plans should however be coordinated with each other, with the districtplans and with the national plan. The idea to build up the wealth in ablock, not to allow for net outflows of wealth at random or as per thewhim of those who hold centralised economic power (be it capitalist or communist).In decentralised planning, each block has its own developmental plan,adjusting with overall plan of the socio-economic unit at variouslevels. Planning should be of ascending order - starting at the blocklevel to district to national - to include all the levels of asocio-economic unit.As the amount of natural and human resources varies from block to block,separate economic plans have to be made for each and every block by ablock-level planning board. Such a board should prepare a plan for development of the block and implement or see to the implementation of local developmental programmes.Blocks must not be demarcated on the basis of political considerations.Blocks should be scientifically and systematically demarcated as thebasis for efficient decentralized economic planning. This means blockdivisions are to be organized according to such factors as:- Physical features of the area (including topography, river valleys,nature of the soil, type of flora and fauna, varying climaticconditions, etc).- Socio-economic requirements and problems of the people.- People’s physico-psychic aspirations.Each block should be economically sound so that the entiresocio-economic unit will be self-sufficient. This enables a country or federation to become economically strong and developed in the realsense.Planning prepared for the all-round growth of a single block exclusivelyis called "intra-block planning". It should be noted that cooperationamong blocks is necessary. Accordingly, planning among blocks is called"inter-block planning".Inter-block planning is an economic venture into some selected fields toorganize and harmonize socio-economic development in a few adjoiningblocks through mutual coordination and cooperation. It deals withproblems that traverse block boundaries and cannot be tackled or solvedby one block alone. Examples include:Examples include:- Flood control, river valley projects, afforestation projects, soilerosion, environmental impact of development.- Establishment of key industries, water supply, power generation,communication systems.- Establishment of an organized market system.- Higher educational institutions.The advantages of block level planning are many. Generally theyinclude:- It is easier to identify and understand problems of a local area.- There are fewer conflicts of interest.- The local leadership solves problems according to local priorities.
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