onomi lannin 4.9
will not be of the desired level among the target (ii) reducing social prejudices against girls,
population. Establishing an empathic relationship (iii) educating people about the health
between the programmes/schemes and target externalities of open defecation, and
population is now considered an important aspect (v) encouraging citizens to keep public spaces
of planning and policymaking. Such a change in clean.
the thinking is based on the experiences of India Today, governments all over the world have
and other countries of the world. embarked on systematic ways of studying how
In January 2015, the Government of India to promote behavioural change. The importance
replaced the erstwhile body, Planning Commission, and need of behavioural change were highlighted
by the NYTl Aayog (a policy think tank). If we by the World Development Report 2015 (World
look into the functions and guiding principles of Bank), too. All such policy interventions are
the new body we come to know that India has examples of normative policymaking.
officially moved towards normative planning— Economic planning is classified into more
the new body has to follow a development model types—sectoral and spatial. In sectoral planning,
which is ‘all round, all pervasive, all inclusive and the planners emphasise the specific sector of the
holistic’. In this process the NITI Aayog has been economy, i.e., agriculture, industry or the services.
further asked to enable the country to draw on In spatial planning development is seen in the
the vitality and energy of the bedrock of our ethos, spatial framework. The spatial dimensions of
culture and sustenance. development might be defined by the pressure and
The Economic Survey 2015–16 points out requirements of national economic development.
how the government has come to recognise the Indian planning has been essentially single level with
importance of influencing social norms in a wide a greater reliance on the sectoral approach though
variety of sectors, such as: the multi-level regional and normative dimensions
(i) persuading the rich to give up subsidies are being increasingly emphasised since the early
they do not need, 1990s.