District planning in India

District Planning is the process of preparing an integrated plan for the local government sector in a district taking into account the resources (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 decentralized 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.

With the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution of India, decentralization of planning is emphasized and the methodology of district plan was changed. The approach suggested for the preparation of the district plan is as follows:-.

The sequence in the preparation of district plan can be as follows

Planning starts with the preparation of vision documents by local bodies.

A vision document is for 10 to 15 years is to be prepared by the district and for each local government based on a participatory assessment. The DPC may hold formal interactions with local governments and other key stakeholders on this and then finalise it. The document should clearly identify the key reasons for backwardness / development shortcomings and address issues impeding development.

District vision document will cover :-

To assist the DPC in preparing the vision document (and subsequently to vet the draft plan proposals), a Technical Support Group may be constituted in each district. it may consist of departmental officers nominated for the purpose in addition to their duties or retired persons locally available or a local academic institution or established NGO with a proven record – similarly, technical support as appropriate, may be organized for the urban areas, intermediate panchayats and village

If undertaken in a campaign mode, the preparation of vision documents can be completed in two months time.

Further, if District is to be the economic unit for planning exercise, the scope of vision document could be expanded to include areas of comparative advantage of each district which would be the basis for attracting private investment.

After finalizing the vision document for the district at the district level, the document will be discussed at the block level and a vision document for the block will be prepared with some modifications based on the conditions of the block. The vision document for each block need not be completely different because the agro-ecological conditions of some planning units at this level may be same, particularly when a district is divided into a large number of Inter Mediate Panchayats as in the case of Andhra Pradesh. Even though the same vision is adopted for some blocks / mandals, it is necessary to have the vision owned by the Intermediate Panchayat. This exercise will be done by a team of experts at block level. The same team will be responsible for plans at the GP level. However, the team will take some members like professionals or retired persons belonging to the area to assist the team in the preparation of the plan. The general formats for planning at the lowest unit level viz., GP or ULB will be prepared at the district level and they will be adopted with certain modifications at the block level.

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Wikipedia