What was a key focus of the First Five Year Plan (1951-1956)?
- A.Agricultural development
- B.Development of heavy industries
- C.Rapid industrialisation
- D.Privatisation of industries
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Agricultural development. The First Five Year Plan (1951–56) gave top priority to agriculture, irrigation and power, because India faced food shortages after Partition and needed to feed its people first. It was based on the Harrod-Domar model and was presented by Jawaharlal Nehru, who chaired the Planning Commission. Big river projects such as Bhakra-Nangal and Hirakud were started in this period. The Plan aimed at a growth rate of 2.1 per cent and achieved about 3.6 per cent, so it is counted as a success. B is wrong because the development of heavy industries was the focus of the Second Plan (1956–61), based on the Mahalanobis model. C is wrong because rapid industrialisation was also the goal of the Second Plan, not the First. D is wrong because privatisation of industries came with the economic reforms of 1991, forty years later. Exam tip: First Plan, agriculture and Harrod-Domar; Second Plan, heavy industry and Mahalanobis.
Practice Questions
View allAccording to the law of diminishing marginal utility, as the amount of a good consumed increases, the marginal utility of that good tends to
- A.improve
- B.diminish
- C.remain constant
- D.first diminish and then improve
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Each extra unit of a good gives a consumer less additional satisfaction than the unit before it, so marginal utility falls as consumption rises.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statements about impact of tax : 1. A tax is shifted forward to consumers if the demand is inelastic relative to supply. 2. A tax is shifted backward to producers if the supply is relatively more inelastic than demand. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- A.1 only
- B.2 only
- C.Both 1 and 2
- D.Neither 1 nor 2
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The burden of a tax falls more heavily on whichever side of the market is less elastic, the side that cannot easily walk away.
Read the full explanation →UBI, as an alternative for subsidies in poverty alleviation, stands for
- A.Union Basic Income
- B.Undefined Basic Income
- C.Unconditional Basic Income
- D.Universal Basic Income
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UBI is the idea of paying every citizen a fixed sum of money regularly, without conditions, in place of a large number of separate subsidies and welfare schemes.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following is the Chairman of the Fourteenth Finance Commission?
- A.C. Rangarajan
- B.Vijay Kelkar
- C.Y. V. Reddy
- D.Rakesh Mohan
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The Fourteenth Finance Commission, set up in 2013 for the award period 2015-2020, was chaired by Y. V. Reddy, a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
Read the full explanation →Why was constitutional amendment needed for introducing GST?
- A.States were not willing to agree with the Union for introduction of GST without amendment in the Constitution.
- B.GST was to be implemented on concurrent base and Article 246 was inadequate for such a case.
- C.The Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers had recommended for constitutional amendment.
- D.The GST Council had recommended for constitutional amendment so that its power enhances.
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GST is levied by the Union and the States together on the same supply, and Article 246, which splits taxing powers between them through separate lists, did not allow such a concurrent tax.
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