The Planning Commission and the Five Year Plans
From 1951 to 2017 India steered its economy through twelve Five Year Plans drawn up by a body answering to the Prime Minister.
What the paper can ask
- Set up on 15 March 1950, reporting directly to the Prime Minister, who was its chairman; the deputy chairman held Cabinet rank.
- First Plan (1951-56) stressed agriculture; the Second (1956-61) stressed public-sector industrialisation and heavy industry.
- After the Third Plan the government declared plan holidays and ran three annual plans from 1966 to 1969; the Twelfth Plan (2012-17) had an 8 percent growth target approved by the National Development Council.
- The Planning Commission was scrapped by the Union Cabinet in August 2014, after which the Five Year Plans ended.
Why exams ask
Setters ask how the Commission was created and who chaired it, what each early Plan stressed, which Plan years were plan holidays, and the target of the Twelfth Plan.
The full story
The Planning Commission was set up on 15 March 1950 with the Prime Minister as its chairman and a deputy chairman of Cabinet rank, drawing on the Soviet example of central planning. It assessed the country's resources and wrote Five Year Plans, the first starting in 1951 with a focus on agriculture and the second turning to heavy industry and the public sector. After the Third Plan's poor results came three annual plans.
In the news
Test yourself
1.NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission on:
Correct. NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) was set up by a Cabinet resolution on 1 January 2015, ending the Planning Commission of 1950.
Not quite. NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) was set up by a Cabinet resolution on 1 January 2015, ending the Planning Commission of 1950. It goes into your error book.
2.India's Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) was based on a growth model developed by:
Correct. The Second Plan followed the Mahalanobis model stressing heavy industry; the First Plan (1951-56) had drawn on the Harrod-Domar model.
Not quite. The Second Plan followed the Mahalanobis model stressing heavy industry; the First Plan (1951-56) had drawn on the Harrod-Domar model. It goes into your error book.
3.The Planning Commission of India, set up in March 1950, was a body that was
Correct. The Planning Commission derived its authority from neither the Constitution nor statute. It was set up by a 1950 resolution with Nehru as chairman.
Not quite. The Planning Commission derived its authority from neither the Constitution nor statute. It was set up by a 1950 resolution with Nehru as chairman. It goes into your error book.