A presentation on

Patterns of, trends in, and

development strategies of
economic development in India
since independence

By:
Arjun Kafle
st
 Concept of Economic development:

•Economic development- growth plus

progressive changes in certain crucial variables
which determines the well being of the people.

•much more than growth. It typically refers to

improvements in literacy rates, life expectancy,
and poverty rates.

•economic growth-increase /growth of a specific

measure such as national income, gross
domestic product, or gross national product.
Economic development indicators:
The various indicators of economic
development are as follows:
•Literacy rates,

•Poverty,

•Life expectancy,

•Infrastructure, etc.
 Some aspects of Indian economy

•Low per capita income

•Disparities in income distribution
•Dominance of agriculture and heavy
population pressure on agriculture
•Over-population
•Unbalanced economic development
•Existence of traditional society
•Limited availability of transport and
communication facilities
Literacy and economic development:

• simple definition-literate person-both read and write a

simple statement relevant to everyday life.

Trends in literacy in India:

•Education progress was too slow before

independence.
Literacy rates at different years:

Year Literacy rate (%)

1881 3.2
1931 7.2
1947 12.2
1951 18.33
1961 28.3
1971 34.45
1981 43.57
1991 52.21
2001 68.84
Line chart representation of Literacy rate:
 Government strategies to increase
literacy rates:
• Sarva Siksha Abhiyan:
Launched in 2001 to ensure that all children in the age
group 6-14 years attend school and complete eight
years of schooling by 2010.

• Siksha sahayog yojana:

Lunched in 31 December 2001, the objective of this
was to lessen the burden of parents in meeting the
educational expense of their children. Centre-state 80-
20% partnership

•District primary education:

Central government sponsored program, launched in
1994, has opened more than 160,000 new schools.
•National literacy mission: Launched in 1998, this
mission aims to attaining a literacy rate of 75% by
2007.

•Mid-day launch program: Launched in 1995, this

program aims to attract students to school by offering
meal, especially in rural areas.

•Kerala - 90.86%, and Bihar - 47% .

• Kottayam district of Kerala is first district in

India to achieve highest literacy rate i.e.
90.52%.
Poverty and economic development:

•Meaning: failing to reach certain minimum

consumption standard.

• 27.5% of Indians still lived below the national

poverty line in 2004-05.

• 75% of the people living below poverty line are

in rural areas.

•Wealth distribution is fairly uneven in India,

with the top 10% of income groups earning 33%
of the income.
• ¼ of the nations population earns less than
the government-specified poverty threshold of
$0.40/day.
Historical trends of poverty
statistics:
Year Poverty rate(%)

1951 47.0
1954-55 64.0
1960-61 45.0
1977-78 51.3
1983 44.5
1987-88 38.9
1993-94 36.0
2004-05 27.5
Line representation of poverty rate:
 Government strategies to alleviate
poverty:

• key objective of governments in its five-year

plan.

• To reduce poverty, the government has given

importance to education, reservation of seats in
government jobs, and increasing empowerment
of women.

• adding 60-70 million people in its middle class every

year.
•Rural employment program & Food for work
program:

Launched in 1980’s, which attempt to use the

unemployed people to generate productive
assets and build rural infrastructure.
•Rural employment guarantee bill:

Passed in august 2005 by Parliament of India,

biggest program to alleviate poverty in terms
of cost and coverage- promises 100 days of
minimum wage employment to every rural
household in 200 of India's 600 districts
 Life expectancy and economic
development:

Region Life expectancy at Population>65

Birth years

World 66 years 7%

India 60-61 years 4%

 Life expectancy of various states:
(source : registrar general of India (2003)
State Total Male Female
Andhra Pradesh 63.1 61.6 64.1
Assam 57.2 57.1 57.6
Bihar 60.2 60.7 58.9
Gujarat 62.8 61.9 63.7
Haryana 64.5 64.1 65.0
Himachal 65.6 65.1 65.8
Pradesh
Karnataka 64.0 62.4 65.5
Kerala 73.5 70.6 76.1
Madhya Pradesh 56.4 56.5 56.2

Maharashtra 65.8 64.5 67.0

Orissa 57.7 57.6 57.8
Punjab 68.1 66.9 69.1
Rajasthan 60.5 59.8 60.9
Tamilnadu 58.4 63.7 65.7
Uttar Pradesh 63.4 58.9 57.7
Infrastructure and economic development:

• After independence, development of

infrastructure was completely in the hands of
public sector and was plagued by beauracratic
inefficiencies, corruption, etc.

• After liberalization in 1991, private sector

including foreign investment was allowed to
invest in infrastructure sector which has helped
to sustain growth rate of close to 9% for past
few years.

• worlds second position in roadways

construction
•At present, infrastructure has been expanding
at a rapid pace to support the economic growth
at nearly 9%.
• six core infrastructure industries registered a
robust increase of 9.6% during march 2008.

Infrastructures planned for future:

• 40,000 MW hydro power generation capacity

during the 12th and 13th plan.

•Constructing freight corridors between

Mumbai-Delhi and Ludhiana-Kolkata.
Contd……..

•Modernization and redevelopment of 21

railway stations.

•Modernization and redevelopment of 4 metro

and 35 non-metro airports.

•Six laning 6500 km of golden quadrilateral and

selected national highways .

•Constructing 165,244 km of new rural roads.

• Planning commission,

• National development council, and

• State plans
• Established in march 1950.

• To make assessment of the material,

capital and human resources of the
country.

• To formulate the plan for the most

effective and balanced utilization of the
country’s resources.
•To indicate those factors to the government
whose prove an obstacle in the economic
development.

•To evaluate the from time to time the progress

achieved in every stage of plan and also to
suggest remedial measures.

•To advise the centre and the state government

from time to time on special matters referred to
the commission.
• One of the most important committee
working under planning commission.

• Presided by prime minister and consists of

union ministers, state chief ministers,
members of planning commission.

• The secretary of the planning commission

also acts as the secretary of this council.
Contd…….
Objectives of NDC

•To prescribe guidelines for the formulation of the

national plan including the assessment of the resources
for the plan.

•To consider the national plan as formulated by the

planning commission.

•To consider important questions of the social and

economic policy affecting national development.

•To review the working of the plan from time to time

and to recommend such measures as are necessary for
achieving the aims and targets set out in the national
plan.
 State plans

• Plans are made by state governments in

coordination with central government and
planning commission.

• Successful implementation of the plans made

by planning commission/central government
depends upon the successful implementation of
state plans.

• State plans account for about one half of the

outlay of the government under a five year
 Objectives of Indian plans

• Proper utilization of the national resources in

accordance of the national priorities and fast
development of the economy.

• Alleviation and ultimate removal of

unemployment and poverty.

• Improvements in the standard of living in

general.

• Reduce inequalities of income and wealth.

•Increase production to the maximum possible

5 year plan Year Emphasis
First 1951-56 Agricultural sector
Second 1956-61 Basic and heavy
industries
Third 1961-66 Export promotion
Fourth 1969-74 Self-reliance
Fifth 1974-79 Growth with social
justice
Sixth 1980-85
Seventh 1985-90 Food, work , and
productivity
Eighth 1992-97 Human development
Ninth 1997-2002
Tenth 2002-07 Growth with equity &
distributive justice.
Eleventh 2007-12
The objectives of the tenth five year plans are as
follows:
• GDP growth rate at 8%.
• Reduction of poverty ratio to 20% percent.
• Universal access to primary education.
• Increase in literacy to 72 percent.
• Reduction of IMR to 45 per 1000.
• Reduction of MMR to 20 per 1000.
• Increase in forest and tree cover by 25 percent.
• Clearing of major polluted rivers by 2007
 Target 2002-07 Actual 2002-07
Growth rate 8.00 7.80
Growth in agriculture 4.00 3.42
Growth in industry 8.9 8.74
Domestic savings 23.31 26.62
Average inflation 5.00 5.02
S.N. 5 year plan Target Actual

1 First 2.1 3.61

2 Second 4.5 4.27
3 Third 5.6 2.84
4 Fourth 5.7 3.30
5 Fifth 4.4 4.80
6 Sixth 5.2 5.66
7 Seventh 5.0 6.01
8 Eighth 5.6 6.68
9 Ninth 6.5 5.35
10 Tenth 8.0 7.8
 11th five year plan (2007-2012)
•Vision-To reduce poverty

•Growth rate of 10%

•Agriculture growth at 4%per year

•Growth of industrial sector to 10% and manufacturing

sector to 12%

•Double per capita income by 2016-17

•Reduce educated unemployment rate to below 5%

•Reduce drop out rate of school children to 20% from

52% now.
•clean drinking water to all by 2009

•Electricity connection to all by 2009

•A telephone in every village by November 2007

•Broad band connectivity to all villages by 2011-2012

•Achieve WHO standard air quality in major cities by

2011-12.
 INDIA VISION -2020
•Released on January 23, 2003 by planning commission

•Expected annual growth rate to be 9%

•Full elimination of unemployment, illiteracy, & poverty

•Per capita income to get doubled by 2020

•1.35 billion population of the country to have better

living conditions by 2020

•With 2% annual employment generation rate, 20 crore

new employment opportunities to be created by 2020