Financial Sector Planning Commission
The success of a program largely depends upon the planning made for it. So, the leaders of independent India formed a Planning Commission in 1950. The Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the Planning Commission.
Objectives of the Planning Commission
- It identifies the objects of our economic policy and determines economic goals to be achieved.
- It determines economic priorities and tries to ensure that the resources are utilized to the maximum possible extent.
- It also ensures the fair distribution of produce and the benefits of development to the largest number of people.
Five Year Plans
The first five year plans started in 1951 in view of economic development of the country. It also aims at ensuring that the economic resources of the country do not become the monopoly of a few, but are distributed fairly among the people. The plans also help the government in tackling the problems of poverty, unemployment and price rise.
Nowadays, the Eleventh Five Year Plan is being implemented. Due to the Indo-Pak war of 1965, severe drought, general rise in prices, devaluation of currency, and erosion of resources available for Plan purposes, there were three Annual Plans (instead of a five year plan) between 1966 and 1969. In the 1979–80 Annual Plan, it was decided to initiate a new plan after the then ongoing Fifth Five Year Plan, with new programmes and priorities. As a result of the fast changing political situation at the centre, the Eighth Five Year Plan could not take off. It was therefore decided to treat the 1990–91 and 1991–92 plans as separate Annual Plans.
In 1991, the Government of India made a new economic policy and gave importance to the private sectors in India’s economic development.
Agricultural Development
Agriculture is the backbone of India’s economy. Apart from providing food grains, vegetables, fruits, pulses and other edibles, it also provides raw materials for many of our industries. The cotton and textile industries, sugar, edible oils and plantation all depend on agriculture.
The people involved in the First Five Year were aware of the importance of plan agriculture in India’s economic development. Therefore, the first few five year plans, gave the highest priority to the agricultural sector by allocating 37 per cent to it. In the subsequent plans also substantial allocations to the tune of 20 and 24 per cent were allocated to this sector. Steps were taken to enhance the production of agriculture. These steps were:
1. A large number of farmers had small holdings which were uneconomic. Therefore, land reforms were made by abolishing the zamindari system and redistributing land in a more equitable manner.
2. Small and scattered landholdings were consolidated SO that benefits of mechanized farming could be availed.
3. A large area of land lying uncultivated, unclaimed or fallow, was brought under cultivation with the help of modern agricultural facilities.
4. This five year plan emphasised the development of irrigation facilities so as to help the farmers to avoid crop failure due to lack of rain. For irrigation purposes many dams were constructed on rivers, which were also used to generate hydroelectricity.
5. Many multi-purpose River Valley Projects were started, which, as the name itself suggests, had multi-faceted benefits.
6. To avoid the loss of crops due to pests and insects and to raise the fertility of The soil, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides was encouraged. government set up fertilizer factories at Neyuveli, Rourkela, Nangal, Sindri and Trombay. They started producing chemical fertilizers in large quantities.
7. High yielding variety seeds were developed to enhance agricultural production, especially of essential crops, such as wheat, rice and cotton.
8. Modern equipment and machinery. such as tractors, sowing machines, threshers and harvesters were provided on low interest rates.
9. Organizations, such as National Seeds Corporation and State Farms Corporation of India provided farmers with good seeds at reasonable prices. Loans were also provided to the farmers to buy agricultural implements.
10. The Department of Agricultural Research and Education was set up in 1973 for conducting research.
Multi-Purpose River Valley Projects
The government has constructed many multi-purpose river valley projects that serve a
number of purposes. They serve the following important purposes:
- They help in irrigation. They store water in several reservoirs, which is taken by canals to the drier areas. For example, the water of Rajasthan Canal, helps in irrigating the desert areas of Rajasthan.
- The reservoirs serve the purpose of fishing grounds also.
- Dams are constructed under the river valley projects which help in checking floods.) For example, the Damodar Valley Project has been greatly helpful in checking the annual flood of the Damodar river in Bengal and Bihar.
Industrial Development
The industrial sector is very important in the economic development of a country. In fact, agriculture itself is dependent on industry for its development. For example, tractors, threshers, electric motors are all industrial products. At the time of independence. India had a very few industries. In the Second Five Year Plan, emphasis was laid on industrial development.
Many industries were set up under the first few five year plans, These industries include iron and steel, cement, chemicals, fertilizers, petroleum, locomotive engines and railway wagons.
Since India imported steel from other countries, steel plants were installed at Bokaro, Salem and Durgapur.
(Several fertilizer factories were set up, such as at Sindri. Nangal, Barauni and Trombay.
A factory was set up at Chittaranjan (West Bengal) to produce locomotive engines, Factories at Kapurthala and Perambur were set up to produce railway engines.
Heavy and light machinery for sugar. cement and textile industries were produced in engineering industry. The Hindustan Machine Tools was set up. which has manufacturing units in various parts of the country.
* Emphasis was also laid on setting up textile industries. Great progress in the production of textiles was made, as a result of which India became one of the major exporters of textiles.
* A factory was set up at Vishakhapatnam for building ships. Many factories were set up in different parts of the country for the production of pharmaceuticals.
*Sugar mills were established in sugar producing areas, such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana.
*Steps were taken to promote automobile and electronics industry.
Small-scale and Cottage Industries
Small-scale and cottage industries have also been encouraged by our government to enhance the economic condition of the country Small-scale industries can be set up with limited capital and they provide employment to a large number of people. Sometimes they work as ancillaries of larger industries and provide components or manufacture subsidiary items. The government has offered some incentives such as tax benefits for setting up small-scale industries.
Cottage industries have always existed in our country, although they received a setback as a result of British policies. Items like leather.
Removing Poverty and Unemployment
The Government of India has prepared a number of schemes and launched several programmes to solve the problems of poverty and unemployment.
* The Government has launched many employment programmes, such as Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojna (JGSY)
* Programme have been launched with a view to encourage self-employment, such as Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY).
* Government has also launched social security programmes for the aged and pregnant women especially in rural areas.
* For urban areas, Prime Minister Rozgar Yojna (PMRY) and the Prime Minister’s Integrated Urban Poverty Alleviation Programme (PMIUPAP) have been launched for employment.
* Fair Price Shops supply food to lower income groups at subsidized rates. Thus, we see that after independence the government of India has done a lot towards economic development and has successfully tackled various problems that came in its way. However, a lot of things have yet to be done.
Social Sector
Providing civil amenities to the people is an important function of our government. Let’s discuss about the role of government in providing public facilities.
Public Facilities
- Water comes first in the list of civic amenities. The idea of equity, or the equal availability, affordability and quality of water for all, is one of the key issues related to public facilities. We will discuss this issue in the context of Fundamental Rights and the government’s responsibility in it.
- Biner Water is essential for life, the Constitution has indirectly recognized the right to water, because without water one cannot live. Thus, it means that every person has the right to get sufficient amount of water at affordable prices. The courts, ie., the High Courts and the Supreme Court have also recognized this, because in several cases they have held that the right to safe drinking water is a Fundamental Right.
- In case of low or excess rain, the poor people suffer the most. They do not get pure drinking water in both the cases. On the other hand, rich and middle class people manage to get drinking water by digging wells or buying mineral water from the market. In this case, the poor people have to drink contaminated water.
- District authorities already know textile companies or leather tanneries discharge poisonous chemicals into streams or rivers near villages, but nothing is done by the government to get rid of this problem. Thus, it seems that it is only people with money who have the right to water.
- Many water-borne diseases can be checked by providing safe drinking water. India has the largest number of cases of diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera. A large number of Indians, most of them young children, below the age of five, reportedly die everyday because of water-related diseases. Hence, it becomes the primary duty of the government to make drinking water available to all the citizens.
- Sanitation is another civic amenity that should be provided to the citizen. Sanitation coverage in India is even lower than that of water. Toilet facility within the residence is not available to about 74 per cent of Indian population. The sanitary condition in the slums is very poor, which gives rise to many contaminated diseases. Rural areas also lack good sanitary condition.
- Apart from water and sanitary facilities, there are things like electricity, public trans port, schools and colleges which are also necessary.
- The responsibility of providing these to the people is to be undertaken by someone. The responsibility can be taken by anyone, but since these are unprofitable enterprises, no private company comes forward to provide them) Private companies involve themselves only in profitable exercises. They can provide facilities but at a price that only a few people can afford. For this reason, and because public facilities relate to people’s basic needs, the responsibility to provide them must be that of the government. In most of the cases, when the government tries to give contracts to private companies to supply water or distribute electricity, the prices go up. Moreover, since the benefits of public facilities are shared by a large section of people, it becomes the primary duty