1) The objectives of this socialist pattern of development were: the reduction of inequalities, elimination of exploitation, and prevention of concentration of wealth.
2) Social justice meant that all citizens would have an equal opportunity to education and employment.
3) This essentially entailed the active participation of the state in the process of development.

Thus, the new government of India was faced with the mammoth task of developing the economy, improving conditions in agriculture, widening the manufacturing sector, increasing employment and reducing poverty.

1) Agriculture was overcrowded, and the per capita income from agriculture was very low.
2) The industry sector only accounted for 13% of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1950.
3) The Indian offices of major foreign companies were involved only in marketing and sales, and not in manufacturing.
4) The industrial sector had grown in the decades before Independence, but it was still quite small.
5) Engineering units produced machinery for cotton spinning and weaving, paper, chemicals, sugar, jute and cement. However, the sector was relatively small and did not offer significant employment opportunities.

1) Part of the problem lay in the expansion of the public sector into non-strategic areas like tourism, hotels, consumer goods and so on. Services which depended on interactions with consumers were doing badly because of bad staff attitude.
2) Decisions on location were made for political rather than efficiency considerations.
3) Delays in construction resulted in cost overrun, so that the units were overcapitalized.
4) Administrative prices were not always economical.
5) Public sector units were also overstaffed, though the technology of heavy industries did not require so many workers. This increased the operating cost of the units, Inefficiency in management, all are the major factors which contributed to the poor performance of the Public sector enterprises.

The backwardness of agriculture could be attributed to two factors: institutional and technological.
(i) Institutional factors refer to the social and economic relations that prevailed, particularly between the land-owning classes and the cultivating classes. 
(ii) Technological factors relate to use of better seeds, improved methods of cultivation, use of chemical fertilizers, use of machinery like tractors and harvester combines, and provision of irrigation.

1) The purpose was to provide rural households with assets which would improve their economic position, so that they would be able to come out of poverty.
2) These could be improvements to the land, supply of cows or goats for dairying or help to set up small shops or other trade-related businesses.
3) The capital cost of the assets provided was covered by subsidies and loans varied based on economic situation of the family receiving assistance.
4) The functioning and the effects of IRDP were assessed by many economists as well as government bodies.
5) The ultimate conclusion was that the programme did not really deliver on the benefits that were intended,
6) The programme was restructured in 1999 as a programme to promote self-employment of the rural poor.

1) India followed the example of the USSR in planning for development through five year plans. The Planning Commission was set up in 1950 to formulate plans for developing the economy.
2) Each Plan assesses the performance of the economy and the resources available for future development.
3) Targets are set in accordance with the priorities of the government. Resources are allocated to various sectors, like agriculture, industry, power, social sectors and technology, and a growth target is also set for the economy as a whole.
4) One of the primary objectives of planning was to build a self-sufficient economy.
5) The First Five Year Plan covered the period 1951-56. Till now there have been twelve Five Year Plans in addition to three one year plans between 1966 and 1969.
6) Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017) was the last plan. In 2015, the Planning Commission was wound up and replaced by the Niti Ayog
7) The First Plan (1951-56) focused on developing agriculture, especially increasing agricultural production. The allocation for Agriculture and Irrigation accounted for 31% of the total outlay.
8) After this, the emphasis shifted to industry, and the share of agriculture in total outlay hovered between 20 and 24%. By the Eleventh Plan it had come down to less than 20%.
9) The Second Plan (1956-61), commonly referred to as the Mahalanobis Plan, stressed the development of heavy industry for achieving economic growth.
10) The share of industry in Plan outlay was only 6% in the First Plan, and increased to about 24% after the Second Plan. But the share has been declining since the Sixth Plan, perhaps because the major investments in the public sector had been completed.
11) The allocation for power development was very low in the first four plans and this created a huge shortage of power in the country.
12) The first two Plans had set fairly modest targets of growth at about 4%, which economists described as the "Hindu rate of growth". These growth rates were achieved so that the first two Plans were considered to have been successful.

1) Education and health constitute the social sectors, and the status of education and health indicators are yardsticks for assessing the level of social development in a country.
2) Sadly, India is far behind many less developed countries, especially on health indicators like maternal mortality and infant mortality, and education indicators with respect to school education.
3) These poor outcomes are a reflection of the low share of plan outlay set aside for the social sectors.
4) This hovered between 16 and 18% between 956 and 1990 (Second to the Seventh Plans). The outlay has increased only from the Eighth Pian onwards due to a greater emphasis on social justice and inclusive growth.
5) But it was still less than 30% of the total outlay.
6) It crossed the one-third mark only .in the Twelfth Plan. Expenditure on education as a percentage of total GDP has been less than 5% in India, and compares unfavourably with China and other Asian countries.
7) Literacy levels have increased in India from 18.3% in 1951 to 74% in 2011. Female literacy still lags behind the male literacy rate at 65% as compared to 82% among men.
8) There has been a great increase in the number of schools from the primary to senior high school level and in the growth of institutions of higher learning.
9) In 2014-15 there were 12.72 lakh primary and upper primary schools, 2.45 lakh secondary .and higher secondary schools, 38, 498 colleges and 43 Central Universities, 316 State Universities, 122 Deemed Universities and 181 State Private Universities in the country.
10)  Enrolment in primary schools stood at 96%, and 40% in the secondary and higher secondary schools. However, the drop-out rate is 51% in primary schools, and as high as 62% in secondary and high schools.
11) Children dropping out of school mostly belonged to the poorer families in rural and urban areas and socially backward castes (SCs and STs).
12) The drop-out rate is particularly high among girl children. This is because they are often withdrawn from school either because the family is not able to afford to keep all the children in school and more often because they have to assist in household chores and looking after younger children in the family.
13) There are great inter-regional variations in the drop-out and enrolment rates, so that backward states and regions have the poorest record on school education.
14) A further problem is that government schools at all levels are perceived to be functioning very badly.
15) Teachers are often absent and seem to show little interest in providing good education to the students.
16) This has resulted in most parents, including low income parents, opting to take their children out of government schools (which are free) and putting them in private schools, paying high fees, because these are supposed to give better education.
17) Since private schools are rarely set up in backward regions with high levels of poverty, the regional disparities in school education have become more accentuated.