The planning process has to take special care of those areas which have remained economically backward. As you know, the economic development of a region depends upon its resource base. But sometimes resource-rich regions also remain backward. Economic development requires technology, as well as, investment besides resources. With the planning experience of about one-and-a-half decades, it was realised that regional imbalances in economic development were getting accentuated. In order to arrest the accentuation of regional and social disparties, the Planning Commission introduced the ‘target area’ and target group approaches to planning. Some examples of programmes directed towards the development of target areas are Command Area Development Programme, Drought Prone Area Development Programme, Desert Development Programme, and Hill Area Development Programme. The Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA) and Marginal Farmers Development Agency (MFDA) are examples of target group programmes.

How many districts were covered in Hill Area Development Programmes initiated during which Five Year Plan?

15

Hill Area Development Programmes were initiated during the Fifth Five Year Plan covering 15 districts comprising all the hilly districts of Uttar Pradesh (present Uttarakhand), Mikir Hill and North Cachar hills of Assam, Darjeeling district of West Bengal and Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu. The National Committee on the Development of Backward Area in 1981 recommended that all the hill areas in the country having height above 600 m and not covered under tribal sub-plan be treated as backward hill areas.