India’s development policy in the first decade after Independence did not reflect which one of the following?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Urgency to liberalise the economy.
Option (1) Planned Development Reflected (Incorrect). The First Five Year Plan (1951–1956) and the Second Plan of 1956 set the course of development in this decade.
Option (2) Urgency to liberalise the economy. Not reflected (Correct). The policy went the other way: the government imposed substantial tariffs on imports in order to protect domestic industries. The new economic reforms came only around 1991.
Option (3) Self-Sufficiency Reflected (Incorrect). Self-sufficiency means producing at home what the country needs instead of depending on imports. Tariffs protected domestic industries, and heavy industries such as steel, machinery and electricity were built in the public sector, so the policy aimed at standing on the country’s own production.
Option (4) Priority given to the agricultural sector and heavy industry. Reflected (Incorrect). The First Plan addressed mainly the agrarian sector, and the Second Plan stressed on heavy industries.
NCERT (2025-26): “The First Five Year Plan … The First Five Year Plan (1951–1956) sought to get the country’s economy out of the cycle of poverty. K.N. Raj, a young economist involved in drafting the plan, argued that India should ‘hasten slowly’ for the first two decades as a fast rate of development might endanger democracy. The First Five Year Plan addressed, mainly, the agrarian sector including investment in dams and irrigation. Agricultural sector was hit hardest by Partition and needed urgent attention.… Rapid Industrialisation … The Second FYP stressed on heavy industries. It was drafted by a team of economists and planners under the leadership of P. C. Mahalanobis. If the first plan had preached patience, the second wanted to bring about quick structural transformation by making changes simultaneously in all possible directions. Before this plan was finalised, the Congress party at its session held at Avadi near the then Madras city, passed an important resolution. It declared that ‘socialist pattern of society’ was its goal. This was reflected in the Second Plan. The government imposed substantial tariffs on imports in order to protect domestic industries. Such protected environment helped both public and private sector industries to grow.…” |