Third Five Year Plan (1961-1966):

The underlying assumption for the third plan was that the Indian economy had entered a take- off stage. Thus it aimed at making India a 'self-reliant' and 'self-generating' economy. The chief priority of this plan was agriculture both to enhance food supply and support the exports and industry.

However, the plan was an abject failure in achieving its targets, primarily because of extraneous facors such as wars with China (1962) and Pakistan (1965) as well as severe drought in the year 1965-66. These circumstances led to the declaration of plan holidays.