Which of the following statements relate to the goals of India's five year plan ?

(A) To increase country's capacity to produce the output of goods and services within the country to achieve growth.

(B) To adopt new technology to increase the production of goods and services.

(C) To avoid imports of those goods which could be produced in India itself.

(D) To ensure that the benefits of economic prosperity reach the poor sections also.

(E) To move towards capitalist economy and giving more importance to the tool of price mechanism.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below :

(A), (B), (C) and (D) only

The correct answer is option (1) : (A), (B), (C) and (D) only

E) To move towards a capitalist economy and giving more importance to the tool of the price mechanism : This statement does not along with the goals of the five-years plans i.e. growth, modernisation, self-reliance and equity.

The goals of the five year plans are:

Growth: It refers to increase in the country’s capacity to produce the output of goods and services within the country. It implies either a larger stock of productive capital, or a larger size of supporting services like transport and banking, or an increase in the efficiency of productive capital and services. A good indicator of economic growth, in the language of economics, is steady increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The GDP is the market value of all the goods and services produced in the country during a year.

Modernisation: To increase the production of goods and services the producers have to adopt new technology. For example, a farmer can increase the output on the farm by using new seed varieties instead of using the old ones. Similarly, a factory can increase output by using a new type of machine. Adoption of new technology is called modernisation.

Self-reliance: A nation can promote economic growth and modernisation by using its own resources or by using resources imported from other nations. The first seven five year plans gave importance to self-reliance which means avoiding imports of those goods which could be produced in India itself. This policy was considered a necessity in order to reduce our dependence on foreign countries, especially for food. Further, it was feared that dependence on imported food supplies, foreign technology and foreign capital may make India’s sovereignty vulnerable to foreign interference in our policies.

Equity: Now growth, modernisation and self-reliance, by themselves, may not improve the kind of life which people are living. A country can have high growth, the most modern technology developed in the country itself, and also have most of its people living in poverty. It is important to ensure that the benefits of economic prosperity reach the poor sections as well instead of being enjoyed only by the rich. So, in addition to growth, modernisation and self-reliance, equity is also important. Every Indian should be able to meet his or her basic needs such as food, a decent house, education and health care and inequality in the distribution of wealth should be reduced.