Question

Describe different types of Planning.

Answer 1

(a) Democratic Vs Totalitarian:

• A form of rule in which the government attempts to maintain ‘total’ control over society, including all aspects of the public and private lives of its citizens.

(b) Centralized Vs Decentralized:

• Under centralized planning, the entire planning process in a country is under a central planning authority.
• This authority formulates a central plan, fixes objectives, targets, and priorities for every sector of the economy.
• In other words, it is called ‘planning from above’.

(c) Planning by Direction Vs Inducement:

• Under planning by direction, there is a central authority that plans, directs, and orders the execution of the plan in accordance with pre-determined targets and priorities.

(d) Indicative Vs Imperative Planning:

• Indicative planning is peculiar to the mixed economies. It has been in practice in France since the Monnet Plan of 1947-50.
• In a mixed economy, the private sector and the public sector work together.
• Under this plan, the outline of the plan is prepared by the Government.
• Then it is discussed with the representatives of private management, trade unions, consumer groups, financial institutions, and other experts.

(e) Short, Medium, and Long term Planning:

• Short-term plans are also known as ‘controlling plans’.
• They encompass the period of one year, therefore, they are also known as ‘annual plans’

(f) Financial Vs Physical Planning:

• Financial planning refers to the technique of planning in which resources are allocated in terms of money while physical planning pertains to the allocation of resources in terms of men, materials, and machinery.

(g) Functional Vs Structural Planning:

• Functional planning refers to that planning which seeks to remove economic difficulties by directing all the planning activities within the existing economic and social structure.

(h) Comprehensive Vs Partial Planning:

• General planning which concerns itself with the major issues for the whole economy is known as comprehensive planning whereas partial planning is to considers only a few important sectors of the economy.