Which of the following are associated with ‘Planning’ in India? (1). The Finance Commission (2). The National Development Council (3). The Union Ministry of Rural Development (4). The Union Ministry of Urban Development (5). The Parliament Select the correct answer using the code given below.

The correct answer is C (2 and 5 only). The core concept is the institutional machinery of planning: which bodies actually approve, shape or legislate on plans, as opposed to bodies that deal with fiscal devolution or sectoral administration.

• Statement 2 (National Development Council) is correct. The NDC is the apex body that approves the Five Year Plans. It was set up in 1952 and is chaired by the Prime Minister. It still exists, even though the Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog in 2015.
• Statement 5 (Parliament) is correct. Parliament approves the Five Year Plan's outlays and the annual budget that funds it, so it is part of the planning process.
• Statement 1 (Finance Commission) is wrong. It is a constitutional body under Article 280. It recommends the distribution of tax revenue between the Centre and States, and it is not a planning body.
• Statements 3 and 4 (Ministries of Rural and Urban Development) are wrong. They are executive line ministries that implement schemes. They are not planning institutions.

For Mains, this links to the shift from the Planning Commission to NITI Aayog, a cooperative-federalism debate that GS-II covers.

Trap: Aspirants pick option D because ministries that run schemes look like planning bodies. The question asks about the institutions that frame and approve plans, not those that implement schemes.