Economic Planning: Mobilising resources for development

All three statements are correct. The Eighth Plan was drawn up after the 1991 crisis and the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation reforms. It named human development as the ultimate goal, with priority to employment, population control, literacy, health and drinking water. With the private sector given a much bigger role, planning became largely indicative: the State set direction and focused on infrastructure and social sectors.

All three statements are correct. Coming after Partition and food shortages, the First Plan put agriculture, irrigation and power first (Bhakra-Nangal, Hirakud and the Damodar Valley projects belong to this phase). Helped by good monsoons, growth of about 3.6 per cent a year beat the target of about 2.1 per cent. The Community Development Programme began on 2 October 1952 to promote rural development through blocks.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The government that returned to power in 1980 ended the rolling plan and launched a fresh Sixth Plan (1980-85), with removal of poverty as its main thrust. The Integrated Rural Development Programme, started in selected blocks in 1978-79, was extended to all blocks from 2 October 1980. Statement 3 is wrong: India's formal move to indicative planning came with the Eighth Plan after the 1991 reforms.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The Sub-Group of Chief Ministers was set up on 9 March 2015, following the decision of the first Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog (8 February 2015). It divided schemes into core and optional ones; for core schemes the sharing pattern was 60:40 for general States and 90:10 for the eight North-Eastern and three Himalayan States, with Union Territories fully funded. Statement 3 is wrong: optional schemes were to be shared 50:50 (80:20 for the North-Eastern and Himalayan States), with States free to choose which ones to run.

The Tenth Plan (2002-07) aimed at about 8 per cent annual growth, enough to double per capita income in ten years. It was the first Plan to set State-wise growth targets, worked out with the States, and to list monitorable targets for indicators such as poverty, literacy, infant mortality and forest cover, so that progress could be tracked beyond GDP growth alone.

The Planning Commission's Working Group on District Planning (1984) was chaired by C.H. Hanumantha Rao. It recommended decentralising functions, powers and finances to the district, setting up District Planning Bodies with district planning cells and planning officers. Earlier, the Working Group on Block-Level Planning (1978) under M.L. Dantwala had proposed the block as the link between village and district planning.

Statements 1 and 3 are correct. The Ninth Plan began in 1997, the fiftieth year of Independence, with the theme of growth with social justice and equality. Its first objective was priority to agriculture and rural development to generate productive employment and eradicate poverty. Statement 2 is wrong: against a target of 6.5 per cent (cut from an initial 7 per cent), growth averaged only about 5.5 per cent, hit by the East Asian crisis and a global slowdown.

All three statements are correct. The Fifth Plan (1974-79) named removal of poverty and self-reliance as its main aims. The Janata Government that came to power in 1977 ended it in March 1978, one year early, and replaced it with a rolling plan. The Twenty-Point Programme was announced in July 1975, within the Plan period, to tackle poverty and improve living standards.