UG, 4th Semester (H)

CC-09-TH- Regional Planning and Development

3. Planning region: Characteristics, economic regionalization and identification of
Indian Planning Regions (V. Nath, P. Sengupta & TCPO)

Planning region:
A planning region is a segment of territory (space) over which economic decisions apply. The
term 'planning' in the present context means taking decisions to implement them in order to
attain economic development. Planning regions may be administrative or political regions such
as state, district or the block because such regions are better in management and collecting
statistical data. For proper implementation and realization of plan objectives, a planning region
should have fairly homogeneous economic, to zoographical and socio-cultural structure. It
should be large enough to contain a range of resources provide it economic viability. It should
also internally cohesive. Its resource endowment should be that a satisfactory level of product
combination consumption and exchange is feasible. It should have some nodal points to regulate
the flows.

According to Keeble-“Planning Region is an area that is large enough to enable substantial

changes in the distribution of population and employment to take place within this boundaries,
yet which is small enough for its planning problem to be viewed as a whole”.

According to Klaassen- “A planning region must be large enough to take investment decisions
of an economic size, must be able to supply its own industry with the necessary labour, should
have a homogeneous economic structure, contain at least one growth point and have a common
approach to and awareness of its problems”.

As a whole- A planning region is self created living organism having a life line.

In actual delineation of regions for planning purposes, it becomes necessary to strike a balance
between the considerations of homogeneity, nodality and administrative convenience.

A planning Region should have following characteristics:

 It should be large enough to contain a range of resources, conditions and attributes so as

to serve a desired degree of economic viability and at the same time not too large to make
the comprehensive approach too general.
 Its resource position is such that a satisfactory level of product combination for
consumption and for exchange would be feasible.
 Planning region is essentially operational in character therefore a high degree of
flexibility and elasticity should be maintained in the process of regional delineation.
 The internal homogeneity of the resources should be logically linked up.
 The region should be internally cohesive (closely connected).

Kaberi Murmu
Perhaps the best definition of a planning region emphasizing the factors of homogeneity,
nodality and administrative convenience in a right perspective is given by P.D. Malgavkar and
B.M. Ghiara which are as follows....

Characteristics of a planning Region:

 The region should be geographically contiguous which can be divided into plain, hilly
tract, coastal belt etc.
 The people of the region should have social and cultural cohesiveness.
 The region should be a separate unit for data collection and analysis.
 The region should have an economic existence which can be accessed from statistical
records.
 It should be small enough to ensure local people’s participation in its development.
 It should be under one administrative agency.
 It should not be too small; its geographical size should be big enough to exploit resources.
It should be big enough to permit the major part of labour requirements in any employing
centre to be met from within the region.
 It should have fairly homogeneous economic structure, i.e, the variation in local
proportions of employment and output in agriculture, industry and services should be
within a narrow range.
 It should have one or more growth points.
 All the parts of the region should be inter dependent.
 There should be common appreciation of local problems and common aspirations and
approaches to their solution; it should permit and encourage competition but not rivalry or
apathy between one area and the other.

Economic Regionalization:
Economic regionalization is an effective method of management and an important factor in corre
ctly combining territorial planning with the sectoral principle of management, in ensuring the rat
ional location of productive forces, and in regulating the specialization and integrated economic
development of economic regions in order to bring about every possible increase in the efficienc
y of social production.
Economic regionalization is the process of specialization of an entire region which has many
components and relationship, to be simplified and classified on the basis of most important
economic criteria.
The demarcation on a national scale of economic regions that have formed in accordance with
the territorial social division of labor. Under socialism, a scientifically grounded economic regio
nalization is a necessary instrument of national economic planning and is an important condition
for improving the territorial organization of productive forces, to promote maximum
development of resource and economic management.

Kaberi Murmu
Identification of Planning Region by V. Nath
In 1965 V. Nath prepared a scheme of Resource Development Regions and Division of India
based on the homogeneity in:
Physical factors- topography, soils, geologic formations and climate,
and agricultural land use and cropping pattern.
Although the regions cut across the state boundaries, the division is kept within the state limit so
that no administrative problems arise.
After collecting data on physical conditions, cropping pattern and development of irrigation, and
mineral resources for each district, V. Nath divided the country into resource development
regions. These were further sub-divided into sub-regions.

Thus the entire country has been divided into 15 main and 48 sub regions.

These major resource development regions include:

(1) Western Himalayan region

(2) Eastern Himalayan region
(3) Lower Ganga Plain region
(4) Middle Ganga Plain region
(5) Upper Ganga Plain region
(6) Trans- Ganga Plain region
(7) Eastern Plateaus and Hills region
(8) Central Plateaus and; Hills region
(9) Western Plateaus and Hills region
(10) Southern Plateaus and Hills region
(11) Eastern Coastal Plains and Hills region
(12) Western Coastal Plains and Ghats region
(13) Gujarat Plains and Hills region
(14) Western Arid Region region and
(15) Island Region.

Major resource development region Sub-Region

(1)Western Himalayan region i. Himalayan Uttar Pradesh Division(5 districts)
ii. Himalayan Punjab Division(2 districts)
iii. Himachal Pradesh Division(6 districts)
iv. Jammu & Kashmir Division(9 districts)
(2)Eastern Himalayan region i. Himalayan Sub-region (NEFA with 5 districts
and 1 district of Himalayan West Bengal)
ii. Assam and associated hill sub-region(Assam
hill, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura)
iii. Plains sub-region(Bramhaputra and Surma
Valleys and West Bengal Doars)
(3)Lower Ganga Plain region West Bengal plain(12 Districts)
(4) Middle Ganga Plain region i. North Bihar plain(6 districts)
ii. South Bihar plain(5 districts)
iii. Eastern U.P plain(12 districts)
(5) Upper Ganga Plain region i. Central U.P plain( 12 districts)
ii. North Western U.P plain(9 districts)
iii. South Western U.P plain(9 districts)
(6) Trans- Ganga Plain region i. Delhi , Punjab plain (16 districts)
ii. Western Rajasthan plain (1 districts)
(7) Eastern Plateaus and Hills region i. Chotanagpur Plateau (6 districts)
ii. West Bengal Plateau (1 districts)
iii. Orissa Inland (9 districts)
iv. Madhya Pradesh (8 districts)
v. Maharashtra (2 districts)
(8) Central Plateaus and; Hills i. Vindya Hills and Plateau( 7 districts)
region ii. East Rajasthan Plain and Hills(11 districts)
iii. South Rajasthan Plain and Hills(4 districts)
(9) Western Plateaus and Hills i. Maharashtra (20 districts)
region ii. Madhya Pradesh(11 districts)
iii. Rajasthan and Malwa Plateau (1 districts)
(10) Southern Plateaus and Hills i. Andhra Pradesh (3 districts)
region, ii. Madras Inland (4 districts)
iii. Mysore Plateau(6 districts)
iv. Mysore – Karnataka Plateau (8 districts)
(11) Eastern Coastal Plains and Hills i. Orissa Coastal(4 districts)
region ii. Coastal Andhra (7 districts)
iii. Madras East Coast (6 districts)
iv. Pondicherry
(12) Western Coastal Plains and i. Madras West Coast (one districts)
Ghats region ii. Madras Nilgiri( one districts)
iii. Kerala (9 districts)
iv. Mysore Coastal(2 districts)
v. Mysore Hills (3 districts)
vi. Maharashtra Konkan (4 districts)
vii. Goa ( one districts)
(13) Gujarat Plains and Hills region i. Gujrat Plain and Hills (9 districts)
ii. Sourastra Plain(5 districts)
iii. Gujrat Hills (one districts)
iv. Gujrat Dry
(14) Western Arid Region region Rajasthan Division (9 districts)
(15) Island Region. Consist of all Islands
Island in the Bay of Bengal
Island in the Arabian Sea
Macro and Meso regions of India-P. Sen Gupta’s classification
Following the Soviet concept of economic regions and production specialisation, P. Sen Gupta
(1968) presented a framework of economic regions of different order. She started with the
discovery of planning units of the lowest order and then grouped and regrouped them to achieve
planning regions at meso and macro levels. In her scheme of economic regions, Sen Gupta gave
much importance to natural regions and used modality, production specialization and utilization
of power resources as bases of delineation.
Her 7 macro regions are further divided into 42 meso regions.
These 7 macro regions include:
(1) North Eastern Region
(2) Eastern Region
(3) Northern Central Region
(4) Central Region
(5) North-Western Region
(6) Western Region and
(7) Southern Region

Macro Region Meso Region

(1) North Eastern Region i. Upper Brahmaputra Valley
(Assam, Manipur, NEFA, ii. Lower Brahmaputra Valley
Nagaland, and Tripura) iii. Mineralized Plateau
iv. Eastern and Northern Hills
(2) Eastern Region (West i. Calcutta-Hooghly Region
Bengal, Bihar, Orissa) ii. Damodar Valley Area
iii. Chotanagpur and Northern Orissa Plateau
iv. Southern Hills and Plateaus of Orissa
v. Lower Ganga Plain, Deltas and Coastal Plain
vi. Darjeeling Hills and sub-mountain tracts (Duars)
(3) Northern Central Region i. N. Himalayan Area
(Uttar Pradesh) ii. Western Ganga Plain
iii. Eastern Ganga Plain
(4) Central Region (Madhya i. Eastern Madhya Pradesh
Pradesh) ii. Western Madhya Pradesh
iii. Bastar Area
iv. Central Madhya Pradesh
(5) North-Western Region i. Punjab Plain
(Rajasthan , Punjab, Haryana, ii. The Union territory of Delhi
Jammu & Kashmir, and iii. Western Rajasthan
Himachal Pradesh) iv. Eastern Rajasthan
v. Himalayan Hills including ‘Dun’ Area
vi. Kashmir valley and its surrounding hills
(6) Western Region i. Bombay City and its Conurbation Area,
(Maharashtra, Gujarat, Dadra ii. Intervening area along the railway between
and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Bombay and Nagpur.
Diu) iii. Coastal part of West Bengal
iv. Western Maharashtra mainly plateau area
v. Eastern Maharashtra
vi. Central Maharashtra
vii. Gujarat Plain
viii. Saurashtra
ix. Kutch
(7) Southern Region i. Coastal Plain of Andhra Pradesh
(Andhra Pradesh, Mysore, ii. Telengana Area
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, iii. Rayalseema Area
Pondicherry, Yanam, Goa, iv. South Central Industrial Area
Andaman & Nicobar and v. South Eastern Coast
Laccadive, Minicoy & vi. Anaimalai, Cardamom & Nilgiri hills
Amindivi Island) vii. Western Coast
viii. Malnad and Western Ghat Area
ix. Maidan Area
x. Coral Island

The Town and Country Planning Organization (TCPO) Scheme

In 1968 the Town and Country Planning Organization suggested a scheme of planning
region delineated based on the principle of economic amiability, self sufficiency &
ecological balance at the macro and meso levels.
The emphasis of the scheme was to introduce regional factor in economic development.
This approach would complement the macro planning at the national level, with a
component of regional policies aimed of reducing regional disparities of development.

In the scheme submitted by the town and Planning Organisation, the country is divided
into thirteen macro-regions which are in turn divided into 35 meso regions. The macro
regionalization sought to link a set of areas, rich in one type of resources. This planning
region cut across the state and district boundaries. However, Chandrasekhara feels that this
“need not come into conflict with established boundaries of the state, as the state
boundaries will continue to serve as administrative units for purposes of implementation of
policies and programme drawn up within a regional framework”.
 The macro regions are...........
1. South Peninsular (Kerala and Tamilnadu)
2. Central Peninsular (Karnataka, Goa & Andhra Pradesh)
3. Western Peninsular( Western Maharashtra coastal and interior districts)
4. Central Decan (Eastern Maharashtra, Central & Southern Madhya Pradesh)
5. Eastern Peninsular (Orissa, Jharkhand, N.E Andhra Pradesh)
6. Gujarat Region ( Entire Gujarat)
7. Western Rajasthan
8. Aravalli Region (eastern Rajasthan and western Madhya Pradesh)
9. Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh
10. Trans Indo Gangetic Plains and Hills (Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, west Uttar
Pradesh & Uttaranchal)
11. Ganga Yamuna Plains( central & eastern Uttar Pradesh & Northern Madhya
Pradesh)
12. Lower Ganga Plains and (Bihar & West Bengal Plain)
13. Northern Eastern Region (Assam & N.E States including Sikkim & north Bengal)

Reference:

Chand, M., & Puri,V.K.(1983). Regional Planning In India. Allied Publishers Limited,
New Delhi, pp.2-32

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