5.3 Planning in Nepal

Meaning:economic planning — the deliberate, coordinated direction of an economy's resources toward chosen objectives over a defined horizon (Five-Year/periodic plans), as distinct from leaving allocation entirely to markets.Importance: for a late-developing economy, planning concentrates scarce capital where social returns exceed private ones (roads, power, education); coordinates ministries and donors; sets measurable targets; embeds long-run goals (SDGs, LDC graduation) in annual budgets; and — the constitutional point — expresses the state's directive responsibilities (the directive principles of the Constitution as economics).History in one paragraph (anchored, not exhaustive): from the First Five-Year Plan(1956–61) to the present Sixteenth (2024–) via the Panchayat decades, the 1990s liberalization, the conflict years' Three-Year Plans, the post-2006 inclusive turn — the same arc as Sociology Unit 5.6 — steered throughout by the National Planning Commission (NPC), and since 2015 federal: planning at three tiers, with the provinces and 753 local governments now writing their own plans.The process of plan formulation (the exam's operational question):1. NPC issues a concept/approach paper — vision, working directions;2. Thematic and working groups (NPC, ministries, experts, sometimes stakeholders) draft sectoral chapters;3. Consultation with ministries, provincial and local governments, private sector and civil society; alignment with the Constitution's directives, SDGs, and periodic fiscal frameworks;4. NPC finalises the plan document — objectives, strategies, targets, programmes, resource estimates;5. National Development Council (NDC) — chaired by the…