UPSC Questions on Five Year Plan: All About the Five Years Plan & Economic Planning in India

The first-year plan of India was set up in 1951 right after the enforcement of the Constitution of India in 1950. In this article, you will get UPSC questions on a five years plan to practice. Try answering them without looking at the answers. We will also discuss the 11th five years as well as the  12th five-year plan. Read the article till the end and know it all.

UPSC Questions on Five Year Plan

Question

1. Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?
2.   Only I
3.   I and II
4.   II and III
5.   All of the above

Answer: b

Question

2. Who gives the final approval to the five-year plans of India?

(a) National Development Council (NDC)

(b) Ministry of Finance

(c) Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog)

(d) President of India

Answer: a

Question

3. When was the first five-year plan of India started?

(a) 1949

(b) 1950

(c) 1952

(d) 1951

Answer:d

Question

4. The very first five-year plan of India was based on the model of

(a) Mahalanobis model

(b) Harrod Domar Model

(c) Bombay Plan

(d) None of these

Answer:b

Question

5. What is the prime target of the first five-year plan of India?

(a) Development of the industries

(b) Development of Agriculture

(c) Development of infrastructure

(d) Development of ports

Answer:b

Question

6. In which five-year plan India opted for a mixed economy?

(a) First

(b) Second

(c) Third

(d) Fourth

Answer:b

Question

7. When was the plan holiday declared?

(a) After the third plan

(b) After the fourth plan

(c) After the fifth plan

(d) After the sixth plan

Answer: a

Question

8. Three annual plan were launched between

(a) 1969 to 1972

(b) 1966 to 1969

(c) 1986 to 1989

(d) 1988 to 1991

Answer:b

Question

9. National Development Council is consists of

(a) Members of the Planning Commission

(b) Governors of the states

(c) Chief Ministers of the states

(d) a & c

Answer:d

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Question

10. Who among the following formulated the “Gandhian Plan”?

a.  Mahatma Gandhi

b.  Sriman Narayan Agarwal

c.  M.N. Roy

d.  Mahalanobis

Answer: b

Question

11. Who among the following Indian leaders advocated the “People’s Plan”?

a.  Mahalanobis

b.  Jaiprakash Narayan

c.  M.N. Roy

d.  Sriman Narayan Agarwal

Answer: c

Question

12. ‘Gadgil Report’, one of the several area-specific reports were published during the 1940s which was on

a.  Agricultural Development

b.  Rural Credit

c.  Agricultural Prices

d.  Cooperatives

Answer: b

Question

13. Consider the following statements regarding the objectives of planning in India

I.   Planning for India was an instrument to realize the aspirations and dreams of the future.

II.  These aspirations and goals got their proper places and due importance in the reports of the National Planning Committee (NPC), in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly, and finally in the Constitution of India.

III. From the margins of the ripening nationalist movement as well as taking clues from the Soviet and the French styles of planning, the NPC articulated the objectives of planning in India.

Question

14. Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?

a.  Only I

b.  I and II

c.  II and III

d.  All of the above

Answer: d

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Question

15. Consider the following statements regarding the important features included by the Constitutional provisions which pertain to the objectives of planning in the country

I.    ‘Economic and social planning’ is a concurrent subject.

II.   The Constitution includes provisions for promoting co-operation on a voluntary basis between the Union and the states.

III.  The Constitution also sets out in broad outline the pattern of the welfare state envisaged and the fundamental principles on which it should rest.

Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?

a.  Only I

b.  I and II

c.  II and III

d.  All of the above

Answer: d

Question

16. Which of the following is an objective of planning in India?

a.  Economic growth

b.  Poverty alleviation

c.  Employment generation

d.  All of the above

Answer: d

Question

17. Which of the following plans is/are formulated by the Central Government and financed by it for the implementation at the national level?

a.  Five Year Plans

b.  Twenty-Point Programme

c.  Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme

d.  All of the above

Answer: d

Question

18. Consider the following statements regarding the MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)

Under this scheme, the Members of Parliament recommend some works (i.e. creation of fixed community assets, based on locally felt developmental needs) to the concerned District Magistrate.

2005.   The scheme is governed by a set of guidelines, which have been comprehensively revised and issued in November 2005.

III.    In April 2011 the corpus was enhanced to Rs. 10 crores while announcing the new guidelines for the scheme.

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Five Year Plan of India

This type of economic planning in India was adopted from the Harrod-Domar model with few changes in 1951. The model was formulated and implemented by the central government. The goal of their planning was to make not only the growth of the economy but also to make overall growth of the country.

The long term goal of the planning was:

• To  improve the GDP of the nation
• Be self-Sustainable
• Justice for every citizen
• Reducing inequality
• Modernize Economy

In 2017 the IT was replaced by the three-year plan which is a short goal for achieving a long-term 15-year vision. The planning commission is now replaced by the NITI Ayog.

Also Read: Click Here to Know How to Prepare Economics for UPSC

11th Five Year Plan

The duration of this was from 2007 to 2012. Dr Manmohan Sing was the Prime Minister of our country during that time. C. Rangarajan was responsible for preparing this. The objectives of this were:

• Rapid Growth and more inclusive growth
• Providing clean drinking water by 2009
• Increasing the growth rate in agriculture, industry, and services by 4%, 5%, and 9% respectively.
• Reducing gender inequality

Is 12th Year Plan Important for UPSC?

The duration of this planning was from 2012 to 2017. This was the last five-year plan to be proposed that is why this is an important topic for UPSC. This was also during the term of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The  objectives were:

• Make sustainable  faster and more inclusive growth
• Raising agriculture to 4 per cent
• Raising manufacturing services to 10  per cent

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How to Cover Five Years Plan for UPSC?

Here is the outline of the 12 annual plans for you. These points would be enough for you to cover for UPSC.

Plan	Objectives
First (1951 – 56) Target Growth: 2.1 % Actual Growth: 3.6 %	It was based on the Harrod-Domar Model. The influx of refugees, severe food shortage & mounting inflation confronted the country at the onset of the first five-year plan. It Focussed on agriculture, price stability, power and transport.
Second (1956 – 61) Target Growth: 4.5% Actual Growth: 4.3%	Simple aggregative Harrod Domar Growth Model was again used for overall projections and the strategy of resource allocation to broad sectors as agriculture & Industry was based on two & four sector Model prepared by Prof. P C Mahalanobis. (Plan is also called Mahalanobis Plan).
Third (1961 – 66) Target Growth: 5.6% Actual Growth: 2.8%	The aim was to make India a ‘self-reliant’ and ‘self-generating’ economy
Fourth (1969 – 74) Target Growth: 5.7% Actual Growth: 3.3%	Objectives were “ growth with stability “ and “progressive achievement of self-reliance” Implementation of Family Planning Programmes was amongst major targets of the Plan.

Plans from 1974 to 2007

Fifth (1974-79) Target Growth: 4.4% Actual Growth: 4.8%	objectives: ‘removal of poverty’ (Garibi Hatao) and ‘attainment of self-reliance’
Sixth (1980 – 85) Target Growth: 5.2% Actual Growth: 5.7%	It focussed on Increase in national income, modernization of technology, ensuring a continuous decrease in poverty and unemployment through schemes for transferring skills(TRYSEM) and seats(IRDP) and providing slack season employment (NREP), controlling population explosion etc.
Seventh (1985 – 90) Target Growth: 5.0% Actual Growth: 6.0%	focus on ‘food, work & productivity’.
Eighth (1992 – 97) Target Growth 5.6 % Actual Growth 6.8%	It undertook drastic policy measures to combat the bad economic situation and to undertake an annual average growth of 5.6% through the introduction of fiscal & economic reforms including liberalization.
Ninth (1997- 2002) Target Growth: 6.5% Actual Growth:  5.4%	The Plan prepared under United Front Government focussed on “Growth With Social Justice & Equality “
Tenth (2002 – 2007) Target Growth 8 % Actual Growth 7.6 %	The targets included a reduction in gender gaps in literacy and wage rate, reduction in Infant & maternal mortality rates, improvement in literacy, access to potable drinking water cleaning of major polluted rivers, etc.

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Conclusion

The five-year plan was part of the economic planning committee in India. The first five-year plan was made in 1951. This kind of planning was inspired by the Harrod-Domar Model and was adopted with some changes in it. The idea behind this plan was not only to improve the economy of the country but to have holistic development of the country.

the 12th five-year plan was the last five-year plan, which was in 2017. In 2017 the planning committee was replaced with the NITI Ayog.

This was all about a five-year plan. Were you able to answer all the questions without looking at the answers? If yes, Then let us know many you got right in the comment section below.