[Points: Importance of planning—history of planning in India First Five year plan—Second Five year plan—Third Five year plan present hardships—our duty.]
When we arrange a function, or undertake a construction work, we first draw up a plan of the whole affair. Absence of this previous planning results in waste of money and time, if not total failure. In deed, planning is necessary for success in every work. This is true also in case of national life. Every nation wants to make its people happy and prosperous. Yet there are misery and discontent in many places. The reason for this is the absence of or defect in planning in national life.
Under the British rule, India had no planned economy of her own. She won freedom in 1947, and our national Government at once began thinking about how to plan our life. They decided to proceed by stages, concentrating on a few important things at a time. India is an agri cultural country. But because of the division of the subcontinent we were very short of food, our primary need. So the First Five year plan (1951-56) laid emphasis on Agriculture, including Irrigation and Power projects and rural development schemes. It is expected that these will not only solve our food problem, but also help the growth of small industries in rural areas with the help of cheap electricity.
The prosperity of a country depends on heavy industries. So the Second Five year plan (1956-61) laid emphasis on such industries. As iron and steel are the basic needs of industry, some new Iron and Steel plants were taken in hand. Financial Institutions were established to assist sick and other small industries to expand their business.
The results of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Five year plans also fell far short of expectation. The Seventh Five year plan is in the making and we hope it will be finalised on experience gained so far about the urgent needs of the country.
All these involve money. Some portion of this is being raised by loans from foreign bodies and some within the country by taxation. This, naturally, causes hardships to the people. But it cannot be helped. To remove our grinding poverty we must produce wealth, and to produce wealth industry must be developed. But this development requires money So the amount that we pay in increased taxes for our plants is like a very good investment. It is, therefore, the duty of every patriotic Indian to do his best for the success of these plans.
