politics of planned development Flashcards
(30 cards)
1
Q
How should decisions of development be taken?
A
- Not a single person but rather a group of experts
- Include environmentalists
- People with different view
- In the end its a political decision to be made by the representatives who should take the people’s opinions and aspirations into account
- By following the priorities of development
2
Q
What is left and right wing politics
A
LEFT
- rights
- progress
- reforms
- internationalism
- liberty
- equality
- fraternity
RIGHT
- authority
- hierarchy
- duty
- order
- nationalism
- tradition
3
Q
What were the ideas of development at the time of independence?
A
- Modern
- West
- Industrialized
- Liberalism
- Free Market
- Growth
- Material progress
- Development of science
4
Q
What was there consensus on for development in the 1950s-60s? Why?
A
The economy cannot be left to the private sector and there was need for government planning to rebuild the economy because of the following reasons:
- Inter-war Reconstruction of Japan and Germany
- Economic Growth of Soviet Union that followed the central planning system
- The Great Depression
5
Q
What is the Bombay Plan?
A
1944
Joint proposal - Big team of industrialists - planned economy - government initiatives for industrial and other economic investments
aim - double the then current agricultural output
five-fold growth in industry (both within the
framework of 100 Billion Rupees)
protection for domestic industries from foreign
competition
criticism - both from left and right
- from economists as it did not account for the
inflationary effect of creating capital -
overestimating
6
Q
When was the Planning Commission created?
A
March 1950
7
Q
Who was the head of the Planning Commission?
A
Ex-officio chairman - Prime Minister
8
Q
What was the aim of the Planning Commission?
A
- Ensure adequate means of livelihood for all individuals
- Ensure that the ownership and control of material resources are distributed to subserve the common benefit
- Ensure the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production is not for the common detriment
9
Q
What kind of role did the Planning Commission have?
A
Advisory Role. For its recommendations to be effective the Union Government had to approve of it.
10
Q
Why was the Planning Commission abolished?
A
It was ineffective and irrelevant considering the increasing globalisation especially in the 21st century and the new challenges it posed. Thus, on Independence day , 2014, Narendra Modi spoke about the abolition of the Planning Commission.
11
Q
When was the NITI Aayog constituted?
A
January 1, 2015
12
Q
What is the aim of the NITI Aayog?
A
- Provide the necessary technical assistance to the Union Government regarding Centre and State policy-making
- Cooperative Federalism - Increased participation of states
- Bottom - up approach
- Harmonize interests of national interests and economic policy
- Strategic and long-term framework of policy and programmes
13
Q
Who is the chairperson of the NITI Aayog?
A
Prime Minister
14
Q
How is the Vice Chairperson of the NITI Aayog appointed?
A
Appointed by PM
15
Q
Who was the first Vice -Chairperson of the NITI Aayog?
A
Arvind Panagariya
16
Q
Who is the current Vice-Chairperson of the NITI Aayog?
A
Dr. Rajiv Kumar
17
Q
When was the first five year plan released?
A
December 1951
18
Q
When were the Plan Holidays?
A
1966-69
19
Q
Why were there Plan holidays?
A
- Novelty of Planning had decreased
- Failure of third Five Year Plan
- Economic Crisis - low agricultural, failed monsoons, rising unemployment, food scarcity, increase in military expenditure, diversion of resources from economic and social planning, rising prices especially of essential commodities
20
Q
Describe the objectives of the first five year plan?
A
- K.N Raj - one of the major drafters of the first five year plan - hasten slowly because a fast rate of development would threaten democracy
- agriculture sector - focus as it was hit hardest by partition - investment in dams - large scale projects - bhakra nangal dam, hirakud dam, damodar valley dam - investment in irrigation
- rehabilitation of refugees
- food self-sufficiency
- price stability
- pattern of land distribution - major obstacle - agriculture - land reforms
- increase national income - increase savings - reduce spending - spending was very low not possible - increase savings - difficult - total capital stock low compared to number of employable people - savings did rise but not as remarkable as expected then decreases in third five year plan
21
Q
Describe the second five-year plan
A
- Rapid Structural Transformation
- Making changes simultaneously in many areas
- Based on Mahalanobis Plan
- Congress annual session - avadi near Chennai - declared socialist pattern of development
- reflected in plan
- Protection of industries from foreign consumption -establishment of many public and private industries
- increase in savings and investment -
- steel , electricity , railways
- shift from investment in domestic goods industries to investment in capital goods industries
- technologically backwards - had to spend precious foreign reserves on technology for industries
- increased allocation of resources for industry rather than agriculture - possibility of food shortage
- balancing industry and agriculture HARD
22
Q
Describe the third year plan
A
- Similar to 2nd five year plan
- savings decreased
- urban bias
- industry wrongly given bias than agriculture
wanted more focus on agricultural industries than heavy ones
23
Q
What is the Kerala Model of Planning?
A
- Type of planning and development in Kerala
- Focus on health, education, land reforms, effective food distribution , poverty alleviation
- low infant and female mortality rates, high access to medical care, low birth rates, high life expectancy and nearly full literacy rates despite low income per capita and a weak industrial base
- New Democratic Initiative - 1987-1991 - campaigns for development designed for involvement of people in development activities through voluntary citizen’s organisations
- initiatives have also been taken by the state government to increase participation from individuals at panchayat, block and district levels
24
Q
What are the key controversies of planning?
A
AGRICULTURE V.S INDUSTRY
- Gandhian Economists - J.C Kumarappa - building agricultural industries
- Chaudhary Charan Singh - Congress leader that broke away to form Bharatiya Lok Dal and later PM - agriculture - centre of planning - planning - prosperity of urban and industrial section at the cost of the rural population
- Some say that only industrialization can help people people escape the vicious cycle of poverty
- already attention given to agriculture - land reform laws, distribution of resources, community development programmes, large sums of irrigation, land distribution - failure not of policy but poor implementation because landowning classes had lot of economic and social power - besides poverty would not drastically decline if a large sum of money was spent on agriculture
PUBLIC Vs. PRIVATE SECTOR
- mixed
- lots of agriculture, trade and industry in the hands of private sector
- key heavy industries, industrial infrastructure, regulation of trade, necessary interventions in agriculture
- criticisms that the public sector was TOO INVOLVED - not enough space or stimulus for private sector to grow - lots of decisions - barriers - license and permit system -protection from foreign competition by tariffs on imports - not enough incentives for domestic industries - high corruption low efficiency
- criticisms that the public sector was NOT INVOLVED ENOUGH - no major investments in health or education - intervened only in places where private sector was not willing to go hence helping private sector make profits
- did not help poor - creation of middle class - higher salary less accountability
- proportion of poor reduced but not absolute number of poor
25
What foundations were established through the plans?
```
Dams for power and irrigation
infrastructure - transport and communication
steel plants
oil refineries
manufacturing units
defense production
heavy industries
criticism - helped in future economic growth
```
26
What were the land reforms that occurred through the plans?
ABOLITION OF ZAMINDARI COLONIAL SYSTEM - removed peasants from clutches of zamindars - reduced their political influence
LAND CONSOLIDATION - bringing small pieces of land together in one place so that the farm size could become viable for agriculture
UPPER CEILING - not effective - lots of loopholes - evasion
GREATER LEGAL SECURITY
- tenants who worked on other's land - greater legal security - rarely implemented
LANDOWNERs still had considerable power and political influence these reforms could only be genuinely effective and genuine if the poor were mobilised
dominant social groups power over policy making and implementation
27
What happened in the Food Crisis of the 1960s?
1940s and 50s food grain output was barely above the population growth
1960s worsened
1965-67 many draughts food shortages and famines
worst Bihar - near famine
9 districts - less than half of normal output
5 districts - less than one-third
high food prices - wheat and rice prices doubled or more than in punjab
due to zoning policies of restriction of trade of food grain amongst states - lack of food - malnutrition became widespread
calorie intake - 2200 per capita to 1200 per capita
import wheat and accept foreign aid from U.S
- major area of planning - self-sufficiency
death rate was 34% higher than what it was in the following year
- poorest sections of society suffered most
28
What was the Green Revolution?
- India - vulnerable to external pressures - foreign aid for food - U.S - pushed India to change its economic policies
- India - new strategy for increasing agricultural production - instead of trying to support farmers lagging behind - support already well-off with good irrigation facilities - short term increase
- subsidised fertilisers pesticides irrigation facilities high yielding variety seeds
- moderate increase in agricultural production
- increased polarisation between classes and regions
- only rich peasants and large landowners - beneficiaries
- punjab, haryana and western UP - prosperous rest backward
- growing contrast between peasants and landowners created conditions favourable for left-wing organisations to mobilise peasants
- development of middle class peasant sections - politically influential - benefitted
29
What was the White Revolution?
- Verghese Kurien - founder of Gujarat Cooperative Milk and Marketing Federation Ltd.
- Anand - Gujarat - Amul - - dairy cooperative joined by 2 and a half million milk producers
- appropriate model for rural development and poverty alleviation
- spurred White revolution
- Operation Flood - 1970
- bringing all milk cooperatives into a nationwide milk grid with the purpose of increasing milk production, bringing the producer and customer closer through the elimination of middle men and assuring a regular income
- turned india from a milk-deficit country to the largest milk producer
- generating employment and income - alleviating poverty
- increase in members - women - women dairy cooperative societies
30
What were the later developments?
Indira Gandhi - greater role of state in controlling and directing economy
- restrictions on private industry - 14 banks - nationalised
pro-poor programmes
- socialist policies
- planning continued salience decreased
- economy grew at a sluggish rate of 3 to 3.5% through this period
- public lost faith - inefficiency and corruption - high role of beauracracy
reduce importance of state
