THE ECONOMY- Plan, Non-Plan and All That

THE ECONOMY Plan, Non-Plan and All That M S THE Seventh Plan is under fomulation. It is an appropriate time, therefore, to review some of the concepts and categories which are routinely being used in the Yojana Bhavan, in older to determine if they continue to serve the purpose for which they were designed. The most important of these concepts is that of 'Plan Outlay'. It is the contention of this note that the category of 'Plan Outlay' has outlived its utility; that in practice it introduces biases which arc inimical to efficient use of resources; and that it should be replaced by a more restrictive category called 'public investment', or a broader category called 'public development ex- penditure': in the alternative a conscious change should he brought about in the way priorities are attached to different types of public expenditures.