Planning and the Nehru Era
NCERT Class 12 - Politics in India Since Independence, Chapter 3
Planning and the Nehru Era
India chose planned development within a mixed economy - neither full state control as in the Soviet model nor a free market as in the West. The state would build heavy industry and infrastructure, while agriculture and consumer goods stayed largely in private hands.
Planning and the Planning Commission
- The Planning Commission was set up in 1950 by an executive resolution of the government; it was neither a constitutional nor a statutory body, and the Prime Minister was its chairman.
- The National Development Council, with the Chief Ministers as members, approved the plans, giving states a formal say.
- The First Five Year Plan (1951-56) gave priority to agriculture, irrigation and the rehabilitation of refugees, and was influenced by the Harrod-Domar model; K. N. Raj was closely associated with it.
- The Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) shifted decisively to heavy industry, on the model prepared by the statistician P. C. Mahalanobis.
- The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 reserved key industries for the public sector and gave the state the commanding heights of the economy.
- The Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog in 2015, which is a policy think tank without the power to allocate funds.
The central debates
| Debate | The two positions |
|---|---|
| Agriculture or industry first | Industry creates lasting capacity versus agriculture feeds the people and must come first |
| Public or private sector | State control of key industries versus private initiative and efficiency |
| Capital or labour intensive | Heavy machines and technology versus small industry that creates more jobs |
| Centralised or decentralised | Planning from above versus village level planning favoured by Gandhians |
- The critics of the industry-first approach argued that neglecting agriculture caused the food crisis of the mid-1960s.
- Supporters argued that without a heavy industrial base built with public money, India would have remained dependent on imports for machinery and defence.
Agriculture, land reform and the Green Revolution
- Zamindari abolition was the most successful land reform, removing intermediaries and bringing cultivators into direct relation with the state.
- Land ceiling laws and tenancy reform were far less successful, weakened by exemptions, benami transfers and poor land records.
- The Green Revolution of the mid-1960s used high yielding variety seeds, chemical fertiliser, irrigation and assured procurement prices and made India self-sufficient in food grains.
- Its benefits were regionally concentrated, mainly in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, and went largely to medium and large farmers, widening inequality.
- Long-term costs included falling water tables, soil degradation and heavy dependence on subsidised inputs.
- Operation Flood, the dairy cooperative movement associated with Verghese Kurien, made India a leading milk producer and is the standard example of a cooperative rather than state-led success.
हिंदी संकेत: योजना आयोग संवैधानिक या वैधानिक निकाय नहीं था - वह सरकारी प्रस्ताव से बना था। 2015 में उसकी जगह नीति आयोग आया।
Exam me kaise aata hai
Factual questions ask which plan emphasised heavy industry and who designed it, and which body replaced the Planning Commission. Match-the-following links plan with priority. Application questions ask why the Green Revolution increased regional inequality.
UPSC / State PSC ke liye
For an essay, judge planning by what it achieved and what it missed - it built industry, infrastructure, scientific institutions and food self-sufficiency, but did not deliver land reform, universal literacy or employment. The standard formulation is that planning succeeded at capacity building and failed at redistribution.
Yahan confuse hote hain
✗ The Planning Commission was a constitutional body | ✓ It was created by an executive resolution in 1950
✗ The First Plan emphasised heavy industry | ✓ The First Plan emphasised agriculture; the Second emphasised heavy industry
✗ The Green Revolution benefited all regions equally | ✓ Its gains were concentrated in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh
Ek nazar me
- India chose planned development within a mixed economy.
- The Planning Commission was set up in 1950 by executive resolution, not by statute.
- First Plan 1951-56 stressed agriculture; Second Plan 1956-61 stressed heavy industry.
- P. C. Mahalanobis designed the Second Plan model; the 1956 Industrial Policy favoured the public sector.
- Zamindari abolition succeeded; land ceiling and tenancy reform largely did not.
- The Green Revolution brought food self-sufficiency but concentrated gains regionally.
- Operation Flood under Verghese Kurien made India a leading milk producer.