The Mahalanobis Model was used in which plan?

Correct — B. The Second Five-Year Plan (1956–61) followed the Mahalanobis model, developed by the statistician P.C. Mahalanobis in 1953.

The model allocated investment across sectors to maximise long-run growth, with a thrust towards basic and capital-goods industries. That is why the Second Plan is remembered for rapid industrialisation: option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  First — The First Plan (1951–56) used the Harrod-Domar model and focused on the primary sector, agriculture above all. Mahalanobis's model arrived with the Second Plan.
• (c)
  Fourth — The Fourth Plan (1969–74) came after the plan holiday of 1966–69. It aimed at growth with stability and progress towards self-reliance, not the Second Plan's heavy-industry model.
• (d)
  Fifth — The Fifth Plan (from 1974) is the Garibi Hatao plan, stressing poverty removal and self-reliance. The Janata government rejected it in 1978.

The First Plan used the Harrod-Domar model and put the primary sector first.

The Second Plan switched to the Mahalanobis model. It used operations research and statistical models developed at the Indian Statistical Institute, and it assumed a closed economy that would import mainly capital goods.

The steel plants at Bhilai, Durgapur and Rourkela came up in this plan, with help from the Soviet Union, Britain and West Germany respectively.

Key facts

• Second Five-Year Plan: 1956–61, based on the Mahalanobis model.
• First Five-Year Plan: 1951–56, based on the Harrod-Domar model.
• The Bhilai (Soviet Union), Durgapur (Britain) and Rourkela (West Germany) steel plants came up under the Second Plan.
• Three annual plans, the plan holiday, ran from 1966 to 1969, between the Third and Fourth Plans.

Common traps

• Linking Mahalanobis with the First Plan because he shaped early Indian statistics: the First Plan used Harrod-Domar.
• Calling the Second Plan Keynesian: its model was Mahalanobis's.

No directly related past PYQ was found.