As already explained above, a plan provides a view of the future by defining the goals or targets of the organisation. By themselves the targets would have no meaning unless a time limit is fixed for their attainment. In terms of planning horizon, planning can be of two kinds:
(1) Strategic Planning, also known as long-range planning, has two important elements:
(i) First it covers a longer period of time which may extend from five to twenty or more years. A capital intensive industry, e.g., a public utility service, or, a company dealing in international markets must necessarily plan for a longer period.
(ii) Strategic planning also takes into consideration the totality of activities of the enterprise. In other words, it refers to planning for the total enterprise over a longer duration. Planning for duration of fifteen, twenty or more years is also known as perspective planning.
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(2) Operational Planning, tactical planning or short-range planning usually extends over a period of one year and is more detailed. While strategic plans indicate the activities to be undertaken or goals to be achieved in general terms, and are an instrument of planning and control in the hands of top management, operational plans are prepared in more specific terms.
These plans are directly concerned with operations and deal with the various functional areas of the enterprise like production, marketing, finance, research and development, etc. They guide lower levels of managers in their day to day activities and serve as a yardstick for measuring their performance.
Perspective Planning Division (PPD) plays an important role in overall integration of the plan into macro-economic framework, delineating possibilities and constraints; and projecting long-term the regular activities of the PPD:
Assists the Planning Commission in forming its views on technical issues regarding planning process, shift of a public sector programme from Non-Plan to Plan side of Government expenditure and vice-versa;
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Prepares an overall framework for medium and long-term plans by analysing implications of long-term objectives for the appropriate strategy of development;
Examines the current policies and programmes especially in the inter-temporal, inter-regional, and inter-sectoral contexts;
Estimates state-wise poverty ratios using household consumer expenditure surveys conducted by NSSO and analyses the changes in the poverty indices;
Studies consistency between plan objectives and plan allocation, conformity of regional distribution of public sector outlays with the regional needs of development, effect of price rise on consumption level of people in different income groups, trends in saving, investment and economic growth, trends in foreign trade, and the implications of various developments in the economy for public investment,
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Renders advice on the influence of macro-economic development on principal commodities like food, crude oil, and steel; and
Contributes to the response by Planning Commission on issues regarding “Planning Process” posed by Parliament, forum of economists and economic editors, representatives of economic planning agencies in the states, and delegation from national Planning Commissions from other countries and trans-national institutions being through the respective nodal Ministries of the Government