Fourth Plan

The Plan period was 1969–74. The Plan was based on the Gadgil strategy with special focus to the ideas of growth with stability and progress towards self-reliance. Droughts and the Indo-Pak War of 1971–72 led the economy to capital diversions creating financial crunch for the Plan.

The politicisation of planning started from this plan, which took serious ‘populist’ design in the coming plans. Frequent double-digit inflations, unreigned increase in the fiscal deficits, subsidy-induced higher non-plan expenditures and the first move in the direction of ‘nationalisation’ and greater control and regulation of the economy were some of the salient features of this plan, which continued unchanged till the early 1990s. The search for political stability at the Centre converted planning into a tool of real politics with greater and greater ‘centralisation’ ensuing plan after plan.