5

R
EA

ALLIYAH SIDDIQUA
V. MOUNIKA
S. DIVYA REDDY

N
LA

A PLAN
A Plan is a deliberate attempt to spell out how
the resources of a country should be put to use.
It has some general and specific goals, which
are to be achieved within a specific period of time.
The general goals of a Plan are growth,
modernization, full employment, self-reliance and
equity. But all Plans may not give equal importance
to all of them.
Each Plan can have some specific goals like
improvement of agriculture. For example our first
five-year plan was geared to improving the state of
agriculture and the second to improving Industry.

Planning commission of india

The Planning Commission was set up
in March, 1950 by a Resolution of the Government
of India.
The economy of India is based on
planning through its five-year plans, developed,
executed and monitored by the Planning
Commission . With the Prime Minister as the ex
officia Chairman, the commission has a nominated
Deputy Chairman, who has rank of a Cabinet
minister. Montek Singh Ahluvaliya is currently the
Deputy Chairman of the Commission. The
eleventh plan started its term in March 2007 and

First plan (1951-1956)

1. The first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru
presented the first five-year plan to the Parliament of
India on December 8, 1951.
2. The first plan sought to get the country's economy
out of the cycle of poverty.
3. The plan addressed, mainly, the agrarian sector,
including investments in dams and irrigation.
Agricultural sector was hit hardest by partition and
needed urgent attention.
4. The total plan budget of 206.8 billion INR (23.6 billion
USD in the 1950 exchange rate) was allocated to
seven broad areas:
irrigation and energy (27.2
percent), agriculture and community development
(17.4 percent), transport and communications (24

4. The target growth rate was 2.1 percent annual

gross domestic product (GDP) growth; the
achieved growth rate was 3.6 percent.
5. During the first five-year plan the net domestic
product went up by 15 percent.
6. The monsoon was good and there were
relatively high crop yields, boosting exchange
reserves and the per capita income, which
increased by 8 percent.
7. National income increased more than the per
capita income due to rapid population growth.
8. Many irrigation projects were initiated during
this period, including the Bhakra Dam and
Hirakud Dam.
9. The World Health Organization, with the Indian
government, addressed children's health and
reduced infant mortality, indirectly contributing

10.At the end of the plan period in 1956, five Indian

Institutes of Technology (IITs) were started as
major technical institutions.
11.University Grant Commission was set up to take
care of funding and take measures to strengthen
the higher education in the country.
12.Contracts were signed to start five steel plants;
however these plants did not come into existence
until the middle of the next five-year plan

Second plan (1956-1961)

1. The second five-year plan focused on industry,
especially heavy industry.
2. Domestic production of industrial products was
encouraged, particularly in the development of
the public sector.
3. The plan followed the Mahalanobis model, an
economic development model developed by
the Indian statistician Prasanta Chandra
Mahalanobis in 1953.
4. It used the existing art techniques of
operation and research as well as the novel
applications of statistical models developed at
the Indian Statiatical Institute.
5. The plan assumed a closed economy in which
the main trading activity would be centered on

6. Hydroelectric power projects and five steel mills

at Bhilai, Durgapur, and Rourkela were
established.
7. Coal production was increased.
8. More railway lines were added in the north east.
9. The Atomic Energy Commission was formed in
1957 with Homi J. Bhabha as the first chairman.
10.The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was
established as a research institute.
11.In 1957 a talent search and scholarship program
was begun to find talented young students to
train for work in nuclear power.

Third plan (1961-1966)

1. The third plan stressed on agriculture and
improving production of rice.
2. The Sino-Indian war led to inflation and the priority
was shifted to price stabilization.
3. The construction of dams continued.
4. Many cement and fertilizer plants were also built.
5. Punjab began producing an abundance of wheat.
6. Many primary schools were started in rural areas.
7. Panchayat elections were started and the states
were given more development responsibilities.
8. State electricity boards and state secondary
education boards were formed.
9. State road transportation corporations were formed
and local road building became a state
responsibility

Fourth plan (1969-1974)

1. The Indira Gandhi government nationalized 14 major
Indian banks and the Green Revolution in India
advanced agriculture.
2. In addition, the situation in East Pakistan (now
independent Bangladesh) was becoming dire as the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and Bangladesh
Liberation War took place. Funds earmarked for the
industrial development had to be used for the war
effort.
3. India also performed the Smiling Buddha
underground nuclear test in 1974, partially in
response to the United States deployment of the
Seventh Fleet in the Bay of Bengal to warn India

Fifth plan (1974-1979)

1. Stress was laid on employment, poverty
alleviation, and justice.
2. The plan also focused on self-reliance in
agricultural production and defense.
3. Electricity Supply Act was enacted in 1975, which
enabled the Central Government to enter into
power generation and transmission
4. In 1978 the newly elected Morarji Desai
government rejected the plan.

Sixth plan (1980-1985)

1. When Rajiv Gandhi was elected as the prime
minister, the young prime minister aimed for rapid
industrial development, especially in the area of
information technology.
2. The Indian national highway system was
introduced for the first time and many roads were
widened to accommodate the increasing traffic.
3. Tourism also expanded.
4. The sixth plan also marked the beginning of
economic liberalization. Price controls were
eliminated and ration shops were closed. This led
to an increase in food prices and an increased cost
of living.
5. Family planning also was expanded in order to
prevent overpopulation. More prosperous areas of
India adopted family planning more rapidly than

Seventh plan (1985-1989)

1. The Seventh Plan marked the comeback of the
Congress Party to power.
2. The plan lay stress on improving the productivity
level of industries by upgradation of technology.
3. The thrust areas of the 7th Five year plan have
been enlisted below:
Social Justice
Removal of oppression of the weak
Using modern technology
Agricultural development
Anti-poverty programs
Full supply of food, clothing, and shelter
Increasing productivity of small and large
scale farmers
Making India an Independent Economy

4. Based on a 15-year period of striving towards steady

growth, the 7th Plan was focused on achieving the
pre-requisites of self-sustaining growth by the year
2000.
5. The Plan expected a growth in labor force of 39
million people and employment was expected to
grow at the rate of 4 percent per year.
6. Some of the expected outcomes of the Seventh Five
Year Plan India are given below:
Balance of Payments (estimates): Export - Rs. 33
thousand crore, Imports - (-)Rs.54 thousand crore,
Trade Balance - (-)Rs.21 thousand crore
Merchandise exports (estimates): Rs. 60,653 crore
Merchandise imports (estimates): Rs. 95,437 crore
Projections for Balance of Payments: Export Rs.60.7 thousand crore, Imports - (-) 95.4

Period between 1989-91

1. 1989-91 was a period of political instability in India
and hence no five year plan was implemented.
Between 1990 and 1992, there were only Annual
Plans.
2. In 1991, India faced a crisis in Foreign Exchange
(Forex) reserves, left with reserves of only about $1
billion (US). Thus, under pressure, the country took
the risk of reforming the socialist economy.
3. P.V. Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 23 December
2004), also called Father of Indian Economic Reforms,
was the twelfth Prime Minister of the Republic of India
and head of Congress Party, and led one of the most
important administrations in India's modern history
overseeing a major economic transformation and
several incidents affecting national security.
4. At that time Dr. Manmohan Singh launched India's

Eighth plan (1992-1997)

1. Modernization of industries was a major highlight
of the Eighth Plan.
2. Under this plan, the gradual opening of the Indian
economy was undertaken to correct the
burgeoning deficit and foreign debt.
3. Meanwhile India became a member of the World
Trade Organization on 1 January 1995.This plan
can be termed as Rao and Manmohan model of
Economic development.
4. The major objectives included, containing
population growth, poverty reduction,
employment generation, strengthening the
infrastructure, Institutional building, Human
Resource development, Involvement of Panchayat
raj, Nagarapalikas, N.G.OSand Decentralisation
and peoples participation.

Ninth Plan (1997 - 2002)

1. Ninth Five Year Plan of India runs had the main aim of
attaining objectives like speedy industrialization, human
development, full-scale employment, poverty reduction,
and self-reliance on domestic resources.
2. Ninth Five Year Plan was formulated amidst the
backdrop of India's Golden jubilee of Independence.
3. The main objectives of the Ninth Five Year Plan India
are:
to prioritize agricultural sector and emphasize on the
rural development
to generate adequate employment opportunities and
promote poverty reduction
to stabilize the prices in order to accelerate the
growth rate of the economy
to ensure food and nutritional security

 to provide for the basic infrastructural facilities

like education for all, safe drinking water,
primary health care, transport, energy
to check the growing population increase
to encourage social issues like women
empowerment, conservation of certain benefits
for the Special Groups of the society
to create a liberal market for increase in
private investments
4. During the Ninth Plan period, the growth rate
was 5.35 per cent, a percentage point lower
than the target GDP growth of 6.5 per cent

Tenth plan (2002-2007)

1. The main objectives of the 10th Five-Year Plan

were:
Reduction of poverty ratio by 5 percentage
points by 2007;
Providing gainful and high-quality
employment at least to the addition to the
labour force;
All children in India in school by 2003; all
children to complete 5 years of schooling by
2007;
Reduction in gender gaps in literacy and wage
rates by at least 50% by 2007;
Increase in Literacy Rates to 75 per cent
within the Tenth Plan period (2002 to 2007);

 Reduction of Infant mortality rate (IMR)

to 45 per 1000 live births by 2007 and
to 28 by 2012;
Reduction of Maternal Mortality Ratio
(MMR) to 2 per 1000 live births by 2007
and to 1 by 2012;
Increase in forest and tree cover to 25
per cent by 2007 and 33 per cent by
2012;
All villages to have sustained access to
potable drinking water within the Plan
period;
Cleaning of all major polluted rivers by
2007 and other notified stretches by
2012;

Eleventh plan (2007-2012)

The eleventh plan has the following objectives:
1.Income & Poverty
Accelerate GDP growth from 8% to 10% and then
maintain at 10% in the 12th Plan in order to double
per capita income by 2016-17
Increase agricultural GDP growth rate to 4% per
year to ensure a broader spread of benefits
Create 70 million new work opportunities.
Reduce educated unemployment to below 5%.
Raise real wage rate of unskilled workers by 20
percent.
Reduce the headcount ratio of consumption
poverty by 10 percentage points.

2.Education
Reduce dropout rates of children from elementary
school from 52.2% in 2003-04 to 20% by 2011-12
Develop minimum standards of educational
attainment in elementary school, and by regular
testing monitor effectiveness of education to ensure
quality
Increase literacy rate for persons of age 7 years or
above to 85%
Lower gender gap in literacy to 10 percentage
points
Increase the percentage of each cohort going to
higher education from the present 10% to 15% by
the end of the plan

3.Health
Reduce infant mortality rate to 28 and maternal
mortality ratio to 1 per 1000 live births
Reduce Total Fertility Rate to 2.1
Provide clean drinking water for all by 2009 and
ensure that there are no slip-backs
Reduce malnutrition among children of age group
0-3 to half its present level
Reduce anaemia among women and girls by 50%
by the end of the plan

4.Women and Children

Raise the sex ratio for age group 0-6 to 935 by
2011-12 and to 950 by 2016-17
Ensure that at least 33 percent of the direct and
indirect beneficiaries of all government schemes are
women and girl children
Ensure that all children enjoy a safe childhood,
without any compulsion to work

5.Infrastructure
Ensure electricity connection to all villages and
BPL households by 2009 and round-the-clock power.
Ensure all-weather road connection to all
habitation with population 1000 and above (500 in
hilly and tribal areas) by 2009, and ensure coverage
of all significant habitation by 2015
Connect every village by telephone by November
2007 and provide broadband connectivity to all
villages by 2012
Provide homestead sites to all by 2012 and step
up the pace of house construction for rural poor to
cover all the poor by 2016-17

6.Environment
Increase forest and tree cover by 5 percentage
points.
Attain WHO standards of air quality in all major
cities by 2011-12.
Treat all urban waste water by 2011-12 to clean
river waters.
Increase energy efficiency by 20 percentage
points by 2016-17.