Which of the following was called as Economic cabinet of India by Ashok Chandra?

The answer is A, Planning Commission. Economists and commentators often described the Planning Commission as the economic cabinet of India because it framed the Five Year Plans and allocated resources across ministries and states, which is the closest thing to economic policy-making sitting above the Union Cabinet's routine work. Ashok Chandra's attribution is the question's own, and I am relying on it rather than on a primary text.

• B) Finance Commission: Constitutional body under Article 280, appointed every five years to recommend the tax-sharing and grant-in-aid framework between the Centre and states. It advises on fiscal federalism, not on planning.
• C) Central Cabinet: The political executive under Articles 74 and 75, headed by the PM and answerable to Parliament. It is the country's highest executive body, not an economic body in this sense.
• D) Administrative Reform Commission: Advisory bodies set up in 1966 and 2005 to suggest governance reforms. Their remit is administration, not economic planning.

Mains angle: the Planning Commission's role and its replacement by NITI Aayog in 2015 is a standard question on the shift from centralised planning to cooperative federalism.

Trap: Aspirants pick the Finance Commission because it sounds economic. Remember that its work is about the division of taxes, not about planning.