Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The two chapters in this unit give us an overview of the state of the Indian economy as it was at the eve of independence till after four decades of planned development, which was a path that India chose. This meant that the Government of India had to take a series of steps such as the establishment of the Planning Commission and announcement of five year plans. An overview of the goals of five year plans and a critical appraisal of the merits and limitations of planned development has been covered in this unit.
. understand the factors that led to the underdevelopment and stagnation of the Indian economy.
"India is the pivot of our Empire ... If the Empire loses any other part of its Dominion we can survive, but if we lose India, the sun of our Empire will have set."
Victor Alexander Bruce, the Viceroy of British India in eighteen ninety-four
One point one. INTRODUCTION
One point one. INTRODUCTION
The primary objective of this book, Indian Economic Development, is to familiarise you with the basic features of the Indian economy, and its development, as it is today, in the aftermath of Independence. However, it is equally important to know something about the country's economic past even as you learn about its present state and future prospects. So, let us first look at the state of India's economy prior to the country's independence and form an idea of the various considerations that shaped India's post-independence development strategy.
The structure of India's present-day economy is not just of current making; it has its roots steeped in history, particularly in the period when India was under British rule which lasted for almost two centuries before India finally won its independence on fifteenth August nineteen forty-seven. The sole purpose of the British colonial rule in India was to reduce the country to being a raw material supplier for Great Britain's