SPATIAL INEQUALITIES IN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

Abstract

After nearly three decades of planned development, today, we stand at cross-roads. At this stage, the Indian Planners have to induldge in a bit of soul searching and self-analysis regarding our planning performances so far. No doubt, our planning efforts have yielded immense fruits in terms of increased G.N.P., high industrial output, food surplus, more foreign exchange than we need, reaching a state of near self reliance on techno-economic front and so on. These and other achievements of Indian planning are indeed what we could be proud of. All the same, it is also a fact, that after five, Five Year Plans, we have more unemployment, more people living in poverty and dying of starvation, marked polari-sation of the benefits of growth with an ever-increasing gap between the rich minority and the poor majority, alarming growth of cities, agonising stagnation of certain regions,... the list goes on. a This, when. compared with the list of achievements, presents a paradoxial situation, where growth and decay, development and neglect co-exist.