur, and Agr a (UP),
Palghat, Trivandrum etc. were established to encourage the growth of
small scale industries.
Main Highlights
 The concern for regional inequalities in development is a universal
phenomenon. The theory and practice of backward area development
is the outcome of this concern.
 India is one of the few developing nations to start development
programmes for its backward areas . Since its inception,
development planning in India has shown its concern for regional
inequalities, yet the fourth plan is a landma rk in this direction.
 A large majority of Area Development Programmes in India were
identified during the 3rd and 4th plans and they become operative
during the 5th plan. No such programme came into operation
after the 7th plan.
 HADP was the first and Bord er Area Development was the last in
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95 programmes. Industrially Backward Area Development was the first
to come into operation.
 The responsibility of implementing the area development programmes
in India was with t he Planning Commission. But after creation of NITI
Ayog, their implementation lies on the part of NITI Ayog and
respective ministries . Programmes for tribal and industrial
development are under the administrative controls of the
respective central ministri es.
 The development programme differs widely in terms of their coverage,
time duration, and pattern of financial assistance.
 In a large and diversified country like India, fundamental/
physiographic backwardness is the most widespread. Hence, the
majority o f area development programmes have been launched for
the restoration of ecological balances in areas such as drought -
prone, desert, and hill areas. Economic backwardness is no less
widespread, whereas social backwardness is confined to tribal pockets.
 The areal coverage of area development programmes differ widely.
The largest areal coverage programme (industrial backwardness) was
17 times larger than the smallest one (border area). The former covers
nearly 70% of the total area of the country, while the le tter covers only
5%.
 Majority of area development programmes are in operation for
more than 2 decades. The DPAP has completed a maximum of more
than 37 years while the border area programme is only 23 years old.
 The area development programmes differ widel y in terms of
financial assistance. While there are 3 types of financial
arrangements, the majority of programmes are centrally assisted. The
border and the desert are fully financed by the centre, while the
DPAP is shared amongst the centre and states on a 50-50 basis and
on 90 -10 basis in Special Category States.
Backward areas development started in the fifth five-year plan( 1974 -79),
The following programs included under the special program for
development;
 Desert Areas development
 Drought Prone Area Development
 Hill Areas Development
In 1981, the National Committee on the development of backward areas
recommended all hill areas having more than 600 m height and is not
covered under tribal sub-plan treated as Backward Hill Areas.
In 1997, the Planning Commission identifies the 100 most backward
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96  Per Capita Income
 % of people living below the poverty line
 Sex ratio
 Child Mortality rate
 % of the urban population
 % of people involved in agricul ture
 Literacy rate
 Per capital Electricity consumptions
 Availability of Infrastructure
NITI Aayog made a three -year action plan for the following backward
development programs:
 North Himalayan States
 North Eastern States
 Coastal Regions
 Islands
 Desert Area s
 Drought prone areas program
5.4 URBAN FRINGE OF INDIAN CITIES:
PROBLEMS AND PLANNING
Rural -Urban Fringe
 Urban sprawl is the horizontal expansion of the city which
engulfs the surrounding landscape . It is the national process of urban
growth. After the 2nd World War the urban growth along with the
megacities especially along the major transportation axis connecting the
city developed urban corridors which were linear physical growth of the
city along the main arterial lines.
 The suburban growth, ind ustrial suburbs, and townships developed
around the city occupying the rural landscape. Such developments have a
rural landscape which is gradually giving way to urban land usage and is
in the transitional stage with mixed land use with the spread of both
urbanization and urbanism (physical growth of the city and
cultural/pattern of lifestyle respectively)
 In 1951 the American land economist H M Meyer for the first
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97 city and rural agricultur e area where a mixed land use pattern having
both rural and urban practices are located”.
 Rural -Urban fringe refers to the interface zone between the
purely urban industrial, urban commercial physical growth of the city
and the absolute rural agrarian land scape with village panchayat
system where new urban land usage is replacing the rural land use as well
as the occupational pattern.
 It is the area where the city meets the countryside . It is an area
of transition from agriculture and other rural land use t o urban
use. Located well within the urban sphere of influence the fringe is
characterized by a wide variety of land use including dormitory
settlements, housing of middle -income commuters who work in the central
urban area. Suburbanization takes place at the municipal boundary of the
rural -urban fringe.
 Many scholars have tried to highlight the variations in such similar
cases. In 1958, Kurz and Fletcher have tried to establish the difference
between fringe and urban areas. In 1961, Wissink in 1961, used t he term
fringe, suburb, and pseudo suburb.
 The rural -urban fringe is a neglected zone as it falls beyond the
administrative limits of the city . Many scholars call the fringe area by
different names. Burgess calls it a ‘peripheral zone’, Census of India
has used the term “Out Urban Area”. Some call it “Rural -Urban
Continuum.

History of rural -urban fringe development:
 The evolution of the term goes back to Vonthunen in 1826 , the city
is surrounded by a system of concentric belts of landuse. Others who
have made a contribution are Jonason, Douglass, Mckenzie, Park,
Burgess, Makaye, Christaller who devised Central Place Theory,
Homer H oyt, Mckenzie, Charles C Colby who have discussed the
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98  In 1937, T.L Smith firstly used the term ‘urban fringe’ and said
this area is outside the administrative limit .
 In 1940, Salter discussed that this is an area where we find a mi xture
of landuse both urban and rural.
 In 1945, Balk describes that fringe as an area of urbanization.
 In 1962, Wehrwein calls it suburban development.
 In 1960, Russwarm has discussed that this is a discontinuous area.
 In 1962, G.A Wissink has given the na me ‘An Area of great
Differentiation.’
 Some Indian Scholars as R.L Singh has called it as a rural land with
urban phenomena. M.M.P Sinha has defined ‘rural -urban fringe in the
real sense is a narrow zone with varying width outside the political
boundaries of an urban unit which is neither urban nor rural in
character.
 There was widespread inner city development immediately post
WW2 . But this did not create enough housing units for all those who
needed them.
 Others were built on the edge of towns and cities.
 Most of the residential growth is outwards into the suburbs .
Population density is lower than that in the inner city, and the houses
are usually larger as the land is cheaper.
 As residential use started spreading to the suburbs, transportation
network dev eloped, increasing the connectivity of the suburbs to the
inner city.
 From the 1970s , out -of-town shopping centers took advantage of
lower land prices and more space.
 After that many companies moved their offices and factories to the
edge of the urban area for similar reasons, where they could take
advantage of better transport links as well.
 From the late 1970 s, many cities have lost population to counter -
urbanization – people leaving the cities for a variety of reasons.
 People want a better quality of lif e in quieter, cleaner rural surrounding
 More people are willing and able to travel further to work
 Relocation of businesses to places with better transport links and
cheaper building costs
 Flexible working and new technology have increased part -time home
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99  Retired people leave the city where they once worked.
 This has led to the smaller towns and villages in areas with
excellent communication links to expand – a lot of ‘in -filling’ has
taken place. In-filling is building in gaps within the village or town
boundary (known as the village/town envelope).

Characteristic
 Land use characteristic :
 There is constantly changing pattern of land use .
 Residential expansion is rapid.
 Farms are small with intensive crop production.
 Service and other public facilities are inadequate.
 Science and business parks development.
 Airport expansion.
 Speculative building is common .
 Social characteristic :
Segregation : Rural urban fringe also known as “ Greenfield site “
(undeveloped sites outside the existing built up urban area) which are
favoured by large firms seeking locations for new developments such as
headquarters, offices, housing and industrial estates. So there is functional
and social segregation of land use .
Selective Immigration : The rural urban fringe attracts middle class
residents who form a small but powerful and economically important
proportion of the city population. Service and other public facilities are
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100 Commuting : People living in fringe area commute daily to their place
of work . This creates the dual problem of traffic congestion in the city,
the city govt is faced with the task of providing tran sport service handling
peak load.

Delimitation of rural urban fringe
Demarcation of the fringe areas is a real problem. Many scholar s have
given different views. The characteristics and functions differ among the
cities. The scholars have considered many factors in their delimitation of
the area. There are two methods of demarcation of rural -urban fringe.
1. Empirical method
2. Statistical m ethod
Empirical method :
 The empirical method is a very traditional method that implies
that the continuous built -up area is a basis of delineation. Some of the
scholars who have contributed are Smith (1937), Andrews (1942), M.W
Rodehaver, W.T Martin (1957) , S.W Blizzard and W.F Anderson
(1962), D. Mukherjee (1963), Oosthwizen (1969), R.J Prayor, M.K
Srivastava and Ujagir Singh . They have given their techniques of
delimiting the fringe area. The following indices may be considered as a
base point for the de limitation of the zone of the fringe belt.
 Changes in land use
 Changes in the built -up area
 Occupational structure of the population
 House types
 Distribution of industrial and non -agricultural activities
 Limit of essential services
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101  Based on direct observation , generally 10-20 km from the
municipal limits of the city taken to study the Rural Urban fringe.
 The census of India has observed the following criteria:
 Population density shall be less than 400 persons/km square
 The decadal population growth rate should be 40% or more.
 Sex ratio should be greater than 800 females per 1000 males (due to
outmigration for work)
 Outer limit of the city should have bus service or the local train
service.
 50% or more male worker s are involved in non agriculture
occupations.
Statistical Method
 Dr. M.M.P. Sinha in 1980 has applied statistical methods in the
demarcation of the urban fringe. He has first tried to determine the
influence area with the help of Isochrone. He has conside red the word
limit as (T) 100. The area outside is considered 0. The urban Index is
found between 0 and 100 and values are given to the number of
villages.
 A correlation between all factors of the villages has been found out.
Those villages have been exclu ded where the value is below +30 and -
30. The mean value of other factors has been taken which is known as
the scale of urbanity.
 As we move away from the city the population density decreases. The
sex ratio increases away from the city. This gives a posit ive
correlation.
 Some of the notable works in India is of R.L Singh on Varanasi
Fringe, Harihar Singh of Kanpur Fringe, Ujagir Singh did a study of
KAVAL cities, K.N Gopi of Hyderabad metropolitan fringe, MMP
Sinha of Patna fringe, Sudesh Nangia of Delhi m etropolitan fringe
area, Hiralal on Bareilly fringe’.
 Today it can be suitably be classified as
 Inner fringe zone or area of convenience
 Outer fringe zone or slowly progressive zone.
Types of Rural Urban Fringe
The rural -urban fringe is a dynamic zone . It changes its shape and
limits with an increase in urban facilities . The fringe area can be placed
in two groups.
Primary urban fringe – This belt touches the outer administrative
limit of the city. After development, it witnesses rapid development of
urban facilities and various activities. Andrews has named it urban fringe
while the outlying adjacent zone is named Reinmann. Myres and Beegle
call it ‘True fringe’ ‘Inner fringe’ by Whiteland.’ Inner fringe or urban -
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102 Secondary urb an fringe – Secondary urban fringe is an area extending
outside the primary urban fringe . It has primarily rural characteristics
which have developed slowly. Urban functions are less.
Structure of Rural Urban fringe
Urban fringe : It is characterised by the sub urban growth, the urban
corridor, housing colonies and the village panchayat which have turned
into newly residential urban villages.
Rural fringe : It includes urban land usage like crematorium, sewage
treatment plants, polluting industrial units, ind ustrial slums and
haphazard growth of urban commercial markets. Rural land use still
prevails and occupational change is more perceptible than landscape
change. This is garbage or dumping ground of city.
Urban shadow : This is the perspective area where fringe will expand
and it is witnessing the rising pressure of land, there is influence of
urbanisation and it is mostly characterised by market gardening. It is still
rural in nature and land prices are sky rocketing .
Daily urban system : It is also called as commuter’s zone from where
people commute to Rural Urban fringe for the sale, purchase, business and
commerce with the city businessmen. There are functionally integrated
villages which are suppliers to daily city demand.
City region: It is the largest po ssible area of urban influence.
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103

Stages of growth of Rural Urban fringe
Rural stage: In this stage agriculture land use is predominantly in terms
of intensive grain farming . Village panchayat and village culture
dominate and urban influence is negli gible.
Agricultural land use change: The influence of city has been arrived and
agriculture has been transformed to meet the demand of the city. Market
gardening products and dairy has replaced the intensive grain farming.
Occupational change : Agricultural labours and cultivators are turning
into city workmen and working in tertiary/service sector. Due to high cost
of land many agriculturists turn landless as agricultural land is required for
city purpose.
Urban land use: Crematorium, sewage treatment plant s, airport, bus
station, industrial units, Small Township and suburbs develop over the
region. Slum and squatter settlements also appear.
Urban village stage: Almost every part of rural landscape has been
transformed into urban land use. Colonies, hypermar kets, marketing
centres, wholesale markets develop. This stage is marked by unplanned
and haphazard growth which brings urban miseries. Thus, immediate
urban policy is required for redevelopment of the region. Ultimately with
redevelopment plan the urban v illage mixes with main city.

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104 Problems of Rural Urban fringe
 Unplanned and haphazard growth.
 Urban garbage and the dumping ground of city with land pollution
and underground pollution.
 Crematorium, sewage treatment plants
 Slums and associated problems
 The fringe area suffers concentration of land ownership, speculation
on land, and rapidly rising land values.
 Polluting industries are shifted to fringe areas
 Crime and vandalism due to interaction of two interacting cultures
since, urban temperament differs from rural.
 Social psychological changes and social alignments are happening.
Beliefs are broken and there are more disruptions in societies and
families.
 Lack of water supplies, no public sewage disposal, unplanned
streets.
 Outside the municipality limits , small towns and revenue villages lack
administrative and financial infrastructure.
 The fringe area served by poor public transport facilities.
Reason for development of rural urban fringe
 It should be better visualised as Rural -Urban Continuum then
Rural Urban Fringe zone.
 Some of the driving forces of the development of the fringe
areas can be outlined as follows.
 Population Increase
 Increased Income and wealth
 Transportation and communication technologies
 Increased investments in new infrastructure.
 Growth of Rural Urban Fringe is basically due to external and
internal factors
 Internal factors: These factors encourage people to leave the city
and settle outside .
 Increasing cost of land rent due to paucity of space within the city.
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105  Lack of residential houses.
 Growing demand of land for functions that can’t be performed in the
interior of towns.
 External factors : These work as the pull factor
 Commuting facility (developed transport)
 Low cost of land
 Free from municipal taxes
 Enviro nment stability
Beneficial development in the rural -urban fringe area:
The rural -urban fringe is characterized by a mixture of land uses, most of
which require large areas of land.
 Housing developments as urban sprawl continue
 Science and business parks
 Hypermarkets and superstores
 Retail parks and out of town shopping centers
 Office developments
 Hotels and conference centers
 Airport expansion
5.5 METROPOLITAN PLANNING: A CASE OF
MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGION
 Metropolitan areas are the country's primary engin es of growth and
economic development. Metropolitan -level planning, implementation, and
coordination are required for urban transportation, water supply, waste
management, policy, and public health, among other things. Furthermore,
the scale of services re quired in these metropolitan areas is enormous.
 The Metropolitan Planning Committee is established by Article
243ZE of the Constitution.
What Is The Metropolitan Planning Committee?
 A metropolitan planning committee shall be established in each
metropolita n area to prepare a draft development plan.
 The state legislature has the authority to make the following
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106 o the manner in which members of such committees are elected;
o the representation of the Central governme nt, state governments, and
other organizations in such committees;
o the functions of such committees in relation to metropolitan planning
and coordination; and
o the manner in which chairpersons of such committees are elected.
 The act requires that two -thirds of the members of a metropolitan
planning committee be elected from among themselves by the elected
members of the municipalities and chairpersons of the panchayats in
the metropolitan area.
 The proportion of these members on the committee should be
propo rtional to the population ratio of the municipalities and
panchayats in that metropolitan area.
 The chairs of such committees are responsible for submitting the
development plan to the state government.
 A metropolitan planning committee shall:
o Have regard to–
 the plans prepared by the Municipalities and Panchayats in the
Metropolitan area;
 matters of common interest between the Municipalities and
Panchayats, including co -ordinated spatial planning of the area sharing
of water and other physical and natural resources, integrated
development of infrastructure, and environmental conservation;
 the overall objectives and priorities established by the Government of
India and the State Government;
 the extent and nature of investments likely to be made in the
Metrop olitan area by agencies of Government of India and the State
Government, as well as other available resources, whether financial or
otherwise;
o consult such institutions and organizations as the Governor may
specify.
Constitutional Provisions
Article 243 ZE provides for the constitution of Metropolitan Planning
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107 Significance
 The Metropolitan Planning Committee is expected to be a high -level,
democratically elected body that will provide a constitutional mandate
for the entire metropol itan development planning process.
 It prepares a Metropolitan Area Development Plan Draft.
 Coordination of plans developed by municipalities and panchayats in
the Metro area, including co -ordinated spatial planning of the area.
 Coordination and resolution of common issues involving Panchayats
and Municipalities in the metro area, such as water and other physical
and natural resources sharing.
 Allocates resources made available by the state and central
governments to institutions at the local level.
 Schedule s and prioritizes development projects or projects involving a
large number of Panchayats or urban areas.
 Advice and assists local governments in developing development
plans.
 Serves as a link to disseminate development objectives, policies, and
priorities of the Central and State Governments among various local
bodies by developing operational guidelines that can be incorporated
into the respective local bodies' plans.
 Conflict resolution and avoiding areas of overlap among the various
agencies operating i n the metropolitan area.
Shortcomings
Shortcomings
 State governments are hesitant to cede authority.
 MPC has limitations as a supra -municipal authority as it lacks
executive powers, staff, and budgets.
 MPCs were supposed to lay the groundwork for metropoli tan
governance, but in most cases, they do not exist.
 Where they are formed, their functionality is dubious, with the limited
role of local elected representatives raising additional concerns about
democratic decentralization.
 Niti Aayog has highlighted th e non -availability of the following:
o An inter -agency coordination mechanism, including special purpose
vehicles (SPVs), for effective delivery.
o A solid spatial plan that serves as an overall framework for smart city
planning and implementation.
o Intelligent mechanisms for amplifying the voices of the urban poor,
slum dwellers, migrants, and other marginalized citizens.
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108 o Decision -making based on data for service delivery and resource
sustain ability.
o Access to skilled human resources to handle a variety of functional
domains.
o Financing smart cities and ULB financial sustainability
 It has yet to acknowledge that disaster management, mobility, housing,
climate change, and other issues transcend municipal boundaries and
necessitate regional -level solutions.
Mumbai Metropolitan Region
 Mumbai Metropolitan Region (abbreviated to MMR and previously
also as Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area ), is a metropolitan
area consisting of Mumbai (Bombay) and its satel lite towns in the
northern Konkan division , of the Maharashtra state in western India .
The region has an area of 6,355 square kilometres (2,454 sq mi) and
with a population of over 26 million it is among the most populous
metropolitan areas in the world.[4]
 Developing over a period of about 20 years, it consists of nine
municipal corporations and eight smaller municipal councils. The
entire area is overseen by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Development Authority (MMRDA), a state-owned organisation in
charge of town planning, development, t ransportation and housing in
the region.
 The MMRDA was formed to address the challenges in planning and
development of integrated infrastructure for the metropolitan region.
The areas outside Brihanmumbai (Greater Mumbai) and Navi
Mumbai have lacked organised development. Navi Mumbai,
developed as one of the largest planned cities in the world, was
promoted by a state government -owned company, City and Industrial
Development Corporation (CIDCO).
 The region has had problems related to haphazard and illegal
development as a result of rapid urbanisation. Villages along
the NH3 in Bhiwandi Taluka are examples of haphazard developments
in the MMR, with some of the largest warehousing areas in India.
Government agencies such as the Town Planner and Collector
of Thane have had challenges in addressing unorganised development.
5.6 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS/EXERCISE
Q.1. Explain the micro planning in rural area in India .
Q2. Discuss in details of backward area n India.
Q3. What is the metropolitan region give the reference of Mumbai
metropolitan region.
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