INTRODUCTION‌

I

n order not to limit the discussion on economic planning to just an academic exercise, we need to discuss it taking real life examples from different economies. Without a historical background to planning, we would

not be able to understand the meaning and role of planning in India. This small chapter intends to introduce the reader to all the whats, hows and whys of the concept of economic planning with due recourse to the experiments by different countries from time to time, including India. It could also be considered a theoretical backgrounder for the next chapter, Planning in India.