Previous Year Question
In the context of India’s Five Year Plans, a shift in the pattern of industrialisation, with lower emphasis on heavy industries and more on infrastructure, began in the:
Fourth Plan
Sixth Plan
Eighth Plan
Tenth Plan
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Solution
The shift in India’s pattern of industrialisation from a predominant emphasis on heavy industries towards greater emphasis on infrastructure, energy, productivity and modernisation is associated with the Sixth Five Year Plan.
The Sixth Five Year Plan covered the period from 1980 to 1985. It recognised that industrial growth could not be achieved merely by establishing additional heavy industries; it also required the removal of bottlenecks in energy, transport, communication and other infrastructure.
The industrial strategy beginning with the Second Five Year Plan had placed particular emphasis on heavy and basic industries, capital goods and the public sector. It helped India develop a base in steel, machine building, heavy engineering and power generation.
Over time, however, several problems became apparent:
Inadequate availability of electricity and coal;
Railway and transportation bottlenecks;
Underutilisation of installed industrial capacity;
Low productivity of public-sector enterprises;
Obsolete technology and high production costs;
Disruption of industrial production because of infrastructure constraints.
The Sixth Plan consequently prioritised:
Energy and electricity generation;
Coal, railways and transportation;
Better use of existing industrial capacity;
Technology upgradation and modernisation;
Industrial productivity and efficiency;
Reduction of poverty and unemployment;
Economic and technological self-reliance.
This did not mean that heavy industries were abandoned. The shift meant that industrial policy moved beyond merely creating new heavy-industrial capacity and gave greater attention to Infrastructure, Efficiency, Modernisation and Capacity Utilisation.
The other alternatives are incorrect because this shift did not begin as late as the Eighth or Tenth Plan. Infrastructure was also important under the Fourth Plan, but the stated change in the overall pattern of industrialisation is specifically associated with the Sixth Plan.