The Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961), often associated with the Mahalanobis Model, marked a significant shift in India's development strategy. What was the primary focus of this plan?
- (a)Maximizing the role of the private sector in the 'commanding heights' of the economy.
- (b)Achieving immediate self-sufficiency in food grain production through the Green Revolution.
- (c)Establishing an export-oriented economy to integrate rapidly with global trade markets.
- (d)Rapid industrialization with a particular emphasis on the development of basic and heavy industries.
Answer
Why
Correct — D. The Second Plan (1956–61) was built on the model of statistician P.C. Mahalanobis, which put investment first into basic and heavy industries, the capital goods every other industry depends on.
The public sector led this push. Steel plants at Bhilai, Durgapur and Rourkela came up in this plan, with Soviet, British and West German help. Rapid industrialisation → option (d).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Maximizing the role of the private sector in the 'commanding heights' of the economy. — Reverses the plan. NCERT describes its policy as the government controlling the commanding heights, the industries vital to the economy, with the public sector leading the way.
- (b)Achieving immediate self-sufficiency in food grain production through the Green Revolution. — The Green Revolution began only in the second half of the 1960s, first in Punjab, after this plan had ended in 1961. The Second Plan's priority was heavy industry.
- (c)Establishing an export-oriented economy to integrate rapidly with global trade markets. — The Mahalanobis model assumed a closed economy and built industry at home. Opening up to world trade came much later, with the reforms of 1991.
Concept
The First Plan (1951–56), based on the Harrod–Domar model, concentrated on agriculture and the primary sector.
The Second Plan changed direction. Its model asked how to divide investment between sectors to maximise long-run growth, and answered: build capital goods first.
The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, which reserved key industries for the State, formed the basis of this plan.
NCERT calls the Second Plan the plan that tried to build the basis for a socialist pattern of society. That is why state-led heavy industry, not private enterprise or exports, is the answer here.
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.
Study next
Common traps
- Swapping the models: Harrod–Domar is the First Plan, Mahalanobis the Second.
- Reading 'commanding heights' as a private-sector phrase. In Indian planning it meant state control of key industries.
11 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.23 and 17 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.19 ask which plan used the Mahalanobis model, and 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.12 pairs Harrod–Domar with the First Plan. 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.15 asks for the incorrect statement about the Second Plan, keyed on the claim that it was Keynesian.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.