 OBJECTIVES OF PLANNED DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

THE basic objective of India's development must necessarily be to provide the masses of the Indian people the opportunity to lead a good life. That indeed is the objective of all countries for their peoples, even though the good life may be defined in many ways. In the larger context of the world, the realisation of this objective for India, as for other countries, is intimately tied up with, and dependent on the maintenance of world peace. War, with the weapons of modern warfare, would not only be an end to all hopes of progress but would endanger the survival of the human race. Peace, therefore, becomes of paramount importance and an essential prerequisite for national progress. The existence of underdeveloped and poverty- stricken nations or peoples is itself an abiding danger to the maintenance of peace. It has, thus, been increasingly recognised that the welfare and peace of the world require the, extermination of poverty and disease and ignorance from every country, so as to build up a liberated humanity.

2. Each major culture and civilisation has certain distinctive features, rooted in the past, which bear the impress of that culture, India, with thousands of years of history, bears even now the powerful impress of her own distinctive features. They are today covered up by widespread and appalling poverty, the result of a traditional society and a static economy in the past petrified to some extent by colonial rule. But these essential features, though apparently associated with the traditional structure of society are in no sense an integral part of it. They are in fact a set of moral and ethical values which have governed Indian life for ages past, even though people may not have lived upto them. These values are a part of India's thinking, even as, more and more, that thinking is directed to the impact of the scientific and technological civilisation of the modern world. To some extent, the problem of India is how to bring about a synthesis between these two. Probably, no other country in the modern world would have produced a Gandhi; even Tagore, who was typically modem in his approach to life's problems, was, at the same time, steeped in India's old culture and thinking. His message is thus one of synthesis between these two.

3. To provide the good life to the four hundred million people of India and more is a vast undertaking, and the achievement of this goal is far off. But no lesser goal can be kept in view, because each present step has to be conditioned by the final objective. Behind the plans that are drawn up is the vision of the future, even as the Indian people had a vision of freedom and independence during the long years of their national struggle, and there is faith and confidence in that future. Fully conscious of existing difficulties the people have also the conviction that these difficulties will be overcome. The experience of the last ten years of planning and the large social and economic changes that have already taken place have brought a conviction that India can look forward with assurance to sustained economic progress. Even in this ancient land, for so long governed by tradition, the winds of change are blowing and affecting not only the dweller in the city but also the peasant in his field. At each stage, new conflicts and new challenges arise. They have to be met with courage and confidence. There is an excitement in this changing face of India as the drama of India's development plans unfolds itself.

4. The more immediate problem is to combat the curse of poverty, with all the ills that it produces, and it is recognised that this can only be done by social and economic advance, so as to build up a technologically mature society and a social order which offers equal opportunities to all citizens. This involves basic social and economic changes and the replacing of the old traditional order by a dynamic society. It involves not only the acceptance of the temper and application of science and modern technology, but also farreaching changes in social customs and institutions. To some extent, recognition of this twofold aspect of change has been present in the Indian mind for generations past. Gradually it has taken more concrete shape and has become the basis for planning.

5. It was inevitable that during India's struggle for freedom, the political aspect of Independence overshadowed everything else. Yet from its earliest beginnings, Indian nationalism had a large element of economic thinking and social reform. This was, to some extent, an unusual feature for a national movement. Freedom was considered the indispensable means to overcome mass poverty, to protect the farmer and the artisan, to create modem industry, to remove privilege and injustice and to reconstruct the entire fabric of India's social and economic life. Beginning with Dadabhai Naoroji, whose paper on 'The Poverty of India' was resented as far back as 1876, a long line of national leaders placed these aims in the forefront of the national struggle. As the national movement grew and spread among the

2 THIRD FIVE YEAR PLAN

people of India, its social content became, deeper. With the, coming of Mahatma Gandhi, the movement spread with remarkable rapidity to the, peasantry and the workers of India. To Gandhiji freedom was not merely a political objective, but the raising of the masses of the people from the poverty and degradation.He aligned himself with the masses of the Indian Indian people and more especially with those who were in the lowest rungs of the social ladder, Under his leadership the national movement came to identify itself more and more with the service of the masses and, progressively, a very large proportion of its membership came from amongst the peasants. The agrarian problem thus came to occupy a prominent place in its thinking even as, under Gandhiji's guidance, it made the uplift of the depressed and the underprivileged one of its major planks.

6. in this way, as the political struggle for Independence developed and took shape in mighty movements, it was a flied in some measure to India's basic social and economic problems and more particularly the agrarian problem. The social and economic aims of the struggle for freedom became progressively more definite. A comprehensive economic programme was adopted in 1931, and an agrarian programme in 1936. Towards the end of 1938, a National Planning Committee was constituted and, thus, the idea of planning came into prominence in India. The National Planning Committee could not carry on its work effectively because of the beginning of the Second World War. In the course of which many of its members found themselves in prison. But it considered nearly all aspects of planning and ultimately produced a series of studies containing social and economic and economic policies and programmes, which formed the basis of a more organised attempt at planning after Independence.

7. The Second World War resulted, by the compulsion of events, in the growth of some industries in India. Even before Independence was established, the Interim Government gave thought to planning and constituted an Advisory Planning Board to collect all the available material for it. Owing to the disastrous consequences of Partition and the vast numbers of people who were uprooted and driven out from Pakistan to India and India to Pakistan, there was some delay in giving effect to the recommendations of the Board. Early in 1950, following the adoption of the new Constitution by the Constituent Assembly of India, the Government of in a established the Planning Commission to assess the country's material, capital and human resources and to formulate a Plan for their most effective and balanced utilisation.

8. In the Constitution the basic objectives were set forth as "The Directive Principles of State policy Among those 'Directive Principles' were that

"The, State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting, as effectively as it may, a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the insti- tutions of national life".

Further that-

"The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing-

(a) that the citizens, men and women equally., have the right to an adequate means of livelihood;

(b) that the, ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good;

(c) that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment."

These general principles were given a more precise direction in December, 1954, when Parliament adopted the 'socialist pattern of society' as the objective of social and economic policy. This concept, which embodies the values of socialism and democracy and the approach of planned development, involved no sudden change, and had its roots deep in India's struggle for freedom.

9. Thus, ever since Independence, two main aims have guided India's planned development-to build up by democratic means a rapidly expanding and technologically progressive economy and a social order based on justice and offering equal opportunity to every citizen'. To change a traditional society into a dynamic one, in a country with a vast population rooted in the past, was a tremendous task. To do this through peaceful and democratic means and by the consent of the people, made this task even more difficult. It was inevitable that India should accept peaceful and democratic means as these had been the very methods it had adopted in its struggle for freedom.

10. With these objectives in view, the First Five Year Plan faced this task with limited means and inadequate data. The immediate objectives it laid down were achieved and this success gave confidence to the nation. The Second Five Year Plan, being based on somewhat greater experience and more knowledge, set forth larger goals and a long-term Strategy for economic and industrial advance based on the socialist pattern of society. In describing the approach to planned development, the Second Five Year Plan stated :

" ... The task before an underdeveloped country is not merely to get better results within the existing framework of

OBJECTIVES OF PLANNED DEVELOPMENT 3

economic and social institutions, but to mould and refashion these so that they contribute effectively to the realisation of wider and deeper social values,

"These values or basic objectives have recently been summed up in the phrase, socialist pattern of society'. Essentially, this means that the basic criterion for determining lines of advance must not be private profit, but social gain, and that the pattern of development and the structure, of socio-economic relations should be so planned that they result not only in appreciable increases in national income and employment but also in greater equality in incomes and wealth. Major decisions regarding production, distribution, consumption and investment and in fact all significant socio-economic relationships-must be made by agencies informed by social purpose. The benefits of economic development must accrue more and more to the relatively less privileged classes of society, and there should be progressive reduction of the concentration of incomes, wealth and economic power. The problem is to create a milieu in which the small man who has so far had little opportunity of perceiving and participating in the immense possibilities of growth through organised effort is enabled to put in his best interest of a higher standard of life for himself and increased prosperity for the country. In the process, he rises in economic and social status. Vertical mobility of labour is thus no less important than horizontal mobility, for nothing is more destructive of hope and more inhibitive of effort than a feeling that the accident of birth or of a poor start in life is likely to come in the way of a capable person rising in life in terms of economic and social status...

"The socialist pattern of society is not to be regarded as some fixed or rigid pattern. It is not rooted in any doctrine or dogma. Each country has to develop according to its own genius and traditions. Economic and social policy has to be shaped from time to time in the light of historical circumstances. It is neither necessary nor desirable that the economy should become a monolithic type of Organisation offering little play for experimentation either as to forms or as to modes of functioning. Nor should expansion of the Public sector mean centralisation of decision-making and of exercise of authority. In fact, the aim should be to secure an appropriate devolution of functions and to ensure to public enterprises the fullest freedom to operate within a framework of broad directives or rules of the game .........

"....The accent of the socialist pattern of society is on the attainment of positive goals, the raising of living standards, the enlargement of opportunities for all, the promotion of enterprise among the disadvantaged classes and the creation of a sense of partnership among all sections of the community. These positive goals provide the criteria for basic decisions. The directive principles of State policy in the Constitution have indicated the approach in broad terms; the socialist pattern of society is a more concretised expression of this approach. Economic policy and institutional changes have to be planned in a manner that would secure economic advance along democratic and egalitarian lines. Democracy, it has been said, is a way of life rather than a particular set of institutional arrangements. The same could well be said of the socialist pattern."

PLANNED DEVELOPMENT

11. When Independence came, India had a slender industrial base. Millions of her rural people suffered under the weight of a tradi- tional agrarian structure. A long period of economic stagnation, against the back-ground of increasing pressure of population, followed by the burdens of the Second World War, had weakened the Indian economy. There was widespread poverty and want. The partition of the country had uprooted millions of people and dislocated economic life. Productivity' in agriculture and industry stood at a low level. In relation to needs the available domestic savings were altogether meagre. The promise of freedom could only be redeemed if the economic foundations were greatly strengthened. The Constitution established equal rights of citizenship, and these had now to be expressed through rising levels of living and greater opportunities for the bulk of the people. It was essential to rebuild the rural economy, to lay the foundation of industrial and scientific progress, and to expand education and other social services. These called for planning on a national scale, encompassing all aspects of economic and social life, for efforts to mobilise resources, to determine priorities and goals and to create a widespread outlook of change and technological progress. Thus, planned development was the means for securing with the utmost speed possible, a high rate of growth. reconstructing the institutions of economic and social. life and harnessing the energies of the people to the tasks of national development.

12. The leading features of the pattern of development envisaged in the Five Year Plans may be briefly stated. The basic objective is to provide sound foundations for sustained economic growth, for increasing opportunities for gainful employment and improving living standards and working conditions for the masses.

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In the scheme of development, the first priority necessarily belongs to agriculture; and agricultural production has to be increased to the highest levels feasible. The Five Year Plans provide for a comprehensive and many-sided effort to transform the peasant's outlook and environment. The growth of agriculture and the development of human resources alike hinge upon the advance made by industry. Not only does industry provide the new tools, but it begins to change the mental outlook of the peasant. There can be no doubt that vast numbers of the peasantry today in India are undergoing this change of outlook as they use new tools and experiment with new methods of agriculture. Even the coming of the bicycle in large numbers to the villages of India is not only a sign of higher standards, but is a symbol of new and changing attitudes. Agriculture and industry must be regarded as integral parts of the same process of development. Through planned development, therefore the growth of industry has to be speeded and economic progress accelerated. in particular, heavy industries and machine-making industries have to be developed, the public sector expanded and a large and growing cooperative sector built up. The public sector is expected to provide specially for the further development of industries of basic and strategic importance or in the nature of public utility services, other industries being also taken up by Government to the extent necessary. State trading. has also to be undertaken on an increasing scale according to the needs of the economy. In brief, in the scheme of development, while making full use of all available agencies, the public sector is expected to grow both absolutely and in comparison and at a faster rate than the private sector.

13. With the rapid expansion of the economy, wider opportunities of growth arise for both the public and the private sectors and in many ways their activities are complementary. The private sector includes not only organised industry but agriculture, small industry, trade and a great deal of activity in housing and construction and other fields. Progressively, it has to take the form of cooperative effort. Among the main objects of programmes undertaken by the Government are the expansion of facilities for the development of agriculture, specially irrigation, the building up of economic overheads such as rail and road transport, ports and power stations, and the expansion of education, health and other social services. Activities which are promoted through these facilities are in considerable part in-the hands of private individuals and organisations, and increasing numbers among them are being assisted. Thus, the Five Year Plans enlarge the scope for individual initiative as well as for co-operative and corporate effort. it is mainly within a limited area in the field of large scale industrial enterprise that the question arises whether, in the special circumstances of the country, in accordance with the Industrial Policy Resolution of April, 1956, and in view of the social goals aimed at, particular tasks should be assigned to the public sector or to the private sector. In the context of the country's planned development the private sector has a large area in which to develop and expand. It has to function, of course, within the framework of national planning and in harmony with its overall aims, and there must be continuous stress on undertakings in the private sector acting with an understanding of obligations towards the community as a whole. At the same time, it is essential to ensure that the opportunities available in the private sector do not lead to the concentration of economic power in the hands of small numbers of individuals and businesses and that disparities in income and wealth are progressively reduced.