The Planning Commission in India was set up on March 1950 to promote a rapid rise in the

standard of living of the people by utilizing the resources of the country, increasing production
and offering employment opportunities to all. The Planning Commission has the responsibility
for formulating plans as to how the resources can be used in the most effective way.

The Planning Commission has to make periodic assessment of all resources in the country, boost
up insufficient resources and formulate plans for the most efficient and judicious utilization of
resources.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first chairman of the Planning Commission.

Structure of the Planning Commission:
The Prime minister is the chairman of the Planning Commission. The Deputy Chairman and the
full time members give advice and guidance for the formulation of Five Year Plan, Annual
Plans, State Plans, Projects and Schemes etc. Currently the structure of the planning commission
is like this:

1. Chairman - Dr. Manmohan Singh
2. Deputy Chairman- Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia
3 Minister of State- Shri M.V. Rajshekharan
4. Members - Dr. Kirit Parikh,Prof. Abhijit Sen ,Dr. V.L. Chopra ,Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar
,Dr.(Ms.) Syeda Hameed ,Shri B.N. Yugandhar ,Shri Anwar-ul-Hoda, Shri B. K. Chaturvedi
5. Secretary- Dr. Subhas Pani

Functions of the Planning Commission India:

Following are the functions of the Planning Commission of India:
To make an assessment of the resources of the country and to see which resources are
deficient.
To formulate plans for the most effective and balanced utilization of country's resources.
To indicate the factors which are hampering economic development.
To determine the machinery, that would be necessary for the successful implementation
of each stage of plan.
Periodical assessment of the progress of the plan.
With the changing times, the Planning commission is preparing itself for long term
vision for the future. The commission is seeing to maximize the output with minimum
resources.
From being a centralized planning system, the Indian economy is slowly progressing
towards indicative planning wherein the Planning Commission has set the goal of
constructing a long term strategic vision for the future.
It sets sectoral targets and provides the catalyst to the economy to grow in the right
direction.
The Planning Commission plays an integrative role in the development of a holistic
approach to the formulation of policies in critical areas of human and economic
development.