What were the grave economic crises faced by India at the time of the Fourth General Elections?
A. Depletion of Foreign Exchange Reserve
B. Education for All
C. Drop in industrial production and exports
D. Food shortage
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A, C and D only
A. Depletion of Foreign Exchange Reserve Correct.
B. Education for All Incorrect. ‘Education for All’ is the aim of making schooling available to every child; it is a goal of policy, not an economic crisis. The crisis before the 1967 elections came from failed monsoons, drought, falling farm output, food shortage, low foreign exchange reserves and falling industrial production and exports.
C. Drop in industrial production and exports Correct.
D. Food shortage Correct. Failure of monsoons and widespread drought led to a serious food shortage.
Note: The concept in statement B, ‘Education for All’, is not in NCERT (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students.
NCERT (2025-26): “Context of the elections … In the years leading up to the fourth general elections, the country witnessed major changes. Two Prime Ministers had died in quick succession, and the new Prime Minister, who was being seen as a political novice, had been in office for less than a year. You will recall from the discussion in Chapter Three and in the previous section of this chapter that the period was fraught with grave economic crisis resulting from successive failure of monsoons, widespread drought, decline in agricultural production, serious food shortage, depletion of foreign exchange reserves, drop in industrial production and exports, combined with a sharp rise in military expenditure and diversion of resources from planning and economic development.…” |