Q.Distinguish between the First Five Year Plan and the Second Five Year Plan.
You're viewing a preview — the full solution, concept, methods & PYQ mapping are locked.
Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →The First and Second Five Year Plans differed clearly in their priorities and underlying economic reasoning, even though both were part of the same overall planning process.
The First Five Year Plan, covering 1951 to 1956, gave top priority to agriculture, along with irrigation and power projects. This reflected the urgent need, inherited from the colonial period, to stabilise food production and rural livelihoods before attempting more ambitious industrial goals. This plan is generally described as drawing on the Harrod-Domar model, which connects an economy's growth rate to the share of income it saves and invests and how efficiently that investment translates into additional output.
The Second Five Year Plan, covering 1956 to 1961, shifted the central priority toward rapid industrialisation, specifically toward building heavy and basic industries such as steel, machinery and other capital goods. This approach is closely associated with the economist P. C. Mahalanobis and is commonly called the Mahalanobis strategy. The reasoning behind this shift was that a strong domestic base for producing machines and capital goods would, over the longer run, reduce India's dependence on imported machinery and support industrial growth across many other sectors, even though it meant slower near-term growth in consumer goods production. …
Unlock everything free for 14 days
- Full step-by-step solutions
- Concept-first explanations
- Methods, shortcuts & mistakes
- PYQ mapping + timed mock tests
Full access for 14 days. No credit card required.