What was the most obvious choice for development in post-Independent India?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Planning for development.
Option (1) Pro-capitalist thrust — Incorrect. Even the big industrialists did not ask for an open economy without state control; in 1944 a section of them drafted the Bombay Plan, which wanted the state to take major initiatives in industrial and economic investments.
Option (2) Planning for development. — Correct. From the left to the right, planning for development was the most obvious choice for the country after Independence, and the Planning Commission was set up soon after, with the Prime Minister as its Chairperson.
Option (3) De-regulation of the economy. — Incorrect. De-regulation means removing state controls over the economy. Independent India did the opposite, giving the state a central role in development.
Option (4) Dependence on the USSR — Incorrect. India took the idea of five year plans from the Soviet example, but it did not depend on the USSR; planning was its own choice.
NCERT (2025-26): “Planning Commission … Thus the Planning Commission was not a sudden invention. In fact, it has a very interesting history. We commonly assume that private investors, such as industrialists and big business entrepreneurs, are averse to ideas of planning: they seek an open economy without any state control in the flow of capital. That was not what happened here. Rather, a section of the big industrialists got together in 1944 and drafted a joint proposal for setting up a planned economy in the country. It was called the Bombay Plan. The Bombay Plan wanted the state to take major initiatives in industrial and other economic investments. Thus, from left to right, planning for development was the most obvious choice for the country after Independence.…” |