Planning, Economic Development and the Green Revolution
What the domain tests
This domain tests India's planning model, the public sector, land reform, the Green Revolution and the shift to liberalisation.
Core rules and concepts
- The Planning Commission was set up in 1950; the First Five-Year Plan began in 1951; NITI Aayog replaced it in 2015.
- India adopted a mixed economy: state-led heavy industry and public sector units alongside private enterprise.
- Import substitution and licensing protected domestic industry but sometimes reduced efficiency.
- Land reform aimed at abolishing intermediaries, tenancy reform and ceilings, with uneven implementation.
- The Green Revolution used high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice, irrigation, fertiliser and credit, especially in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
- M. S. Swaminathan was a key scientific figure; food imports fell and buffer stocks rose.
- Costs included groundwater depletion, soil salinity, chemical dependence and regional inequality.
- The 1991 reforms liberalised trade, reduced licensing and opened the economy to foreign investment.
Worked example
Why did the Green Revolution raise output but not end rural poverty? Reasoning: HYV seeds raised yields where irrigation and credit existed; large farmers adopted first; landless labourers gained some employment but not land; gains clustered in irrigated regions. Production rose, but distribution remained unequal.
Traps that cost marks
- Saying the Green Revolution covered all crops and all regions.
- Treating planning as fully socialist; India retained private property.
- Confusing the Planning Commission with NITI Aayog.
- Assuming 1991 reforms ended all state regulation.