Explanation: A large number of economists and experts have agreed that perhaps the best definition is given by H. D. Dickinson, according to whom, economic planning is, “the making of major economic decisions—what and how much is to be produced and to whom it is to be allocated by the conscious decision of a determinate authority, on the basis of a comprehensive survey of the economic system as a whole.”

• It was the National Planning Committee, set up in 1938 by the Indian National Congress which, for the first time, tried to define planning (in 1940, though, its final report was published in 1949) in India.
• It could be considered the broadest possible definition of planning: “Planning, under a democratic system, may be defined as the technical coordination, by disinterested experts of consumption, production, investment, trade, and income distribution, in accordance with social objectives set by bodies’ representative of the nation.
• Such planning is not only to be considered from the point of view of economics, and rising of the standard of living, but must include cultural and spiritual values, and the human side of life.”

Source: Ramesh Singh