Five Year Plans of India: Objectives and Targets

Five Year Plan

Time interval

Chairman

Targeted GDP growth (%)

Achieved GDP growth

(%)

Based on model

Important Points

First Five Year Plan

1951-1956

Jawaharlal Nehru

2.1

3.6

Harrod Domar Model

• Under this plan, Khadi Village Board was established. The priority areas of this plan were agriculture, irrigation and electricity.
• Five IITs were established in India.

Second Five Year Plan

1956-1961

Jawaharlal Nehru

4.5

4.27

Prashant Chandra Mahalanobis

• The second plan is in line with the five year plan of Russia.
• Three public sector steel factories were established in this plan.
• With the help of Germany a steel factory was set up in Rourkela, Orissa.
• With the help of Russia, a steel factory was established in 1959 in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.
• With the help of Britain, a steel plant was established in Durgapur, West Bengal.

Third Five Year Plan

1961-1966

Jawaharlal Nehru

5.6

2.4

Sukhamoy  Chakraborty and Professor John Sandy

• The plan laid emphasis on both agriculture and industry.
• This plan was also called Gadgil Yojana.
• Main aim of this plan was to establish the Indian economy as self-reliant and self-generating.
• During this plan, India participated in two wars- the Sino-India war 1962 and the India Pakistan war 1965. The plan proved to be a failure due to drought and wars.
• State electricity boards were established.

Plan Holidays

1966-69

-

-

-

• The reason behind plan holidays was wars in which India was involved and drought.
• Although Annual plans were made during this period.
• Indian rupee was devaluated to increase the exports.

Fourth Five Year Plan

1969-1974

Indira Gandhi

5.7

3.5

Ashok Rudra Menon

• Main objectives of this plan were – Growth with stability and Self-reliance.
• Green Revolution started during the fourth five year plan.
• Bangladesh Liberation war and Indo Pakistan war 1971 were the major events that occurred during this plan.
• The main target of this plan was to implement Family Planning Programmes.
• “Garibi Hatao” slogan was given by Indira Gandhi during her election campaign in 1971.
• 14 major Indian banks were nationalized.
• Bokaro Steel Plant was established.

Fifth Five Year Plan

1974-1978

Indira Gandhi

4.4

4.83

D P Dhar

• The Plan was rejected by the newly elected government headed by Morarji Desai in 1978.
• The focus of this plan was on Poverty alleviation (Garibi Hatao), Employment, Justice, and Agriculture.
• Indian National Highway system was introduced.
• In 1975, the Indira Gandhi government launched the Twenty point programme.

Rolling Plan

1978-1980

-

-

-

The plan was rejected by the INC government in 1980.

Sixth Five Year Plan

1980-1985

Indira Gandhi

5.2

5.5

-

• The main objective of this scheme was poverty alleviation and employment generation.
• It was based on Investment Yojana.
• Integrated Rural Development Programme, National Rural Employment Programme, Training of rural youth for self employment, development of women and children in rural areas, Rural landless employment guarantee programs, etc. were started.
• NABARD was also established.

Seventh Five Year Plan

1985-1990

Rajiv Gandhi

5.0

6.02

Ramkrishna Hegde

• Objectives of this plan were to establish a self-reliant economy, create opportunities for productive employment and upgrade technology.
• Focus on increasing food grain production.
• Private sector during this plan got priority over the public sector.
• The plan was a success despite severe drought conditions for the first three years.

Eighth Five Year Plan

1992-1997

P V Narasimha Rao

5.6

6.8

• The priority of this plan was the development of human resources by ensuring quality education, health and employment.
• New Economic Policy of India was launched during the eighth five year plan.
• It was the start of Liberalization, Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG) in India.
• There was rapid economic growth in agriculture and allied sector and manufacturing.
• Exports and imports also grew; trade and current account deficit also improved.
• In 1993, Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Yojana was launched. 

Ninth Five Year Plan

1997-2002

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

6.5

5.6

-

Main focus of ninth five year plan: “Growth with Social Justice and Equality”

Priority was given to rural development and agriculture.

Tenth Five Year Plan

2002-2007

Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh

8.0

7.6

-

Main aim of the tenth five year plan was to increase the literacy rate and reduce poverty by 5 points.

It also aimed to double the per capita income in the next 10 years.

Eleventh Five Year Plan

2007-2012

Manmohan Singh

9.0

8

C. Rangarajan

Theme of the Eleventh five year plan was “Rapid and More inclusive growth”.

Twelfth Five Year Plan

2012-2017

Manmohan Singh

8.0

-

The theme of the twelfth five year plan was “Faster, More Inclusive and Sustainable Growth”.

In 2014, the Narendra Modi government dissolved the Planning Commission and launched a new think tank NITI Aayog in 2015.