The rolling plan concept was introduced during which Prime Minister's tenure?

Correct — C. The Janata Party government of Morarji Desai, Prime Minister from 1977 to 1979, ended the Fifth Five Year Plan a year early, in 1978.

In its place it launched the Rolling Plan from 1978. When Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980, the Rolling Plan was dropped and a fresh Sixth Plan (1980–85) began → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Jawaharlal Nehru — Nehru died in 1964, fourteen years before the Rolling Plan began. His governments ran the First and Second Plans and launched the Third.
• (b)
  Indira Gandhi — Indira Gandhi ended the Rolling Plan, replacing it with the 1980–85 Sixth Plan. Her earlier tenure is linked with the plan holiday of 1966–69, not the rolling plan.
• (d)
  Rajiv Gandhi — Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1984, after the Rolling Plan was over. The Seventh Plan (1985–90) ran under him.

A rolling plan is revised every year instead of being fixed for five years. Each year its performance is assessed, its targets are revised, and the plan period moves forward by a year, so the plan 'rolls'.

The Janata government adopted it for flexibility, since fixed five-year targets could not respond to changing conditions. The trade-off is that targets revised every year are harder to hold to.

Key facts

• Rolling Plan: introduced in 1978 by the Janata Party government of Morarji Desai.
• The Fifth Five Year Plan (1974–79) was ended a year early, in 1978.
• The Rolling Plan ended in 1980, and the Sixth Plan ran from 1980 to 1985.
• Plan holiday: annual plans from 1966 to 1969, after the Third Plan.

Common traps

• Picking Indira Gandhi because her government came right after the Rolling Plan. She ended it and began the 1980–85 Sixth Plan.
• Confusing the rolling plan with the plan holiday. The plan holiday (1966–69) came under Indira Gandhi, the rolling plan (1978) under the Janata government.

No directly related past PYQ was found.