Fourth Five-Year Plan

The much postponed Fourth Five-Year Plan (1969-1974) was at last launched. Its investment outlay was almost double that of the Third Plan. The goal was stated to be “growth with stability and progressive achievement of self-reliance”.

The plan was dovetailed to the socialist principles adopted by Indira Gandhi by then. The rationale was the Ten Point Programme put forward by Indira Gandhi in 1967, her first economic policy formulation soon after taking office of prime minister. The programme placed an emphasis on greater state control of the economy as it was believed that government control ensured greater welfare than leaving the economy to the private sector. So the private sector needed to be regulated. By the end of the 1960s, the liberalisation process had been reversed, and India’s policies could be called as ‘protectionist’.

The government intended that India should be free of dependence on foreign aid and emphasise on increasing agricultural and industrial production.

The objectives of the Fourth Plan included: increasing the income of the rural population and augmenting the supply of food; making efforts towards maximising production; attaining stability of prices; making policies to encourage mixed economy; bringing about human resource development, especially in rural areas. It was intended to provide for the minimum needs of the community through a rural works programme.

The performance of the plan was not as good as expected, though many of the social goals were realised. The shortfall in targets was mainly because the war with Pakistan and dealing with the refugees from East Pakistan took their toll, and because of the 1973 oil crisis.