India's Five Year Plan
WOYTINSKY, W. S.
India's Five Year Plan The Awakening Giant-2 By W S. Woytinsky All Asian countries have economic plans. Japan's plan is modeled on the economic projections used in the United States. The Burmese...
...There was only one answer to the challenge—a new...
...1,050 3. Other credit operations...
...Italics added...
...In such a situation, borrowing from banks and deficit spending by the Government would increase inflationary pressure...
...Conditions in India are very different...
...My own calculation indicated that in order to double its per-capita income in 22 years India needed an annual rate of growth of national income of approximately 4.5 per cent to permit adequate capital formation and a steady rise in the standard of living...
...In addition, the Central Government has a special responsibility for establishing certain defense industries so as to safeguard and develop the defense potential of the country...
...Likewise, there can be no objection to the Plan's proposal to borrow from the public or use trust funds—the normal forms of deficit financing—although the Plan shies from calling them by this name...
...Brazil (40 lbs...
...Indian experts were particularly conservative in estimates of India's capacity for saving...
...Since conditions of economic growth in India are less favorable than in some of the countries mentioned but more favorable than in some others, its overall target of a 25 per cent increase in five years is by no means unrealistic...
...but also in comparison with such countries as Spain (84 lbs...
...Likewise, the progress in factory employment was not impressive: an average of 2,504,400 workers in 1950, 2,528,000 in 1953, 2,492,500 in the first half of 1954...
...The Plan proposes to raise these figures to 4.3 million tons or more than 20 pounds per capita...
...in Canada and Switzerland, by 20-21 per cent...
...The cost of such projects was estimated at $600 million.* However, the authors of the First Five Year Plan were not very enthusiastic about the idea of external assistance...
...Foreign aid did not fail...
...But meanwhile national income would increase, and there would be only a moderate rise in the national debt-to-income rate...
...In brief, if the proposed measure has an inflationary effect it will be mild, predictable and controlled...
...The emphasis on the increasingly active role of the public sector in the Plan is a controversial issue...
...The request for budgetary allocations of nearly $1.8 billion in five years or $360 million per annum (less than 2 per cent of the national income) under both headings is not extravagant...
...The Burmese Republic has a jumbo-size "Comprehensive Report on Economic and Engineering Development...
...It is therefore comforting to find th following statement in the final text of the Plan: "Our Second Five Year Plan seeks to rebuild rural India, to lay the foundations of industrial progress, and to secure to the greatest extent feasible opportunities for weaker and underprivileged sections of our, people and the balanced development of all parts of the country...
...This refers likewise to such items as the rehabilitation of Indian railroads...
...This target is moderate not only in comparison with the United States (1,300 lbs...
...When the first five-year period was approaching its end, the Government of India began to take stock of the situation...
...4,940 100 Agriculture and community development...
...There are two arguments currently used in support of the positive answer: First, if the United States does not help India, the USSR will...
...It will be executed—and, I think, successfully executed?even if India is left to its own resources, without any assistance from abroad...
...The quantity of notes in circulation would be increased only to the extent of the growing demand of the people for notes as a medium of payment...
...As in most plans of economic development and industrialization, the program is represented in the Indian Five Year Plan in terms of public outlays in different fields of development...
...The Plan is presented to the Parliament and the nation as a challenge: "There is no short cut from poverty to prosperity...
...Both presume that we could withdraw aid to India if the Kremlin changes its policy or the Chinese experiment fails...
...in the United States, Austria and Thailand, by 31-35 per cent...
...The tide of poverty that overflows the streets and bazaars of Indian cities comes from desolated, overcrowded villages...
...This has to be undertaken in the interest of development, but there must be readiness on the part of the community and the public authorities to adopt the necessary safeguards, correctives and controls as the situation may require...
...If India increases this ratio by 1 point each five years (as proposed in the Second Plan), it will need eighteen five-year periods or ninety years in all to reach the present U. S. "socialist pattern of society...
...Prices would go up, and the whole economy would pass through a cycle similar to an inflation followed by deflation...
...In the last five years for which comparable data are available, national income in Sweden, Denmark and Belgium increased by 17-18 per cent...
...The gap is not 90 per cent but less than 10 per cent of all planned developmental outlays...
...by 46-50 per cent in Algeria and the Belgian Congo...
...The nutrition pattern in the country remains pathetically low, among the lowest in the world, both in terms of calorie intake per capita of population and in quality of food...
...Moreover, there is no evidence that they were smuggling Stalinist ideas into the Plan deliberately...
...And further: "Broadly speaking, the plans for railway and maritime transport envisaged have as the primary objective the rehabilitation of the assets which has been postponed for a long time due to various factors...
...This aim should determine our world-wide strategy: to oppose dictatorial regimes because they lead to wars and internal upheavals, to support democratic forces because their consolidation means the consolidation of peace in the world...
...By the end of the five-year period, the Government had spent on the envisaged projects approximately $4.2 billion, about $700 million less than it had planned...
...The Plan offers the following estimate of financial resources against the proposed public outlays (in millions of dollars) : TOTAL...
...The main change has been in substituting the term "other credit operations" for the term used in the Plan: deficit financing...
...The rehabilitation of agriculture had just begun: Less than one-fifth of the rural population was covered in 1956 by the Community Development program...
...In addition, it intended to withdraw up to $400 million from its sterling reserves in London...
...Such operations are safer, as India's national debt represents only 30 per cent of its annual national income...
...Net borrowing will hardly exceed $2 billion and its effect on prices—assuming a complete equilibrium of inflationary and deflationary forces—is predictable...
...These considerations make me believe that the authors of the Plan are on safe ground when they see the possibility of credit operations other than borrowing from the public...
...The second Five Year Plan is a very complicated program...
...I was unable to check this conclusion...
...It also includes expenses for rehabilitation and maintenance of railroads...
...1,165 24 Social services, housing and rehabilitation . . 1,145 23 Miscellaneous...
...It should be recognized, however, that excessive borrowing from banks is bound to lead to a rise in prices, and even moderate borrowing may become'dangerous under certain conditions...
...From our point of view, each surplus of outlays over budgetary receipts falls under the heading of deficit financing...
...Both arguments are based on the idea of a race between the United States and Russia...
...The rate of such capital format on was certainly very high in India under the great Moguls and British domination...
...2,520 (a) At existing rates of taxation...
...The Plan commented on industrial priorities as follows: "In view of the fact that an increase in agricultural production has been accorded the highest priority the resources available in the public sector for the expansion of industries are necessarily limited...
...735 (b) Additional taxation...
...If monsoons fail, the agricultural output may shrink suddenly by, say, 10 per cent, which means a 5 per cent loss in the total amount of goods and services produced in the nation...
...With this allowance, the anticipation of an advance in the overall agricultural output at a rate of 3 per cent per annum seems realistic...
...A crore signifies 10 million...
...There are also obvious risks in excessive reliance on foreign aid which depends on the domestic political situation in lending countries and which might be interrupted by any untoward international developments...
...if there were no Plan, the Government would have defrayed them from regular receipts...
...10,080 1. From budgetary sources...
...In comparison with this experience the targets of industrialization in the Indian Second Five Year Plan are not extravagant...
...945 (c) Railways' contribution...
...Making allowance for this factor, the panel of economists of the Planning Commission has estimated the actual growth of national income under the First Five Year Plan at 12-13 per cent, which would suggest an advance of approximately 1 per cent per annum in per-capita national income...
...I quote only one striking example...
...In 1955-56, India's steel production amounted to 1.7 million tons, 9 pounds per capita...
...This problem, however, belongs to the topic of ideological confusion rather than to the question of our immediate concern—whether the Second Plan is feasible...
...780 16 Irrigation and flood control...
...However, these grants and loans were not exhausted by the termination of the First Plan: India entered the new five-year period with a nest egg in the form of outstanding foreign credits amounting to $197 million, and held in addition a promise of credit from the USSR ($90 million) and Great Britain ($70 million...
...It is presented in a large-format volume of 650 pages, supported by scores of volumes elaborating the programs of single provinces and individual projects...
...In addition, certain disquieting strains had developed in the economic system—factory payrolls were not increasing, agricultural prices were falling, unemployment was becoming a major problem...
...It reflects the current thinking of Indian ruling circles, intellectuals and the public at large...
...About half of India's national income is derived from agriculture...
...by 67 per cent in Greece...
...The discussion of such details is, however, pointless unless we start from an appraisal of the Plan as a whole: Is its overall target attainable...
...The critics of the Plan denounced this scheme of financing, pointing out that the Plan provides not much more than $1 billion of resources against outlays of $10 billion...
...And yet, external resources at strategic points and stages can be of so much assistance in a period of rapid development that it is desirable, consistently with other objectives, to create conditions favorable to their inflow...
...in Western Germany, Japan and Formosa, by more than 50 per cent...
...In Japan, the document published by the Government as its five year plan is regarded by some governmental agencies merely as a working hypothesis...
...etc...
...It has more than doubled in five years in Japan and Taiwan, and nearly trebled in four years in Pakistan...
...The actual targets set for steel rolling mills do not impress me as unreasonable...
...For some reason, the Plan discusses this operation as a monetary measure...
...The point I wish to stress here is that the Plan is not too bold and its targets for investments are conservative and realistic...
...There is a great difference between the role of its Plan (with a capital P) and those of other Asian countries...
...Approaching the question of whether the United States should help the Indian Government in carrying out its Second Five Year Plan, we must face two hard facts: 1. The Plan depends only partly on foreign aid...
...The authors of the Plan were, however, rather cautious in assessing the probable gains in this sector and made allowance for possibly unfavorable weather conditions...
...In this event, however, completion of the Plan will take more time—perhaps six or seven years—and impose heavier hardship on the people, but India will go ahead...
...With the expanding scope of responsibilities of the Government, the ratio of public outlays to gross national product is bound to increase...
...I do not share this opinion...
...Accordingly, a large share in the funds available for development projects was allocated to agriculture...
...in France, Finland and Greece, by 26-28 per cent...
...What the Plan has in view is that the Government will obtain some additional funds from banks against non-negotiable bonds...
...The only real stake of the United States in world affairs is peace and political and economic stability...
...However, a closer examination of the Plan reveals that the envisaged outlays for industry include allocations for village shops and cottage industry...
...The general target is a 25 per cent increase in national income as a result of the development of agriculture and rapid industrialization...
...Indian economic planning gets tangled with the foreign policy of the United States...
...However, not all outlays enumerated in the Plan represent net investments...
...Recently, on account of the growing need for food and raw materials, this importance has been brought home to all sections of the community," they stated...
...If you wish to accelerate economic progress in India, you have to provide funds for development projects...
...But this target should be compared with the recent experience of other nations in the early phase of industrialization...
...All this reduces to $900 million the amount of foreign aid—loans rather than grants—which India needs for execution of the Second Plan...
...1, Yugoslavia (51 lbs...
...The question for the United States is, therefore, simple: With the economic policy of India firmly established, is this country interested in its success or not...
...The list includes not only expenditures for the building of new hospitals and schools but also the cost of their operation...
...The Planning Commission, set up to assess the material and human resources of the nation and formulate a plan for their most effective use and development, estimated at about $3 billion the public outlays for the most urgent projects designed to strengthen the Indian economy and public services...
...Such is the general outline of the Second Plan—its objectives, distribution of outlays, sources of financing...
...Such a break cannot be defended by the contention that the first five years solved the problem of agriculture and brought India to another stage of economic development...
...But foreign countries helping India will exercise no control over its decisions...
...It suggests that the industrial sector of the economy would obtain appropriations almost three times greater than those allocated to agriculture...
...In addition, the Plan expects more than $4.6 billion to be invested by the private sector of the economy in the five-year period...
...India is leading the parade...
...But these are bridges that must be crossed when they are reached...
...But it must conform to the economic power and standard of generosity of this country...
...In India, the Plan is the focus of public life, a part of national faith...
...They feared that in order to double its real per-capita income in about 22 years India would have to raise its total national income by 160 per cent, and this would demand such pressure on the resources available for consumption that the country would be forced to reduce the standard of living of the people for a period of 10 to 15 years...
...380 7 Transport and communication...
...315 (d) Provident funds, etc...
...The sullen passivity of the farmers was broken—at least in the areas covered by the Community Development program—the most important part of the Indian policy of economic reconstruction...
...2,520 4. Cap...
...That a plan of development today must, in the main, rely on domestic resources, can hardly be over-emphasized," they declared...
...A great country committed to developing and modernizing its economy cannot neglect such assets...
...resses, temples, castles, pyramids, and palaces...
...But the main impact of the Plan was not in the accelerated growth of production but in the change of attitude of the people, a very important change that is not reflected in the current statistics...
...Occasionally, they might use Moscow terminology without realizing its implications...
...During the period covered by the Plan, the national income of India will probably total $125 billion...
...In all, out of $1,680 million it expected to obtain from abroad between 1956 and 1960, it had, from the beginning, $357 million at its disposal...
...a lakh, 100,000...
...Assuming that the reaction is limited to one half of the economic system, the resulting rise in the price level may be from 3 to 4 per cent...
...Maybe this is not the best way of managing public finances, but it is not the same thing as printing notes...
...Without going into further analysis of the targets of the Second Plan, let us consider its financial aspect...
...Public outlays are distributed among the central government and provinces (states...
...In the Plan, however, neither spending of trust funds nor borrowing from the public or from abroad is considered deficit financing, and this title is applied only to the heading 3 which is described in our table as "other credit operations," i.e., borrowing other than listed under 1(d) and 2. I used for heading 3 the title other credit operations because this is what comes after borrowing from the public...
...These objectives are translated into a system of tentative targets...
...This vindicates the caution exercised by the authors of the First Plan: They knew the tremendous difficulties their country was facing in its attempt to overcome the inertia in the masses of people, especially in rural areas...
...1,470 (b) Small savings...
...bigger, better and bolder Plan...
...It is not easy to assess the immediate material success of the Plan in terms of the growth of national income...
...If this actually were the main objective of the new Plan, it would be a tragic milestone in the history of India, a turning point from the road of democratic evolution to a short-cut trail toward dictatorship...
...When both arguments are excluded, there remains another, much stronger argument...
...This would have been a fairly modest target even if all these outlays were capital investments (which they were not), hut in the early phase of planning, Indian economic experts were afraid of their own boldness...
...Second, if the Indian Five Year Plan fails, this will increase the prestige of Red China in Asia...
...Official statistics suggest an increase of national income of 18 per cent in five years, but the gains were partly due to favorable monsoons in the latter part of the five-year period...
...and the rest goes to social services and miscellaneous...
...Work on the new Plan began with a clash of theoretical opinions...
...At this point...
...The total amount of loans and grants awarded to India in 1951-55 met the expectations voiced in the original Plan, but the Government could not use all the funds...
...In each underdeveloped country, there are some enthusiasts of industrialization who despise such branches of production as soap, cement, glass and staple fabrics and insist that industrialization should begin with steel mills and automobile and aircraft factories...
...the heading "Power" includes rural electrification...
...Banks would not give money to the Government but would open credit accounts and, as need arises, honor the checks of the Government to contractors and other private enterprises...
...This is an unfair criticism, in my opinion...
...The United States is interested in economic progress in underdeveloped areas because prosperity for all and greater equality among nations are the only conceivable foundations of lasting peace...
...This program will be discussed in my next article...
...This is no basis for a consistent long-range foreign policy...
...The anticipated five-year gains in national income are distributed by major economic sectors as follows (in millions of dollars) : 1955-56 1960-61 Increase NATIONAL PRODUCT . . 22,680 28,308 5,628 10,983 12,957 1,974 200 315 115 Factory establishments . . . .1,764 2,898 1,134 1,764 2,278 514 462 620 158 3,938 4,830 892 Professions and government 3,570 4,410 840 The largest absolute increase is anticipated in agriculture...
...per capita), Great Britain (800 lbs...
...Industrial output has increased in the last five years by 27 per cent in Spain...
...The area under cultivation expanded, yield per acre of food grains increased, production of rice, wheat, other cereals and cotton went up...
...Tho lag in execution of the projects was wholly due to technical and administrative difficulties and lack of managerial personnel...
...The part of the United States in India's venture does not need to cover the whole "gap" that appears in the financial projections of the Plan (8000) million for foreign assistance...
...Either we will help India in its efforts to revive its economv according to its own ideas or we will not help it at all...
...and USSR (460 lbs...
...Theoretically, this would raise prices by 1.5 to 2 per cent...
...But, whether their arguments were sound or not, this changes nothing in the soundness of the whole Plan...
...It must be massive enough to strengthen the confidence of the Indian people in their Plan and show them that their friends on the opposite side of the globe follow their efforts with understanding and sympathy...
...It has, in my opinion, weaknesses that will be discussed later, but fundamentally it is sound, not unduly ambitious and has a good chance of success...
...Reliance on this mode of raising resources to the extent proposed involves considerable risk...
...in Turkey, by 47 per cent...
...In addition, it established a list of projects which were "to be undertaken if external assistance were available...
...This would lead to a disequilibrium between the monetized income of the nation and goods available...
...840 In order to make this financial scheme intelligible to American readers, I took the liberty of rearranging the original table of the Plan and changing some headings...
...It has abundant reserves of iron ore and manganese and a sufficient supply of coking coal...
...Hence the request for additional taxation to the amount of $945 million in five years and mobilization of other domestic resources to the amount of $840 million...
...85 2 In assessing priorities of different projects, the authors of the Plan started from the recognition of the "basic and vital" importance of agriculture for India...
...I doubt, however, whether readers are interested in the technical details of these programs and will limit my remarks to the main features of the Plan...
...The Second Five Year Plan points out that in the period from 1951 through 1955 India received foreign aid totaling about $600 million?488.5 million from the U.S., and $100.5 million from other countries...
...It may be revised and modified in the course of its execution if the Indian Government changes its views on the priorities of single programs...
...But occasionally a government may decide that, for prestige and other non-economic reasons, its country urgently needs a steel rolling mill, and a steel mill, as incongruous as an Egyptian pyramid, is erected in a country of rice fields lacking both iron and coal...
...If the United States decides to aid India in the execution of its Second Five Year Plan, it should do so only because it is interested in the success of the Plan...
...The targets of the First Plan had been achieved or nearly achieved, but the country remained poor?about as poor as before...
...In Ceylon and Burma the official plans are used as reference sources by the agencies dealing with economic matters but are little known to the public...
...Western observers have good reason to be somewhat skeptical of steel rolling mills in the industrialization programs of underdeveloped areas...
...The difference between the two operations is that by borrowing from the public the Government diverts a part of the purchasing power of the people to public needs, while by other credit operations, namely by borrowing from banks, it injects additional purchasing power into circulation, which can have, under certain conditions, an inflationary effect...
...In the "Tentative Framework of the Plan" (dated March 21, 1955) its main specific objective was defined as "Rapid industrialization, with particular emphasis on the development of basic industries"—without as much as a word about agriculture...
...Tentatively, the share of the central government is set at $5.4 billion and that of slates at $4.6 Emphasizing its main stress on industrialization, the Plan announced that 57 per cent of all public outlay is earmarked for mining, industry, transport, communication and power, while agriculture gets only 12 per cent...
...The assessment of priorities within this overall framework of the Plan is, of course, open to criticism, and many people in India who enthusiastically support the Plan do not like some details in its targets...
...India will accept no foreign aid with strings attached...
...Mexico (36 lbs...
...Ultimately, it would result in a war between the doctrinaire government and the masses, as happened in the USSR as a result of Stalin's drive for rapid industrialization...
...Ceylon's Six Year Plan for public investments adheres closely to the recommendations of the World Bank...
...External assistance is acceptable only if it carries with it no conditions, explicit or implicit, which may affect even remotely the country's ability to take an independent line in international affairs...
...Later, both lists of projects were merged, some programs were expanded, new items were added to the list and the First Five Year Plan ended with a demand for total public outlays of approximately $5 billion in a period of five years, which meant that 5 per cent of current national income would be used by the Government for economic development...
...2. The Plan should be considered as a unit...
...Indeed, it would amount to a break of the ruling group in India with the rural majority of the people...
...555 11 Industries and minerals...
...In India the share of the public sector in national income is very low—some 7 per cent as compared with 25 per cent in the United States...
...Under such conditions, a plan of economic development that neglects the needs of the rural population would be the abdication of democratic principles...
...by 33 per cent in South Rhodesia and Turkey...
...I shall return to the mist of confusion enveloping the discussion of the Second Plan in the concluding article of this series...
...Italics supplied...
...More serious is the objection to the measures listed in the Plan as deficit financing but described in terms suggesting a liberal use of the printing press...
...transportation serves villages as well as cities...
...1,680 (b) From domestic resources...
...A developing economy," it explains, "requires an increasing money supply and, up to a point, deficit financing is safe and even necessary...
...Generally speaking, such is the prevailing trend in all modern countries...
...On the other hand, in a year of exceptionally good harvest, an expansionist money policy may be desirable as a measure to check the decline in prices...
...In this case, injection of additional purchasing power through deficit financing would mean that there would be $127 billion of purchasing power against goods and services worth $125 billion at initial prices...
...The national budget of India absorbs now only 7 per cent of the national income—less than in Pakistan, Indonesia, Burma and Thailand, or in Bolivia, Colombia, Jamaica, Peru, Mexico, Brazil and Nicaragua, all comparatively underdeveloped nations...
...The public development outlays envisaged by the First Plan were distributed as follows: Millions Per of $ Cent TOTAL...
...Of course, proposed measures would raise the national debt by nearly 40 per cent in five years...
...They cannot support certain parts of the plan in preference to other projects...
...But, beyond a point, deficit financing is inflationary...
...The country had become conscious of the Plan and its targets...
...There is a great difference between its final text and its preliminary drafts...
...The question would have provoked little controversy if the authors of the Second Five Year Plan had announced their target in steel production as a logical continuation of the First Plan instead of dramatizing the change in emphasis?from bread grains to steel...
...Such an interpretation of the Plan conforms with the formulation of its main objectives in the preliminary draft...
...by 56-57 per cent in Brazil, Morocco and Tunisia...
...This cardinal question is answered by the experience of other countries...
...In all, because of the psychological effect of the First Plan, it was more effective in stimulating long-run economic progress in India than in improving the current living conditions of the people...
...The success of the whole Plan will vitally depend on the results achieved in making the most advantageous use of the land and labor resources engaged in agriculture...
...Experience of other nations shows, however, that the poverty of a country does not exclude diversion of a considerable part of its national products from immediate consumption to other destinations—productive investment or building of fort* All estimates are given in the Indian Five Year Plan in ctotcs and lakhs of rupees...
...Some economists in India and abroad denounced the proposed operation as dangerous flirting with inflation...
...a rupee, 21 cents...
...The Plan provides for completion of the various industrial projects already under implementation by the Central Government or by the State Governments...
...All I wish to say is that the early drafts of the Plan and other official documents outlining its basic ideas tended to minimize the role of agriculture and overestimate the role of basic industries in economi development...
...Heavy industry and especially steel rolling mills are overemphasized in the Plan not in the sense of extravagant, unjustifiable allocations but in the sense of almost superstitious appraisal of the role of this particular branch of production by the authors of the Plan...
...According to the Plan, roughly $2.1 billion will go to "current expenditures of developmental nature" and the rest "represent investment, that is, outlay on building up of productive assets," including maintenance of assets inherited from the colonial era...
...All things considered, the share of villages in planned outlays is at least as* large as that of industry...
...There was, however, an upward trend in various lines of agriculture, manufacturing and mining...
...2,520 To be covered:' (a) From external resources...
...525 2. Borrowing from the public...
...The admirers of Stalinist piatiletkas (five-year periods) were very active in molding the framework of the Second Five Year Plan, but their enthusiasm was checked by the linn desire of the Indian Government to preserve democracy in ceonomics as well as in politics...
...2,520 (a) Bonds...
...The expected advances in output of manufacturing establishments may seem too optimistic at first sight: a 39 per cent gain in five years, an average annual rate of growth of nearly 7 per cent...
...In Pakistan, after five years of fairly successful improvisation in the economic field, a bold plan of economic development and social reforms has been prepared...
...But is not a chaotic discussion of problems affecting the vital interests of the nation the usual procedure under a democratic regime...
...irrigation and flood control, 9 per cent...
...But we must examine whether they leave this firm ground when they speculate on external resources...
...It would be a mistake to say that the Plan in any stage of its development completely neglected agriculture and the rural population...
...To some extent, this clash reflected the conflict between the economic philosophies of the West and East...
...The index of industrial output increased 50 per cent in 1950-55, as compared with a gain of 28 per cent in the preceding five years...
...Shortage of funds was not among the controlling factors...
...In the heat of the free-for-all nationwide discussion, strange notions have been put in circulation, doubtful arguments used, superficial generalizations proclaimed as historical laws...
...Moreover, a part of the envisaged deficit financing will be absorbed by the Indian economy's increasing demand for money...
...It is a question of judgment when it should start building integrated steel rolling mills, but the three mills listed in the Second Plan were under consideration long ago and there is no doubt that India, in a not remote future, will need them and many similar plants to raise its output of steel to 40-50 pounds per capita...
...830 17 Power...
...Indeed, most of the expenditures for social services, housing and rehabilitation listed above could hardly be regarded as development outlays...
...The extent of its success, however, will depend partly on foreign assistance, that is, on American aid...
...The strange feature in the Second Plan is that it seeks an increase of the public sector not in the fields that would bring the greatest advantages to the people—such as education, health services and water supply—but in operations in which the replacement of private management by Government officials promises little or no gain to the national economy...
...In most cases these planners learn, sooner or later, how childish their dreams were...
...But first let us look at the Plan itself, as it has been announced in final form...
...The First Five Year Plan (April 1951 through March 1956) was comparatively modest in scope and purely pragmatic in its selection of targets and allocation of funds...
...by 40-42 per cent in Yugoslavia, Mexico and Chile...
Vol. 39 • August 1956 • No. 34
