Highlight the Composition of State Planning Board.

The composition of State Planning Board is as follows:

Chairman: The Chief Minister acts as the chairman of State Planning Board. But if the state is under President’s rule then Governor acts as, the chairperson.

Deputy/Vice Chairman: The State Planning Board have a position of Vice Chairman who is somewhere also called Deputy Chairman. This position is usually held by Finance Minister of the State or minister for planning. However, non-official expert can also hold this post if desired. But during President’s rule in state, the Advisor to Governor and even chief secretary of the state holds this position.

Members: Regarding members there is considerable difference among states. Firstly, there are official members who are government officials like chief secretary, development commissioner, finance commissioner, planning secretary, finance secretary and heads of development departments. Others are non-official members which can be again divided among full-time and part-time Members or exports and non-exports.

These consist of ministers, Members of Parliament, member of state legislatures, members of district councils or development committees and non-official experts. The non-official experts are taken from the areas of technology, economics, science, education etc: The number of persons in these categories varies from state basis.

Secretariat or Office of State Planning Board.

In the Administrative office i.e. secretariat, the key post is that of member secretary who is usually the secretary of the Planning Department. Member secretary plays very important role because he serves as a link between SPB and Planning Commission.

In few states there are independent secretaries also here the work of plan is sub divided into a number of subject divisions or working groups. So, the position is such that states do not have uniform administrative structure and sometimes even not fully equipped to deal with the planning process.