Economy
Economic Planning and NITI Aayog
Economic Planning and NITI Aayog — Quick Revision
One-page CGPSC quick revision for Economic Planning and NITI Aayog: plans, dates, committees, office-holders and 1991 reforms in tables for Prelims and Mains.
Planning bodies, all twelve plans, NITI Aayog and the 1991 reforms on one page. For explanations, go back to the chapter.
How to use this sheet
Scan it top to bottom in the week before Prelims. Bold entries are the facts examiners return to most often. Office-holders are dated: check them again just before the exam.
Timeline / Key Facts
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1934 | M. Visvesvaraya, Planned Economy for India |
| 1938 | National Planning Committee (Congress; chaired by Nehru) |
| 1944 | Bombay Plan (industrialists); Gandhian Plan (Shriman Narayan Agarwal) |
| 1945 | People’s Plan (M.N. Roy) |
| 1950 (Jan) | Sarvodaya Plan (Jayaprakash Narayan) |
| 15 March 1950 | Planning Commission, Cabinet resolution; first Deputy Chairman Gulzarilal Nanda |
| 1951 | First Five Year Plan begins |
| 6 August 1952 | National Development Council |
| 1966–69 | Plan holiday (three Annual Plans) |
| 1969 | Gadgil formula; 14 banks nationalised |
| 1978–80 | Rolling Plan (Janata government) |
| 1990–92 | Annual Plans |
| 24 July 1991 | New Industrial Policy + Budget (Rao–Manmohan Singh) |
| 1992 | Eighth Plan: indicative planning begins |
| 2012–17 | Twelfth Plan, the last plan |
| 15 August 2014 | PM announces end of the Planning Commission |
| 1 January 2015 | NITI Aayog, Cabinet resolution |
| January 2018 | Aspirational Districts Programme (112 districts) |
| January 2023 | Aspirational Blocks Programme (500 blocks) |
| April 2026 | NITI Aayog reconstituted; VC Ashok Kumar Lahiri |
| July 2026 | NITI CEO Anurag Jain |
The Twelve Plans
| Plan | Period | Remember it by |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1951–56 | Agriculture; Harrod–Domar; Hirakud, Bhakra–Nangal |
| 2nd | 1956–61 | Mahalanobis; heavy industry; Bhilai (USSR), Rourkela (W. Germany), Durgapur (UK) |
| 3rd | 1961–66 | Self-reliance; failed (1962 and 1965 wars, drought) |
| 4th | 1969–74 | Growth with stability and self-reliance |
| 5th | 1974–79 | Poverty removal; ended 1978 |
| 6th | 1980–85 | Poverty removal; IRDP |
| 7th | 1985–90 | Food, work and productivity |
| 8th | 1992–97 | HRD; indicative planning; beat target (6.8%) |
| 9th | 1997–2002 | Growth with social justice and equality |
| 10th | 2002–07 | 8% target; double per-capita income in 10 years |
| 11th | 2007–12 | Faster and more inclusive growth |
| 12th | 2012–17 | Faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth |
NITI Aayog
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Status | Non-constitutional, non-statutory think tank; no fund allocation |
| Chairperson | Prime Minister |
| Governing Council | All CMs (states and UTs with legislatures) + LGs of other UTs |
| Regional Councils | Issue-specific, region-wise, fixed tenure |
| Part-time / ex-officio members | Up to 2 / up to 4 Union Ministers |
| VC (as of Oct 2026) | Ashok Kumar Lahiri (first VC: Arvind Panagariya) |
| CEO (as of Oct 2026) | Anurag Jain (first CEO: Sindhushree Khullar) |
| Full-time members (Apr 2026) | Rajiv Gauba, K.V. Raju, Gobardhan Das, Abhay Karandikar, M. Srinivas |
| Framework | 15-yr Vision, 7-yr Strategy, 3-yr Action Agenda; Viksit Bharat @2047 |
| Governing Council | 10th: 24 May 2025 (“Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat @2047”); 11th: 11 June 2026 (“Inclusive Human Development for Viksit Bharat @2047”) |
| Arms | DMEO (monitoring), Atal Innovation Mission |
1991 Reforms
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Crisis | Reserves for about 3 weeks of imports; 67 t gold pledged (UBS + Bank of England) |
| Devaluation | 1 and 3 July 1991 |
| Licensing | Kept for 18 industries |
| Public-sector reserved | 17 → 8 |
| FDI | 51% automatic in priority industries |
| Convertibility | Current account, August 1994 |
| Committees | Narasimham (banks 1991, 1998) · Chelliah (tax 1991) · Malhotra (insurance 1993) · Rangarajan (disinvestment 1993) |
| Second generation | FRBM 2003, IBC 2016, GST 2017, Labour Codes |
Chhattisgarh Angle
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Bhilai Steel Plant | Second Plan; Soviet collaboration |
| Aspirational Districts (10) | Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Sukma, Korba, Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon |
| Fiscal Health Index 2025 | Chhattisgarh 2nd of 18 major states (Odisha 1st, Goa 3rd) |
| State NITI Aayog | Renamed from State Planning Commission; VC Ganesh Shankar Mishra |
| Anjor Vision @2047 | ₹75 lakh crore economy by 2047; milestones 2030 and 2035 |
| BALCO, Korba | 51% sold to Sterlite (2001); upheld by the Supreme Court |
Don’t Confuse
| This | vs | That |
|---|---|---|
| Planning Commission (1950): experts | vs | NDC (1952): PM + all CMs |
| 1st Plan: Harrod–Domar | vs | 2nd Plan: Mahalanobis |
| Plan holiday 1966–69 | vs | Rolling Plan 1978–80 |
| 11th: faster + inclusive | vs | 12th: faster + inclusive + sustainable |
| NITI Aayog: advisory, no funds | vs | Finance Commission (Art 280): constitutional, tax devolution |
| Bombay Plan 1944: industrialists | vs | Gandhian Plan 1944: Shriman Narayan Agarwal |
| Narasimham: banking | vs | Chelliah: tax |
| Current-account convertibility (1994) | vs | Capital-account convertibility (partial only) |
| BALCO: Korba | vs | Bhilai Steel Plant: Durg |
Favourite MCQ trap
“NITI Aayog / the Planning Commission is a constitutional (or statutory) body.” Wrong on both counts. Each was created by a resolution of the Union Cabinet: the Planning Commission on 15 March 1950 and NITI Aayog on 1 January 2015. Neither appears in the Constitution, and neither was created by an Act of Parliament.
Second favourite trap
“Towards faster and more inclusive growth” was the Eleventh Plan. The Twelfth Plan added “sustainable”. Options often swap the two.
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