India’s Third Five Year Plan (1961-1966) was criticised for which of the following?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Displaying an unmistakable urban bias.
Option (1) Increasing the possibility of food shortage. — Incorrect. The plans’ push for industry did create this problem: as industry attracted more investment than agriculture, the possibility of food shortage loomed large. But this is listed as a problem the planners faced with the Second Plan’s strategy, not the criticism that critics made of the plans from the Third Plan on.
Option (2) Spending foreign exchange to buy technology from the global market. — Incorrect. India was technologically backward, so it had to spend precious foreign exchange to buy technology. This too is described as a problem of rapid industrialisation, not as the critics’ charge against the Third Plan.
Option (3) Displaying an unmistakable urban bias. — Correct. The Third Plan was not very different from the Second, and critics pointed out that the plan strategies from this time around displayed an unmistakable ‘urban bias’.
Option (4) Attracting more investment for green revolution. — Incorrect. The plans were criticised for the opposite: industry attracted more investment than agriculture, and some felt industry was wrongly given priority over agriculture.
NCERT (2025-26): “Rapid Industrialisation … It, however, had its problems as well. India was technologically backward, so it had to spend precious foreign exchange to buy technology from the global market. That apart, as industry attracted more investment than agriculture, the possibility of food shortage loomed large. The Indian planners found balancing industry and agriculture really difficult. The Third Plan was not significantly different from the Second. Critics pointed out that the plan strategies from this time around displayed an unmistakable ‘urban bias’. Others thought that industry was wrongly given priority over agriculture. There were also those who wanted focus on agriculture-related industries rather than heavy ones.” |