Q.The Planning Commission has been replaced by the ______ on 1st January 2015.

The First Five Year Plan was based on the Harrod-Domar model — option (a).

India's First Five Year Plan (1951-1956) gave top priority to agriculture and irrigation (partly to overcome the food shortage after Partition). It was built on the Harrod-Domar growth model, which links the rate of economic growth to the saving/investment rate and the capital-output ratio — the more a country saves and invests, the faster it grows.

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The Planning Commission was set up in 1950 — option (a).

The Planning Commission was constituted in March 1950 by a resolution of the Government of India, with the Prime Minister (Jawaharlal Nehru) as its chairman. Its task was to assess the country's resources and formulate the Five Year Plans for their most effective use. The First Five Year Plan that followed began in 1951.

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The Fourth Five Year Plan (1969–74) is known as the 'Gadgil Yojana', so the answer is option (a).

The Fourth Five Year Plan (1969–1974) was drafted under the guidance of D. R. Gadgil, the then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, and is therefore popularly called the Gadgil Yojana. Its twin objectives were 'growth with stability' and 'progressive achievement of self-reliance'. It also introduced the Gadgil formula for allocating central assistance among states.

For comparison in the Tamil Nadu HSC syllabus: …

The correct option is (b) NITI Aayog: it replaced the Planning Commission on 1 January 2015.

The Planning Commission (set up in 1950) which prepared India's Five Year Plans was replaced by the NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) on 1 January 2015. NITI Aayog acts as a policy think-tank promoting cooperative federalism, rather than a central planning body allocating resources.

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The correct option is (d) 2002 - 2007: the Tenth Five Year Plan period.

India's Tenth Five Year Plan ran from 2002 to 2007, with a target growth rate of 8% for the economy. Each plan covered a block of five years, so the surrounding plans were the Ninth (1997–2002) and the Eleventh (2007–2012).

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The Annual Plans were formed during 1990-1992.

In India's planning history, the Seventh Five Year Plan ended in 1990. Because of political instability and an economic (balance of payments) crisis, the Eighth Five Year Plan could not be started immediately. To avoid a vacuum in planning, the government implemented two Annual Plans for the y …

The basic objective of the Sixth Five Year Plan was (c) poverty eradication.

The Sixth Five Year Plan covered the period 1980-1985. Its basic objective was a direct attack on poverty ('Garibi Hatao') by generating employment opportunities, raising the standard of living of the poor and reducing unemployment and inequality. The plan combined growth with programmes aimed specifically at removing poverty.

Why the others are wrong:

• (b) Agricultural development was the priority of the First Plan.
• (d) Industrial development was stressed in the Second Plan (Mahalanobis strategy). …

P. C. Mahalanobis is known as the Father of Indian (economic) Planning.

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, a statistician, designed the growth strategy behind India's Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) — giving priority to the rapid development of heavy, basic industries to build a strong industrial base for self-reliant growth. Because of his central role in shaping India's early planning strategy, he is widely ref …