Identify the objective behind introduction of structural reforms in China.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → China was not happy with the slow pace of growth and lack of modernisation in the Chinese economy.
For almost thirty years China followed Mao’s path of decentralisation, self-sufficiency and shunning of foreign technology, goods and capital. Yet despite land reforms, collectivisation and the Great Leap Forward, grain output per head in 1978 was no higher than in the mid-1950s. The new leadership was not happy with the slow pace of growth and lack of modernisation, and in 1978 it began structural reforms, long-term changes in the way the economy was organised.
The reforms began with agriculture, foreign trade and investment, and later reached the industrial sector. They were China’s own decision, taken because the Maoist vision of development was judged to have failed.
Why the other options are incorrect
Option (1) China was forced by the IMF to adopt the reforms. — Incorrect. China was under no compulsion from the IMF. Reforms dictated by the World Bank and the IMF were the case of India and Pakistan, which needed their loans.
Option (2) China was forced by the World Bank to adopt the reforms. — Incorrect. For the same reason, China’s reforms were its own decision and were not a condition of World Bank lending.
Option (4) China wished to bring back the commune system. — Incorrect. The reforms moved away from the communes: in agriculture, commune lands were divided into small plots and allotted to individual households for use.
NCERT (2025-26): “8.6 Development Strategies — An Appraisal … Why did China introduce structural reforms in 1978? China did not have any compulsion to introduce reforms as dictated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to India and Pakistan. The new leadership at that time in China was not happy with the slow pace of growth and lack of modernisation in the Chinese economy under the Maoist rule. They felt that Maoist vision of economic development based on decentralisation, self sufficiency and shunning of foreign technology, goods and capital had failed.…” |