Periodic Plans of Nepal: First to Sixteenth Plan, Periods and Main Goals

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Nepal began planned development in 2013 BS with its First Five-Year Plan and has prepared sixteen periodic plans so far. Lok Sewa often asks when a plan started, which plans were three-year plans, which plan focused only on poverty and what the current plan’s vision is. This note lists every plan in order with its key points.

1. National Planning Commission (NPC)

• Plans are prepared by the National Planning Commission, set up in 2013 BS.
• The Prime Minister is its chairperson; a full-time vice-chairperson leads day-to-day work.
• The NPC prepares periodic plans, approves annual programmes, and monitors and evaluates development projects.

2. All periodic plans in order

3. Three-year plans

• The Second Plan (2019 to 2022 BS) was a three-year plan.
• After the 2062/63 People’s Movement, Nepal made four three-year interim plans: the Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth plans (2064 to 2076 BS).
• They focused on peace, reconstruction, inclusion and the transition to a new constitution.

4. Long-term vision

• The Fifteenth Plan set the national long-term vision “Samriddha Nepal, Sukhi Nepali” (Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali) for 2100 BS.
• It also aims for Nepal to graduate from Least Developed Country (LDC) status and reach middle-income status.
• Plans are linked with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.

5. Plans and the budget

• The periodic plan sets medium-term goals; the yearly budget puts them into action.
• The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) links the plan with the budget for three years.
• Provinces and local levels also prepare their own periodic plans.

6. One keyword for each plan (memory table)

Exams usually test one feature per plan. Learn the keyword, and the rest is easy to recall.

7. What planning has achieved, and where it fell short

Long-answer questions often ask for an evaluation of seventy years of planning. A balanced answer includes both sides.

Achievements:

• Large expansion of roads, electricity, schools and health posts compared with 2013 BS.
• Big falls in poverty and child deaths, and higher literacy and life expectancy over the decades.
• A planning system now exists at all three levels: federal, provincial and local.

Weaknesses:

• Many targets, especially for economic growth and capital spending, were not met.
• Political instability led to short interim plans and frequent changes of priority.
• Weak links between the plan and the budget, and too many small projects spread thinly.
• Heavy dependence on foreign aid in early plans, and on remittance in recent years.

8. Periodic plan, annual budget and SDGs: how they fit

• Long-term vision (to 2100 BS): where Nepal wants to be.
• Five-year periodic plan: the medium-term steps towards that vision, aligned with the SDGs for 2030.
• MTEF (three years): spending projections that link the plan to money.
• Annual budget (one year): the actual programmes and spending for that fiscal year.

9. How this topic is asked in the exam

• Objective: which plan was three-year, the plan holiday years, which plan is linked with PRSP or basic needs, and the period of the current plan.
• Short answer: “What is the role of the NPC?” or “Write the main features of the Fifteenth Plan.”
• Long answer: “Evaluate Nepal’s planned development.” Give a short history (use the table in section 6), then achievements and weaknesses (section 7), and finish with how better links between plan and budget could help.