Economics · General Awareness

Indian Five-Year Plans

480 Questions

Indian Five Year Plans form a critical component of Indian economic history, detailing objectives like poverty alleviation and industrial growth. Questions target specific timelines, agricultural targets, and industrial policies established across various plan periods. This topic is a staple in civil services and state preliminary examinations.

Plan objectivesAgricultural targetsIndustrial growthPoverty alleviationEconomic timeline

Indian Five-Year Plans Questions

Multiple choice

A serious effort to tackle the problem of poverty began with the

  1. Second Plan

  2. Fourth Plan

  3. Sixth Plan

  4. Fifth Plan
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The Fourth Five Year Plan (1969-74) explicitly adopted poverty alleviation as a primary objective for the first time in India's planning history. It introduced programs like the Rural Works Programme and focused on redistributive policies. Earlier plans prioritized industrialization and agriculture over direct poverty intervention.

Multiple choice

Which of the following statements is incorrect in relation to the Second Five Year Plan?

  1. The plan was the product of P. C. Mahalanobis’s work.

  2. It tried to implement the elements of British socialism and combine them with the tenets of Mahatma Gandhi.

  3. The large enterprises in seventeen industries were nationalised during this plan.

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

India’s Second Five-Year Plan (1956-61):- The second plan was to set India on the path of industrialization. P.C. Mahalanobis was the moving spirit behind the second five year plan. He gave the highest priority to strengthening the industrial base of the economy. It was in this light that the 1948 Industrial Policy Resolution was revised and the new resolution of 1956 was adopted. There was emphasis on the expansion of the public sector and establishment of a socialistic pattern of society.

Multiple choice

Second Five Year plan was based on a model developed by:

  1. C. H Hanumantha Rao

  2. P.C. Mahalanobis

  3. A.K. Sen

  4. K.N. Raj
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

India's Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) was based on the Mahalanobis model developed by P.C. Mahalanobis. This model emphasized development of heavy industries and capital goods sector to achieve long-term industrial growth and self-reliance.

Multiple choice

India adopted the 'indicative model of planning' from

  1. 7th Five Year Plan onwards

  2. 8th Five Year Plan onwards

  3. 9th Five Year Plan onwards

  4. 5th Five Year Plan onwards
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

India adopted the indicative planning model from the 8th Five Year Plan (1992-97) onwards. Indicative planning is more flexible than imperative planning, where the government sets targets and provides guidance rather than mandating production quotas and resource allocation. This shift was part of India's broader economic liberalization in 1991, moving away from the command economy approach towards market-oriented planning.

Multiple choice

Which among the following events was the last to happen in the economic history of India?

  1. Publication of Sarvodaya Plan

  2. Formulation of Bombay Plan

  3. Formulation of People Plan

  4. Formation of Advisory Planning Board
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Among India's economic planning milestones, the chronological order is: Advisory Planning Board (1946-47), Bombay Plan (1944), People's Plan by M.N. Roy (1944), Sarvodaya Plan by Jayaprakash Narayan (1950). The Sarvodaya Plan was the last among these, emphasizing Gandhian principles and decentralized development. Therefore, publication of Sarvodaya Plan (A) was chronologically the last to happen among the options given.

Multiple choice

Which of the following Five Year Plans was based on John Miller model of development?

  1. Fifth Five Year plan

  2. Sixth Five Year Plan

  3. Seventh Five Year Plan

  4. Eight Five Year Plan
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-1997) adopted the John Miller development model which emphasized human development, quality of life, and people-centric planning. This model focused on education, health, and employment generation alongside economic growth. Previous plans had followed different models like Mahalanobis' heavy industry focus.

Multiple choice

Which of the following factors did not lead to the failure of the 3rd Five Year Plan?

  1. Chinese aggression

  2. War with Pakistan

  3. Poor monsoons

  4. Famine
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The Third Five Year Plan (1961-66) failed due to multiple external shocks: Chinese aggression (1962), war with Pakistan (1965), and successive poor monsoons causing agricultural distress. However, famine did NOT occur during this period - the major Bengal famine happened much earlier in 1943. The question asks what did NOT contribute to failure.

Multiple choice

Which of the following Five Year Plans was based on Mahalanobis' model of development?

  1. First Five Year Plan

  2. Second Five Year Plan

  3. Third Five Year Plan

  4. Fifth Five Year Plan
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) was based on PC Mahalanobis' model which emphasized heavy industrialization and capital goods production. The Mahalanobis strategy prioritized development of steel, heavy machinery, and basic industries to create a strong industrial base for future growth. This model influenced Soviet-style planning in India.

Multiple choice

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

  1. Poverty alleviation was an explicit objective of the Fifth Five Year Plan.
  2. The Minimum Needs Programme launched during the Fifth Plan took direct measures to eliminate poverty.

  1. Only 1

  2. Only 2

  3. Both of these

  4. Neither of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Statement 1 is correct: One of the explicit objectives of the Fifth Five Year Plan was poverty alleviation. Statement 2 is correct: The Minimum Needs Programme launched during the Fifth Plan took direct measures to eliminate poverty.

Multiple choice

Which of the following were the reasons for the failure of the Second Five Year Plan?

  1. Suez crisis
  2. Chinese aggression
  3. Failure of monsoons
  4. Denudation of forex reserves

  1. Only 1, 3 and 4

  2. 1, 2, 3 and 4

  3. Only 2 and 4

  4. Only 1 and 4
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The period of Second Five Year Plan was from 1956 to 1961. The plan failed due to the following reasons:

  1. Suez crisis
  2. Rising inflation
  3. Failure of monsoons
  4. Denudation of forex reserves Chinese aggression was one of the reasons for the failure of the Third Five Year Plan.
Multiple choice

Match the following: List I List II Emphasis on labour intensive project 1. Seventh plan Emphasis on self-employment 2. Fifth plan ventures in different sectors Emphasis on agriculture for 3. Eighth plan Self- employment. "Weekly Status" norms to 4. Sixth plan Measure employment

  1. A.1 B.2 C.3 D.4

  2. A.3 B.1 C.4 D.2

  3. A.2 B.4 C.1 D.3

  4. A.4 B.3 C.2 D.1
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

This question matches India's Five Year Plans with their employment policy focus. The Fifth Plan (1974-79) emphasized labor-intensive projects to generate employment. The Sixth Plan (1980-85) introduced the 'Weekly Status' norm for measuring unemployment. The Seventh Plan (1985-90) focused on self-employment ventures across sectors, and the Eighth Plan (1992-97) emphasized agriculture for self-employment.

Multiple choice

In which of the following years was Planning Commission set up?

  1. 1947

  2. 1950

  3. 1953

  4. 1956
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The Planning Commission was established on March 15, 1950 through a Cabinet resolution to promote balanced economic development in independent India. It was created just after the Constitution came into effect to formulate Five-Year Plans for national development.