It has to be remembered that despite being endowed with vast natural resources, there is little similarity between the political power setup of India - the largest democracy of the world which is wedded to a secular and deeply liberal Constitution for more than half a century, and the militarist political power structure of Pakistan or the command economy of China that has only recently started moving towards a democratic system and more liberal economic restructuring respectively. However, India, Pakistan and China have many similarities in their developmental strategies? All the three nations have started towards their developmental path at the same time. While India and Pakistan became independent nations in 1947, People’s Republic of China was established in 1949.

All three countries had started planning their development strategies in similar ways. While India announced its first Five Year Plan for 1951–56, Pakistan announced its first five year plan, now called the Medium Term Development Plan, in 1956. China announced its First Five Year Plan in 1953. India and Pakistan adopted similar strategies, such as creating a large public sector and raising public expenditure on social development. Till the 1980s, all the three countries had similar growth rates and per capita incomes.

These were the enterprises which were owned and operated by local collectives in China. Post reforms in 1978, they were allowed to produce goods. Identify the same.

Township and village enterprises

The correct answer is Option 1:Township and village enterprises

The present day fast industrial growth in China can be traced back to the reforms introduced in 1978. China introduced reforms in phases. In the initial phase, reforms were initiated in agriculture, foreign trade and investment sectors. In agriculture, for instance, commune lands were divided into small plots, which were allocated (for use not ownership) to individual households. They were allowed to keep all income from the land after paying stipulated taxes. In the later phase, reforms were initiated in the industrial sector. Private sector firms, in general, and township and village enterprises, i.e., those enterprises which were owned and operated by local collectives, in particular, were allowed to produce goods. At this stage, enterprises owned by government (known as State Owned Enterprises—SOEs), which we, in India, call public sector enterprises, were made to face competition. The reform process also involved dual pricing. This means fixing the prices in two ways; farmers and industrial units were required to buy and sell fixed quantities of inputs and outputs on the basis of prices fixed by the government and the rest were purchased and sold at market prices. Over the years, as production increased, the proportion of goods or inputs transacted in the market also increased. In order to attract foreign investors, special economic zones were set up.