Question

What incident encouraged nehru to introduced 5 years plan in india?

Answer 1

After independence, under the leadership of the first prime minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress government started to rebuild the country. Pandit Nehru through his visionary policies and inspiring leadership not only overcame serious challenges but also successfully put India on the path of progress. Under the leadership of Pandit Nehru Five – Year Plan was started in 1951. These plans were formulated for centralised and integrated national development.


Pandit Nehru got the blueprint of the First Five – Year Plan (1951 – 1959) prepared. It was very important since it played an important role for the development of the country. This plan provided much needed push to the agriculture sector and also for the establishment of industries. This plan also initiated the system of Mixed Economy which emphasised the development of both the sectors – public and private. The role of public sector was going to be important keeping in view of India being a welfare state.

 

The Congress government under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru allocated Rs 2378 crore for the first Five – Year Plan. It comprised provisions for 7 main sectors in the following manner – irrigation and power (27.2%), agriculture and community development (17.4%), transport and communication (24%), industry (8.4%), social services (16.4%), land reforms (4.1%) and other sectors and services (2.5%). The critical situations of that era itself needed an active participation of the state in all the areas of the economic activities because immediately after freedom, India was facing acute crisis of capital. The Congress government under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru very efficiently accomplished all the tasks.

 

This plan aimed at a growth - rate of 2.1% in GDP but the efficiency of the Congress government increased it to 3.6%. NDP also increased 15%. Due to good monsoon and outstanding agricultural policies, food grain production increased significantly. Food grain stock swelled and per capita income increased at the rate of 8% per year. Per capita income increased more than the average income per person. During this plan, the Congress government started several important irrigation projects which included Bhakhara Nangal and Hirakund dam projects.

 

The Congress government with the active participation of World Health Organisation (WHO) took child – health as a mission that yielded outstanding results in terms of child – health and infant – mortality rate. At the end of this plan, five IITs had already been started as the premier institutes of science and technology. To strengthen higher education, UGC was formed. During this plan, memorandum of understanding was signed for establishing five steel plants though the work could be started only in the second Five – Year plan. On the whole, the first Five – Year plan was very successful in terms of the objectives set by the Congress government. 

 

Encouraged by the success of the first Five – year plan, the Congress government under the leadership of Pandit Nehru continued it. The second plan was dedicated primarily to the public sector. Mahalanobis model was adopted in this plan. The Congress government decided to invest more in production so that the country may see long term economic development. In this plan, the Congress government started to adopt and implement the model based on extensive research and put forward by Indian Statistical Institute. The concept of this plan was a closed economy in which business and commerce was limited to industrial output. 

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