What Was the Fifth Five-Year Plan?
The fifth five-year plan was introduced in 1974 under the chairmanship of Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India. Other members assisted her, including the ministers of respective sectors like railways, finance, home ministry, human resource development, etc., and noted India’s economists. The 5th five-year plan witnessed the implementation of the emergency by Indira Gandhi, and thus its goals and objectives were marginally hampered in this period. The fifth five-year plan was also replaced by the rolling plan introduced in 1978 by the Morarji Desai Government. They rejected the five-year plan and introduced flexible changes that varied according to the economy’s needs. However, this plan again got scrapped after some time due to the raised economic instability.
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.