Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Political Science

Chapter

Politics in India Since Independence: Politics of Planned Development

Question:

Given below are two statements:

Statement I: The second FYP stressed on agriculture.

Statement II: The draft was created by a team of economists and planners under the leadership of K.N. Raj.

In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Options:

Both Statement I and Statement II are true

Both Statement I and Statement II are false

Statement I is true but Statement II is false

Statement I is false but Statement II is true

Correct Answer:

Both Statement I and Statement II are false

Explanation:

The correct answer is Option (2) - Both Statement I and Statement II are false

Both the statements are wrong.

Correct Statement I: The second FYP stressed on heavy industries.

Correct Statement II: The draft was created by a team of economists and planners under the leadership of P.C. Mahalanobis.

The Second FYP stressed on heavy industries. It was drafted by a team of economists and planners under the leadership of P.C. Mahalanobis. If the first plan had preached patience, the second wanted to bring about quick structural transformation by making changes simultaneously in all possible directions. Before this plan was finalised, the Congress party at its session held at Avadi near the then Madras city, passed an important resolution. It declared that 'socialist pattern of society' was its goal. This was reflected in the Second Plan. The government imposed substantial tariffs on imports in order to protect domestic industries. Such protected environment helped both public and private sector industries to grow. As savings and investment were growing in this period, a bulk of these industries like electricity, railways, steel, machineries and communication could be developed in the public sector. Indeed, such a push for industrialisation marked a turning point in India's development. It, however, has its problems as well. India was technologically backward, so it had to spend precious foreign exchange to buy technology from the global market. That apart, as industry attracted more investment than agriculture, the possibility of food shortage loomed large. The Indian planners found balancing industry and agriculture really difficult. The Third Plan was not significantly different from the Second. Critics pointed out that the plan strategies from this time around displayed an unmistakable "urban bias". Others thought that industry was wrongly given priority over agriculture. There were also those who wanted focus on agriculture- related industries rather than heavy ones.