Planning in India and Bihar
Planning questions test objectives, the Planning Commission (1950) versus NITI Aayog (2015), the models behind the early plans, and Bihar's own planning instruments.
Why India planned
Capital scarcity, market failure, the need for balanced growth, food security and poverty removal drove planning, inspired partly by the USSR. Antecedents: M. Visvesvaraya's Planned Economy for India (1934), the National Planning Committee (1938, chaired by Nehru), the Bombay Plan (1944), the Gandhian Plan (1944) and the People's Plan of M. N. Roy (1945).
Plan landmarks
- Planning Commission: 15 March 1950, non-statutory, chaired by the Prime Minister.
- First Plan (1951-56): Harrod-Domar model, priority to agriculture and irrigation; successful.
- Second Plan (1956-61): Mahalanobis model, heavy industry, socialistic pattern (Avadi, 1955).
- Plan holiday 1966-69 after drought, war and a foreign-exchange crisis.
- Twelfth Plan (2012-17): the last five-year plan, focused on inclusive growth.
- NITI Aayog: 1 January 2015, a think tank promoting cooperative and competitive federalism; it does not allocate plan funds.
Bihar
Planning is routed through the Bihar State Planning Board; long treated as a 'BIMARU' state for low growth, Bihar has used vision documents like Saat Nishchay (2015-20) and Sankalp (2020-25). Bihar Diwas (22 March) marks the separation of Bihar and Orissa from Bengal in 1912.
Worked example
Why did the First Plan prioritise agriculture? Reasoning: partition left a food shortage and inflation, capital was scarce, farming had short gestation and low import content, and farm surplus was needed to finance later heavy industry. So irrigation and fertiliser came first and industry was deferred to the Second Plan.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing 1950 (Commission) with 1951 (First Plan); claiming NITI Aayog allocates plan funds; forgetting the 1966-69 plan holiday; swapping the Harrod-Domar and Mahalanobis models.