Planning Regions

A planning region is a segment of territory  over which economic decisions apply. The term planning here means taking decisions to implement them in order to attain economic development. Planning regions may be administrative or political regions such as state, district or the block because such regions are better in management and collecting statistical data. Hence, the entire country is a planning region for national plans, state is the planning region for state plans and districts or blocks are the planning regions for micro regional plans. 

For proper implementation and realization of plan objectives, a planning region should have fairly homogeneous economic, to zoographical and socio-cultural structure. It should be large enough to contain a range of resources provide it economic viability. It should also internally cohesive and geographically a contagion area unit. Its resource endowment should be that a satisfactory level of product combination consumption and exchange is feasible. It should have some nodal points to regulate the flows. Seven major regions in India are:

(1) South India

(2) Western India

(3) Eastern Central India

(4) North-Eastern India

(5) Middle Ganga Plain

(6) North-Western India

(7) Northern India

Town and Country Planning Organization Regions

In 1968, the Town and Country Planning Organization suggested a scheme of planning regions delineated on the principle of economic viability, self-sufficiency and ecological balance at the macro and meson levels. The emphasis of the scheme was to introduce regional factor in economic development. This approach would complement the macro planning at the national level, with a component of regional policies, aimed at reducing regional disparities in the development. The macro- regionalization sought to link a set of areas, rich in one type of resources with areas having complementary resources or even resource poor areas, so that the benefits of economic activity in the former may flow into the latter. These planning regions cut across the State boundaries, but do not completely ignore the basic administrative units. The 13 macro regions proposed under the scheme include:

(1) South Peninsular (Kerala and Tamil Nadu)

(2) Central Peninsular (Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh)

(3) Western Peninsular (Western Maharashtra coastal and interior districts)

(4) Central Deccan (Eastern Maharashtra, central and southern Madhya Pradesh)

(5) Eastern Peninsular (Orissa, Jharkhand north-eastern Andhra Pradesh)

(6) Gujarat (Gujarat)

(7) Western Rajasthan

(8) Aravalli Region (Eastern Rajasthan and wasted Madhya Pradesh)

(9) Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh

(10) Trans Indo-Genetic Plains and Hills (Pune Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, West Uttar

         Pradesh and Uttaranchal)

(11) Ganga-Yamuna Plains (Central and eastern Uttar Pradesh, and northern Madhya Pradesh)

(12) Lower Ganga Plains (Bihar and West Bengal Plains)

(13) North-Eastern Region (Assam and north-eastern states including Sikkim and north 

       Bengal)

Components of Regional planning 

• Economy

• Housing

• Environment