Aims and Objectives of the 5th Five-Year Plan
- Every five-year plan must have specified goals and objectives. The basic goals of five-year planning revolve around four factors viz Growth, Modernisation, Self-reliance, and Equity.
- The main objective of the 5th five-year plan was to raise the living standards of the people with a focus on weaker sections of society.
- During the fifth five-year plan, other essential objectives include reducing disparities in sectors like social, regional, and economic. It aimed to reduce poverty and fulfill self-reliance in agriculture and the defence sector. It also emphasized reducing the unemployment rate in the urban and rural sectors. The government sought to encourage self-employment opportunities for everyone and the growth of small-scale industries.
- The fifth five-year plan stressed developing labour-intensive technological improvements to systematically use India’s population and thereby generate income and employment opportunities.
- Besides these aims and objectives, the core of the 5th five-year plan was the removal of poverty and the end of income inequality, and the attainment of self-reliance in India. Garibi Hatao campaign was started under this five-year plan to achieve the said objective.
- The assumed growth rate under this five-year plan was 5.5%, later revised to 4.4%. Interestingly, it achieved a growth rate of 4.8% and was regarded as successful.
Main Objective Of The Fifth Five-Year Plan
Five-year planning refers to planning measures in an economy in which certain goals and aims are pre-decided on a five-year basis to tackle and solve the central problems of the economy. In India, the Planning Commission undertook the mammoth task of five-year planning until 2015. This commission included the Prime Minister as its chairperson and several ministers and economists of the country. There have been 12 five-year plans in India each with different themes and objectives. However, the basic aim of these five-year plans remained on GDP growth and social welfare.