Fourth Five Year Plan: Self-Reliance

On December 8, 1951, our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, presented the five-year plan to the Indian Parliament. The Harrod Domar model was used to create it. At that time, India faced three problems- The influx of refugees, a severe shortage of food, and mounting inflation arising from the after-effect second World War, from which our country India faced an imbalance in the economy.
The first plan had the objective of rehabilitation. The focus of the second plan was Rapid industrialization, especially the development of heavy industry and capital goods like industrial Chemicals. Establishing India’s Self-Reliance and a Self-Generating economy were the primary goals of the third plan. The third plan included agriculture development as one of the objectives to achieve balance. From 1966 to 1969, three annual methods were devised and designed.
Growth with stability and progressive achievement of Self-Reliance with a focus on agriculture’s growth rate were the objectives of the fourth five-year plan. So the fourth – five-year plan was the most appropriate. The duration was from 1969 to 1974, under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. 

What is the meaning of Self-Reliance?

• To achieve self-reliance, the goods should be produced in our own country rather than imported from other countries and to increase our economic growth in every aspect. The idea of self-reliance was essential for a developing country like India.
• The main objectives of the fourth five-year plan were that it is not acceptable for countries to depend on other countries for survival. 

Key Points of the Fourth Five-Year Plan:

• The fourth five-year plan was implemented from 1960 to 1974 in India.
• During this period, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the Bangladesh Liberation War took place.
• As part of this plan, India also carried out the Smiling Buddha underground nuclear test in 1974.
• One of the Plan’s main objectives was to implement family planning programs.
• This scheme was put in place to foster stability and achieve economic self-reliance. During this plan period, the slogan of Garibi hatao was given, which was the original slogan of the 1971 general elections.
• The fifth-year plan India was implemented for the period training 1974 To 1979 to increase the employment level,  reduce poverty, and attain self-reliance.
• In 1950, the government set up the Planning Commission to create, develop and execute India’s five-year plans for self-reliance.
• To implement this plan, our government has taken many steps to improve our country in every sector. The government nationalized 14 Indian banks and introduced the green revolution concept in India. 
• Oil and fertilizer prices increased as a result of the 1973 Oil Crisis, leading to extraordinarily high inflation.
• The target growth rate was 5.6%, but only 3.3% was achieved.

The Objective of the Fourth Five-Year Plan:

1. Economic Growth:

• Economic equality, equity, and Social Justice
• Full employment economic self-reliance

2. Modernisation:

The planning objective of the fourth five years of self-reliance is that the developing Nation has to promote economic growth with their sources and the economy has to reduce imports and start manufacturing in India.

Goals of The Self-Reliance:

• India should avoid foreign interference since the country had suffered from many centuries of foreign dominion under British rule. The government wanted Foreign interference was not welcome in India.
• Secondly, as a means of curbing dependence on food: India has always had a great deal of arable land and, despite its ample supply of food, could not meet the population’s demand. That’s why the government created a policy to ensure there is never a food shortage.
• Additionally, the government aimed to promote the local economy by restricting the importation of goods that could be manufactured in India. For example. Local clothing sales will boost the local economy,
• Most importantly, employment would be reduced if India started manufacturing goods domestically, meaning India would get more jobs and its citizens would become more affluent.

Assessment of the Fourth Five-Year Plan:

• The goal of self-reliance was put to halt after the series of events that had a great economic and social impact on the Indian mass. 
• The Indo-Pak War exhausted the resources of the military in terms of money, military machinery, and human resources.
• Bangladesh’s Independence created a new country that was chaotic for years. This made the whole of the northeast, and east India unstable through reasons like the migrant crisis and affected the local economy of that whole big region for a long while.
• Extreme climatic conditions like subsequent monsoon failures and droughts made it really hard to manage up to the mark.
• The Asian Oil Crisis of 1973 was one of the last things to stop the venture of self-reliance for a while. The economic wastage and psychological effect due to prolonged hopelessness made it impossible to achieve the goals once set in realist terms.

All these things worked against the plan’s goals. Therefore, despite the target growth rate being 5.6 percent, the actual growth rate was just 3.3 percent. India is always at the hardest disadvantage so far as the terms of trade are concerned this will result in wasting precious Foreign Exchange Reserves hence the necessity of self-reliance as India’s external debt obligations are on the rise.

Conclusion:

The current ruling government under the leadership of the prime minister had promoted the agenda of self-reliance once again. PM’s “Self Reliant India” campaign has picked up momentum and has become a relevant topic in public discourse. In his address to the nation during the third lockdown due to the Corona epidemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an economic package of 20 lakh crore rupees, starting the campaign of “self-reliant India. He said that the economic package self-reliant campaign will act as an essential link of the government. 

This package is about 10% of India’s GDP. This package of 20 lakh crore rupees will give a new impetus to the country’s development story in 2020, the self-reliant India campaign. The government is providing a special economic package to overcome the post-pandemic situation and revive the economy, which will be helpful in providing relief to public and private investment.