Economic Planning-Fourth Five Year Plan (1969 – 1974)

Economic planning is important for any country to promote the growth and development of the country. A proper economic plan helps the country to implement proper action in the resource utilization part that impacts the Indian economy. There importance of economic planning among which the most beneficial features of the Indian economy plan is to provide proper guidance for action. Effective economic planning helps in better coordination to achieve the economic objective of the country in a focused manner. Economic planning also helps to provide strategic planning for efficient resource utilization and also supports position performance standards. Hence determining the economic planning of the Indian economy is important. India has several economic planning strategies, and the fourth five-year plan is one of them. Further in the study, the concept of the fourth five-year plan under the Indian Economy has briefly elaborated. 

Economic plan 

Economic planning is an apparatus provided or proposed by the government of the country to facilitate the decisions regarding economic planning. Economic planning helps to improve the decision-making process by defining the core objective, prioritizing the objective. Apart from this it also helps to define the policies regarding the specific economic planning and further helps to formulate the policy. Overall an economic plan helps to target the economic goal that the government of the country wants to accomplish to promote the Indian Economy. An economy is an essential tool for any country that impacts the internal source of an efficient economy in the terms of proper employment rate, value transaction, and business development of various industries.

Significance of economic planning under Indian economy 

In reference to the previous context, the economic plan has important significance in the Indian economy. With proper economic planning, the government and the economy of the country gain flexibility in planning. While preparing the economic plan for the Indian economy the process ascertains the objective by facilitating the features. Hence it helps the authority to find out the exact availability of the present resources. The plan can be tougher without providing any scope for making changes. However, here the experts get help to situate the resources by taking proper decisions. Hence the authority gets the flexibility to modify the plan in accordance with the available resources. Moreover, with a proper plan, the government and the authority also get motivated and assured to be committed as proper planning prevents any uncertainty on the action. 

Overview on the fourth five-year plan under economic planning (1969-1974) 

The fourth five-year plan proposed in the year 1969 was implemented to focus on the development of the agricultural sector to facilitate the small and medium farms. The duration of this economic plan was for 5 years where the achievement of the plan was only 3.3%. This plan was adopted under the governance of Indira Gandhi. However, the project of this plan failed to achieve the target growth rate of 5.7%. The plan was developed in the light of “the Gadgil formula” to ensure the stability and growth of self-reliance and to promote progressive achievement. 

Objectives of fourth five-year plan 

• To defeat the involvement and help of foreign aid and being independent by directly promoting the potential growth rate in the industrial and agricultural sector. 
• Maintaining the price stability and building unified economic policies in respect to the mixed Indian economy.
• To prioritize the rural population and the food supply sector by enlarging the income and accelerating the production system with extra effort. 
• To facilitate all related industries with self-reliance such as transport, machinery, mines, power, and chemicals to accelerate the growth to maintain the existing momentum. 
• The plan is also aimed to fulfill the basic requirements of the country for the upcoming five years. 
• To develop the human resources, especially in the rural area by implementing additional facilities.

Facts of fourth five-year plan

During the implementation of the fourth five-year plan “Garibi Hatao” slogan was given by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of that time. The concept of the fourth five-year plan(1969-1974) was also important as it was included in the manifesto presented by the Indian National Congress during the election of 1971. The fourth five-year plan was a failed project not only because of the less prospect but the strategies taken to implement the plan were unrealistic. 

Conclusion  

The Indian economy has several aspects that determine various impacts like the availability of the resources, development in the country’s employment rate. These facts influence the country’s development and growth. Among all aspects, the basic point of any economy is economic planning. Hence proper analysis of the economic planning is important under the Indian economy. Such as determining the fourth five-year plan helps to analyze its contribution to the Indian Economy through its specific objectives and features. In the above context, the significant area of the fourth five-year plan (1969-1974) has been discussed to determine its benefit to the Indian Economy.