Which plan gave prominence to the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, emphasizing the ‘commanding heights’ doctrine?

Correct — B. The Second Five Year Plan (1956–61) was drawn up on P.C. Mahalanobis's model and put investment first into basic and heavy industries.

It began in the year of the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, which reserved key industries for the state. The public sector was to hold the commanding heights of the economy, and the Second Plan carried that out → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  First Five Year Plan — The First Plan (1951–56) ended as the 1956 resolution arrived. It followed the Harrod–Domar model and put agriculture first, not heavy industry.
• (c)
  Third Five Year Plan — The Third Plan (1961–66) began five years after the resolution. The heavy-industry turn under the 1956 resolution had already started in the Second Plan.
• (d)
  Fourth Five Year Plan — The Fourth Plan (1969–74) aimed at growth with stability and self-reliance, after three annual plans. It inherited the 1956 framework rather than launching it.

The commanding heights doctrine holds that the state should own and run the industries the rest of the economy depends on, such as steel, heavy machinery and mining.

India wrote it into the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, and the Second Plan gave it effect. Public-sector steel plants at Bhilai, Durgapur and Rourkela came up in that plan.

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, with its focus on agriculture.
• The Bhilai, Durgapur and Rourkela steel plants were set up in the Second Plan with help from the Soviet Union, Britain and West Germany respectively.
• The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 formed the basis of the Second Plan.

Common traps

• Choosing the First Plan because it ran until 1956. The resolution and the heavy-industry push belong to the plan that began that year.
• Linking 'commanding heights' to 1991. The phrase describes state control, which 1991 reduced.

No directly related past PYQ was found.