Planning in Himachal Pradesh :

Planning is the process of prioritizing of goals for optimum  utilization of resources. In Indian constitution, “Socio – Economic Planning” is an item under concurrent list. Therefor planning remains the shared responsibility of both central and state government.

Aim of Planning :

To identify a process of development which will raise living standards and open out to the people new opportunities for a richer and more prosperous life.

• Growth
• Modernization
• Self reliance and social justice

Planning Machinery in Himachal Pradesh :

State level      Department of  Planning                       State Planning Board

                         (Executive body )                                                                                       

District level       District Administration                 District Planning Committee  

                                 ( Executive body )                                                                  

• The era of planning development in Himachal started with the inflation of First Five Year Plan in 1951.
• Growth rate of Himachal Pradesh was 8.1 % in 2015 – 2016 which reduced to 6.9 % in 2016 – 2017.
• In current year that is 2017 – 2018 the growth rate is 6.3 %.

As per the advance estimates from 2017 – 2018 the Gross Domestic Product of Himachal Pradesh has been estimated  at Rs. 1, 35, 914 crore and the per capita income of the state is estimated to be Rs. 1, 58, 462.

Planning : Annual Plan

The state govt. has formulated annual plan for 2018 – 2019 woth a size of Rs. 6,300 crore which is an enhancement of Rs. 600 crore over the Annual Plan size of Rs.  5, 700 crore for 2017 – 2018.

Out of the proposed plan size of Rs. 6, 300 crore, Rs 1, 587 crore have been proposed  for the scheduled Caste component plan, Rs 567 crore for the tribal sub plan  and Rs. 75 crore for the backward area sub plan.

 Economic Profile of State :

• The economic growth in state is predominantly governed by agriculture and its allied activities showed not much fluctuations during ninties as the growth rate remained more or less stable. The economy has shown a shift from agriculture sector to industries and services as the percentage contribution  of agriculture and allied sectors in the total state Domestic Product has declined from 57.9 % in 1950- 1951 to 55.5 % in 1967 – 1968, 26.5 % in 1990 – 1991 and 9.7 % in 2016 – 2017.
• The share of industries and services sector respectively has increased from 1.1 and 5.9 % in 1950 – 1951 to 5.6 and 12.4 % in 1967 – 1968, 9.4 and 19.8 % in 1990 – 1991 and to 25.2 and 44.0 percent in 2016 – 2017. However the contribution of other remaining sectors showed a favourable shift that is from 35.1 % in 1950 – 1951 to 30.8 % in 2016 – 2017.
• The declining share of agriculture sector do not, however affect the importance of this sector in the state economy as the state economic growth still is being determined by the trend  in agriculture and horticulture production. It is the major contributor to the total domestic product  and has overall impact on other sectors via input linkages, employment and trade etc.  Due to lack of irrigation facilities the agriculture production to a large extent still depends on timely rainfall and weather conditions. High priority has been accorded to this sector by the government.
• The State has made significant progress in the development of horticulture. The topographical variations and altitudinal differences coupled with fertile, deep and well drained soils favour the cultivation of temperate to sub tropical fruits. The region is also suitable for cultivation of ancillary horticultural produce like flowers, mushroom, honey and hops.
• Himachal Pradesh continued to take ambitious steps  to achieve its targets in the area of climate change aim to create institutional capacities and implement sectoral  activities to address climate change.
• In view of the growing need of the state ecomony, the government has embarked upon a programme to provide unintruppted continous access to power supply in the state.  Though the private sector  participation in terms of investments in this sector has been encouraging  but the smaller projects has been reserved  for investors from  Himachal Pradesh only  ( upto 2 MW ) and preference will be given fr projects  upto 5 MW.
• Tourism is a major engine of economic growth, an important source of revenue earnings and a generation of employment of diverse kinds. The state govt. has also developed  appropriate infrastructure  for its development  which includes provision of public utility services, roads, airports, water supply and civic amenities etc.  In recent years tourist flow has risen significantly.

The annual plan for 2018 – 2019 has been proposed at Rs. 58753-6,300 crore which will be 10.5 % higher than plan size of year 2017 – 2018.