Question

Write explanatory notes.

1. Failure of the Tenth Five-Year Plan.

2. Explain the achievements of the Tenth Five-Year Plan.

Answer 1

1. The following points highlight the failure of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07) in India:
a. During the Tenth Plan, the share of the agricultural sector in GDP shrunk to a mere 18.5% in 2006-07. In addition the growth rate of this sector was also quite low at only 2.5 % during the plan period.
b. The unemployment rate increased from 7.31 % to 8.28% during this period.
c. As per the estimates in 2004-05, the poverty ratio was 27.2% as against the targeted 19.2%.
d. Similar to the agriculture sector the growth rate of the industrial sector was also quite low at 8.82% as against the targeted growth rate of 10%.
e. One of the objectives of the 10^th plan was to increase the capacity addition in the power sector to 41,110 MW. As against this actually only 21,080 MW additional capacity could be achieved.

2. The following are some of the achievements of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07):
a. The growth rate of the GDP increased to 7.8 per cent during this period. This was a significant achievement for India, as it became the fastest growing economy after China.
b. The industrial sector experienced a significant growth rate of 8.8 % p.a. during the plan period. This growth was attributed to the development in IT, pharmaceutical and automobile sectors.
c. India’s foreign exchange reserves reached $ 185 billion in February 2007, implying the strengthening of the Indian economy.
d. The service sector experienced a high growth rate of 9%.
e. The savings and investment rates also registered an improvement during the plan period. The saving rate increased to 34.8% and the investment rate increased to 35.9%.