Parliament Session Part-03

Indrajeet stood up from his chair, looked around the members sitting in the front and started talking,

"First of all, I want to express my sincere thanks to prime minister Shashri ji, he was the one who entrusted such a heavy responsibility on my young shoulders. I also want to thank my colleague who contributed in preparing this five year plan, without their help i would not be able to complete this plan in such a short time.

Let me be clear that, the basic objective of this plan and the country's development is to provide the citizen's of this country the opportunity to live a good, prosperous life.

To provide the good life to the 400 million people of India and more is a vast undertaking and the achievement of this goal is far off however this plan provides an opportunity to take a major step forward.

Our Objectives for the Five-Year Plan are as follows:

(1).To secure an increase in national income of over 5 per cent

per annum, the pattern of investment being designed also

to sustain this rate of growth during subsequent plan

periods;

(2 ) To achieve self-sufficiency in food grains, and increase agricultural production to meet the requirements of industry and exports.

(3) To expand basic industries like steel, chemical industries,

fuel and power and establish machine-building capacity,

so that the requirements of further industrialization can

be met within a period of ten years or so mainly from the

country's own resources;

(4) To utilize to the fullest extent possible the manpower resources of the country and to ensure a substantial expansion in employment opportunities; and

( 5 ) To establish progressively greater equality of opportunity

and to bring about reduction in disparities in income and

wealth and a more even distribution of economic power.

Five Year Plan will be directed towards strengthening the agricultural

economy, developing industry, power and transport and hastening the

process of industrial and technological change, achieving marked progress towards equality of opportunity and the socialist pattern of

society, and providing employment for the entire addition to the labor force.

A plan of development with these aims will make far-reaching demands on the nation. It is essential that the burdens of

development during the Implementation should be equitably distributed and, at each stage, the economic, fiscal and other policies adopted should bring about improvements in the welfare and living standards of the bulk of the people.

In the scheme of development during the Plan, agriculture has the first priority.

Agricultural production has to be increased to the largest extent feasible, and adequate resources have to be provided under the Plan for realizing the agricultural targets.

The rural economy has to be diversified and the proportion of the population dependent on agriculture gradually diminished. In the development of agriculture and the rural economy during the Plan, the guiding consideration is that whatever is physically practicable should be made financially possible, and the potential of each area be developed to the utmost extent.

One of the main aims of the Plan is to harness the manpower resources available in rural areas. This is to be achieved through programs of development for which the Plan provides, supplemented by extensive rural works programs for utilizing manpower resources, specially for increasing agricultural production.

In the Plan, as in the Second, the development of basic industries such as steel, fuel and power and machine-building and chemical industries is fundamental to rapid economic growth.

Programmes for industrial development have been drawn up from the point of view of the needs and priorities of the economy as a whole, the public and the private sectors being considered together.

While the private sector will have a large contribution to make, the role of the public sector in the development of the economy will become even more dominant.

The Plan will carry further the present efforts to build up small industries as a vital segment in the industrial structure by promoting greater integration between large-scale and small-scale industries, spreading the benefits of industrialization to small towns and rural areas, and introducing improved techniques in the traditional rural industries.

In the Plan to, the development of education and other social services. They are essential for ensuring a fair balance between economic and social development and, equally, for realizing the economic aims of the Plan.

Large technological changes and increase in productivity cannot be

achieved without greatly strengthening the educational base of the community and improving living conditions.

Development programmes included in the Plan have to be worked so as to yield the maximum employment of which they are capable.

They have to be implemented in an integrated manner and adapted to the actual requirements of each area.

In many fields, where manpower can be used more intensively, development programmes under the Plan can be speeded up and enlarged to the extent necessary in the later stages of the Plan.

Action along these lines will be specially required in areas with heavy pressure of population in which there is considerable unemployment.

It is reckoned that development programmes in the Plan may provide additional employment to the extent of about 14 million jobs as against increase in the labour force during the Plan of about 17 million.

The balance is proposed to be taken care of through large-scale rural works programmes, village and small industries and other means.

For achieving a cumulative rate of growth of over 5 per cent per annum, it will be necessary to undertake net investment to the extent of more than 14 per cent of the national income compared to the present level of about 11.5 per cent.

This involves raising the rate of domestic savings from about 8-5 per cent at present to about 11.5 per cent by the end of the Plan.

Domestic resources will need to be supplemented in substantial measure by external assistance.

Dependence at this stage of development on external resources serves to emphasize the importance of policies and measures for import substitution and for increasing export earnings during the Plan

In the scheme of production for the Plan care has to be taken to provide for adequate supplies of food grains and other consumer goods.

Nevertheless, it is inevitable that from time to time inflationary pressures may emerge.

The Plan postulates a price policy which will ensure that movements of relative prices are in keeping with its priorities and targets and that prices of essential goods which enter into the consumption of low income groups do not rise unduly.

It will also be essential to restrain the consumption of relatively nonessential goods and services.

Along with this, in planning the pattern of production, care must be taken to avoid the use of the limited resources available in the production of relatively non-essential goods and services.

These measures are important not only for securing rapid development under conditions of economic stability, but are also necessary for the mobilization of the domestic resources and the foreign exchange needed for the successful implementation of the Plan.

In the Plan stress is being placed on the careful phasing of projects in relation to one another.

There should be continuity both in planning and in the flow of benefits, and some measure of balance must be preserved between projects with long gestation periods and those which can be completed over relatively short periods.

In the related sectors of industry, transport and power, close coordination in planning and execution is essential not only for new projects but, equally, for achieving rising levels of production from the existing plants.

The programme of industry, including power, transport, scientific research and technical education is conceived of as a continuous and integrated whole.

Every effort has, therefore, to be made to initiate and complete within the shortest possible time the schemes which will help to raise the potential for growth within the economy.

In the Plan, as in the Second, the plans of States have great importance for the rapid development of the national economy.

Important national objectives, as in agriculture, education and other social services and the utilization of rural manpower, can only be realized in the measure in which the plans of States are carried out successfully.

With the development of large-scale industries, specially of basic and heavy industries. State plans have to provide on a large scale for the development of power and technical education, for schemes of housing and urban development, and for measures to achieve closer integration of the rural with the industrial economy.

In formulating the plans of States and determining their size and pattern, to the extent possible, these considerations have been kept in view.

To a greater extent than in the past, during the Plan the direction and management of the Indian economy will call for improved methods and machinery for planning and execution, better statistical and economic intelligence, greater appreciation of technological and other developments occurring in different fields, fuller knowledge of the country's potential resources and, generally, for more systematic analysis and research.