The idea of Planning in India was drawn from:-

A. The Bombay Plan
B. Experiences of the Soviet bloc countries
C. Gandhian vision of Society
D. Demand by Peasant Organisation
E. Self Sufficiency

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

A and B only

The correct answer is option 3 - A and B only

The idea of planning in India drew inspiration from both the Bombay Plan and the experiences of the Soviet bloc countries.

A. The Bombay Plan: This was a set of proposals for the economic development of India drafted by a group of industrialists in 1944. It emphasized the need for planned economic development, which included state intervention and regulation of the economy to ensure growth and welfare.

B. Experiences of the Soviet bloc countries: India looked to the experiences of countries like the Soviet Union, which had implemented centralized economic planning. The Soviet model emphasized state control and ownership of key industries and resources, aiming for rapid industrialization and economic development.

"After the independence of India, despite the various differences, there was a consensus on one point: that development could not be left to private actors, that there was the need for the government to develop a design or plan for development. In fact the idea of planning as a process of rebuilding economy earned a good deal of public support in the 1940s and 1950s all over the world. The experience of Great Depression in Europe, the inter-war reconstruction of Japan and Germany, and most of all the spectacular economic growth against heavy odds in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s contributed to this consensus.

Thus the Planning Commission was not a sudden invention. In fact, it has a very interesting history. We commonly assume that private investors, such as industrialists and big business entrepreneurs, are averse to ideas of planning: they seek an open economy without any state control in the flow of capital. That was not what happened here. Rather, a section of the big industrialists got together in 1944 and drafted a joint proposal for setting up a planned economy in the country. It was called the Bombay Plan. The Bombay Plan wanted the state to take major initiatives in industrial and other economic investments. Thus, from left to right, planning for development was the most obvious choice for the country after Independence. Soon after India became independent, the Planning Commission came into being. The Prime Minister was its Chairperson. It became the most influential and central machinery for deciding what path and strategy India would adopt for its development.

As in the USSR, the Planning Commission of India opted for five year plans (FYP). The idea is very simple: the Government of India prepares a document that has a plan for all its income and expenditure for the next five years."