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.

India has been following Five Year Plan- based development model _________.

March 2017

The correct answer is Option 4: March 2017 

India has been following Five Year Plan- based development model until March 2017.