Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was a great supporter of the planning process. He explained the idea ll s and purposes of planning in a series of letters he wrote to the chief ministers of the different states in a letter of 22 December 1952 ........ Behind the first five year plan lies the conception of india unity and of a mighty co- operative effort  of all the peoples of India we have to remember always that it is not merely the governmental ma cc hinery that counts in all this but even more so the enthusiasm and fellow travellers towards the next goal that they and we have set before us.