Test: Politics Of Planned Development - UPSC MCQ

The Planning Commission of India made the quote, "Planning is a way of organizing and utilizing resources to maximum advantage in terms of defined social ends", in part 7 of the Planning commission's draft outline of five year plan.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Stalin introduced the Five Year Plan in the USSR. In the USSR the First Five Year Plan was implemented from 1929 to 1933. The same method was adopted and implemented in India from 1951 onwards.

Liberalisation did not form a part of the early phase of India's development policy.
Though planning, cooperative farming and self sufficiency were ideas that were introduced in the early phase of India's development policy, liberalisation was initiated much later (in the year 1991) by Manmohan Singh.

The second five-year plan focused on industry. Domestic production of industrial products was encouraged in the Second plan, particularly in the development of the public sector.

Character of people is not a contributory factor for the development as it does not have any contribution in economics, whereas, all other factors like the abundance of national resources, level of technology and frequent and free elections have direct contribution in the imports and exports which affect the GDP of a country.

Budgets are qualitative or financial statements prepared for the purpose of attaining a particular objective.The budget of the central and all the State governments is divided into two parts: ‘non-plan’ budget that is spent on routine items on a yearly basis and ‘plan’ budget that is spent on a five year basis as per the priorities fixed by the plan.

The first five year plan sought to get the country's economy out of the cycle of poverty. The First Five Year Plan addressed, mainly, the agrarian sector including investment in dams and irrigation. The Plan identified the pattern of land distribution in the country as the principal obstacle in the way of agricultural growth. It focused on land reforms as the key to the country's development. The government declared that 'socialist pattern of society' was its goal. This was reflected in the Second Plan. So, the government imposed substantial tariffs on imports in order to protect domestic industries.

Bihar faced the near famine situation in 1965-67. The food shortage was significant in all districts of Bihar, with 9 districts producing less than half of their normal output.

The Planning Commission of India was an institution in the Government of India that formulated India's Five-Year Plans, among other functions. Here are the correct statements about the Planning Commission:

1. The Prime Minister of India acted as the ex-officio Chairman of the Planning Commission.

   • This is correct. The Prime Minister of India was the ex-officio chairman of the Planning Commission.

2. The Planning Commission formulated India's Five-Year Plans.

   • This is also correct. The Planning Commission was responsible for formulating India's Five-Year Plans, which outlined the country's economic development strategy.

3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his intention to dissolve the Planning Commission in his first Independence Day speech.

   • This is correct. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his intention to dissolve the Planning Commission and replace it with a new institution in his Independence Day speech in 2014. This led to the establishment of the NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) in 2015.

Given that all three statements are correct, the correct answer is: All of the above.

Socialist model of development was related to the USSR.