ADVERTISEMENTS:
In the development policies of the developing countries like India, the issue of social equity and balanced spatial development has, now, come to the forefront. For this, greater emphasis has been laid on local level or regional/area approach to planning as against the macroeconomic sectoral approach. It has been done out of a comprehension that micro- planning, in its true perspective, tends to be much more responsive to the emerging socio-economic problems at various territorial levels.
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Micro-planning is suggested for the all-around socioeconomic development of a geographically diverse country like India against the single national level sectoral planning. Because the space in which the people live and work is real and to ignore the space and its community is to ignore the basic reality of interface between habitat, economy and society.
The central argument of micro-planning is that as resources for development are space-bound that planning must be within the spatial framework so that human, natural and all other resources may be utilised fully and benefits of development may be distributed evenly. It may thus help to overcome the possibility of any further regional disparity in fostering economic growth and development.
In order to carry the benefits of development to the poor, to ensure the continuity of balanced growth and to provide social justice, micro-level approach to planning was recommended. It was thought by some experts that micro/regional planning, as such, may take the planning objectives and strategy at the national level for granted, and especially addressed itself to the specific spatial features emerging in the formulation and operation of a national plan in a particular region. Strategically, micro-planning helps in fixing priorities for different regions depending upon their specific needs. And also for the successful implementation of the macro-level planning, micro- planning is often considered necessary.
The aim in ‘micro-planning’ is on planning from the lowest level i.e., from the functional community upward to a clearly defined region to fulfill the need of the local areas and ensuring the process of integration of the different areas with an objective to attain balanced regional development. Therefore, location of specific socio-economic activities and their inter-linkage over a region or particular geographical area are the major concerns of micro-level planning.
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Micro-planning takes into cognizance the evolution of the spatial pattern of human activities without which economic, social and environmental goals of planning cannot be achieved upto expectation. It is thus put greater emphasis on those sectors which support the people of lower income groups, particularly the poor and the weaker sections in rural areas with an aim to offer them a better quality of life and ameliorating their deplorable socio-economic conditions.
Thus, to alleviate rural poverty and inequality, emphasis has been laid on spatial type of economic, social and environmental management through micro-level development planning. There is no denial of the fact that India’s approach to development planning has been predominantly macro-oriented, emphasising national goals and priorities. Micro-planning, on the other hand, was developed to functionally maintain a balance between national priorities and local needs.