The National Planning Committee, set up by the Indian National Congress in 1938 under Subhas Chandra Bose's presidency, was chaired by:

The National Planning Committee was set up by the Indian National Congress in 1938, during the presidency of Subhas Chandra Bose, and was chaired by Jawaharlal Nehru.

About the National Planning Committee:

• It was set up following a conference of Ministers of Industries of the Congress-ruled provinces, held in Delhi in October 1938.
• Its purpose was to prepare a plan for the economic development of India, especially for industrialisation, after independence.
• Its members included economists, scientists, industrialists, trade unionists and politicians.
• T. Shah, an economist, was its General Secretary.
• It set up 29 sub-committees to study various aspects of the economy, such as agriculture, industry, finance, labour, education and health.

Its work:

• It discussed the idea of planned economic development, with a strong role for the state in key industries, together with private enterprise.
• Its work was interrupted by the Second World War and the Quit India Movement, when its leaders were arrested.
• Its reports were published after Independence (1948-1949).

Significance:

• It was one of the first attempts to plan the economic development of India.
• Its ideas influenced the planning process in independent India, including the setting up of the Planning Commission (1950), which was also chaired by Nehru as Prime Minister.

Other early ideas of planning:

• Visvesvaraya wrote "Planned Economy for India" (1934).

Nehru's interest in planning:

Nehru was influenced by the success of planning in the Soviet Union, which he had visited in 1927.

Why not the other options?

Bose set up the committee as Congress President; Visvesvaraya and K. T. Shah were associated with planning in other ways.