Five – Year Plans in India – A Brief Overview Part 2nd

A brief overview of five year plans in India continues.................

Seventh Five – Year Plan (1985 -90)

Target Growth :- 5.0% while actual Growth :- 6.01%.

Focus:-.

Rapid growth in food-grains production.

Increased employment opportunities and productivity within the frame-work of basic tenets of planning.

Result:-

The plan was very successful, the economy recorded 6% growth rate against the targeted 5%.

Eighth Five – Year Plan (1992 - 97)

The eighth plan was postponed by two years because of political  uncertainty at the Centre.

Worsening Balance of Payment position and inflation during 1990 – 91 were the key issues during the launch of the plan.

The plan undertook drastic policy measures to combat the bad economic situation and to undertake an annual average growth of 5.6%.

Some of the main economic outcomes during eighth plan period were:-

·         Rapid economic growth.

·         High growth of agriculture and allied sectors.

·         High growth of manufacturing sectors.

·         Growth in exports and imports.

·         Improvement in trade and current account deficit.

Ninth Five – Year Plan (1997 - 2002)

Target Growth :- 6.5% while actual Growth :- 5.35%.

This plan was developed in the context of four important dimensions :-

Quality of life.

Generation of productive employment.

Regional balance

Self- reliance.

Tenth Five – Year Plan (2002 - 07)

Goals for this plan were:-

To achieve 8% GDP growth rate.

Reduction of poverty ratio by 5% points by 2007.

Providing gainful high quality employment to the addition of the labour force over the tenth plan period.

Universal access to primary education by 2007.

Reduction in gender gaps in literacy and wage rates by at least 50% by 2007.

Reduction in decadal rate of population growth between 2001-11 to 16.2%.

Increase in literacy rate to 72% within the plan period and to 80% by 2012.

Reduction in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to 45 per 1000 live births by 2007 and to 28 by 2012.

Increase in forest and tree cover to 25% by 2007 and 33% by 2012.

All villages to have sustained access to potable drinking water by 2012.

Cleaning of all major polluted rivers by 2007 and other notified stretches by 2012.

Eleventh Five – Year Plan (2007 - 12)

Goals for this plan were:-

Accelerate GDP growth from 8% to 10%. Increase agricultural GDP growth rate to 4% per year.

Create 70 million new work opportunities and reduce educated unemployment to below 5%.

Raise real wage rate of unskilled workers by 20%.

Reduce dropout rates of children from elementary school from 52.2% in 2003-04 to 20% by 2011-12. Increase literacy rate for persons of age 7 years or above to 85%.

Lower gender gap in literacy to 10% point. Increase the percentage of each cohort going to higher education from the present 10% to 15%.

Reduce infant mortality rate to 28 and maternal mortality ratio to 1 per 1000 live births.

Reduce total fertility rate to 2.1%.

Provide clean drinking water for all by 2009. Reduce malnutrition among children between 0 – 3 years to half its present level. Reduce anaemia among women and girls by 50%.

Raise the sex ratio for age group 0 -6 to 935 by 2011-12 and to 950 by 2016-17.

Ensure that at least 33% of the direct and indirect beneficiaries of all government schemes are women and girl children.

Ensure all-weather road connection to all habitation with population 1000 and above (500 in hilly and tribal areas) by 2009, and ensure coverage of all significant habitation by 2015.

Connect every village by telephone by November 2007 and provide broadband connectivity to all villages by 2012.

Increase forest and tree cover by 5% points.

Attain WHO standards of air quality in all major cities by 2011-12.

Treat all urban waste water by 2011-12 to clean rivers water.

Increase energy efficiency by 20% points by 2016-17.