Politics of Planned Development

About this unit

After independence India had to choose a path of economic development. This unit explains the debates about models of development, the setting up of the Planning Commission, the goals of the early Five Year Plans, and the growing role of the state in the economy. It also traces how planning and the Green Revolution created new economic interests and new political forces in the countryside and in industry.

Key ideas

• Development involved political choices: between the capitalist and socialist models, and between agriculture and industry.
• The Planning Commission was set up in March 1950 by a resolution of the Government of India, with the Prime Minister as its chairperson.
• The First Plan (1951–56) stressed agriculture; the Second Plan (1956–61), shaped by P.C. Mahalanobis, stressed heavy industry.
• India adopted a mixed economy with a large public sector.
• Alternatives included Gandhian ideas of decentralisation and the “Kerala model” of human development.
• The Green Revolution raised food output but also widened regional and class inequalities.

How to prepare

Memorise the plan periods and the focus of the first two plans, the year of the Planning Commission, and the names linked to planning (Mahalanobis, K.N. Raj, J.C. Kumarappa). Expect questions on the debates over agriculture versus industry and public versus private sector, and on the effects of the Green Revolution.