12th Five Year Plan (India) – Overview and Objectives

India was left with crippling economy when the British left. After Independence, India needed well planned strategies to sustain and grow the economy and compete with other developing countries.

In 1947 a committee on economic planning was formed under the chairmanship of Pundit J. L. Nehru, which suggested the plan to constitute a Planning Commission. On March 1950, The Planning Commission was set up by a Resolution of the Government of India to promote economic growth, efficient exploitation of country`s resources and increasing business and employment opportunities. 

Five year plansYearTarget growth rate of GDP (%)Target Achieved (%)
First plan1951-562.13.6
Second plan1956-614.54.21
Third plan1961-665.62.72
Fourth plan1969-745.72.05
Fifth plan1974-794.44.83
Sixth plan1980-855.25.54
Seventh plan1985-905.06.02
Eight plan1992-975.66.68
Ninth Plan1997-026.55.55
Tenth plan2002-078.07.8
Eleventh plan2007-129.07.9
Twelfth plan2012-178.0

On 4th October, the government of India approved the 12th five year plan (2012-17) that aims to achieve annual average economic growth rate of 8.2 per cent, down from 9 per cent (Eleventh plan 2007-12).

The aim of the 12th Five Year plan is to achieve “faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth”. For this purpose it seeks to achieve 4% growth in agriculture sector and 10% in manufacturing sector. The total budget of 12th Five Year plan has been estimated at Rs.47.7 lakh crore which is 135 per cent more than that for the 11th Five year Plan (2007-12).

The 12th Five Year Plan presents three scenarios:

Strong Inclusive Growth8% growth in GDP
Insufficient Action6% to 6.5% growth in GDP
Policy logjam  5% to 5.5% growth in GDP

Broad Objectives of 12th Five Year Plan

  • To reduce poverty
  • To improve regional equality across states and within states
  • To improve living conditions for SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities
  • To generate attractive employment opportunities for Indian youth
  • To eliminate gender gaps

12th Five Year Plan lists various growth indicators as follows:

  • It aims at average GDP growth rate of 8%
  • It seeks to achieve 4% growth in agricultural sector 
  • It aims at reducing head-count poverty by 10% 
  • It aims at generating 50 million work opportunities in non-farm sector and providing skill certifications
  • It aims at eliminating gender and social gap in education
  • Reducing Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to 25, Merternal Mortality Rate (MMR) to 100 and Total Fertility Rate (TFR) to 2.1
  • Increasing infrastructure investment to 9% of GDP
  • Achieving universal road connectivity and access to power for all villages
  • Provision of banking services for 90% households
  • Major welfare benefits and subsidies via Aadhaar card
  • Secondary Education for all by 2017
  • Increase public spending from 1% (11th plan) to 2.5% of GDP by the end of 12th
  • Development of a National Action Plan for Climate Change to achieve target of 20% to 25% reduction in emission levels by 2020
  • Getting 5 Indian universities in the list of top 200 universities in the world
  • For the purpose of providing electricity to households it aims at addition of 88,000 MW electricity generation capacity and 55,000 MW of renewable energy capacity.
  • Eliminate gender and social gap in school enrollment
  • Improving child sex ratio (0-6) to 950
  • Reducing under nutrition among children aged 0-3 to half of the NFHS-3 level
  • Increasing Gross Irrigated area from 90 million hectares to 103 million hectares
  • Connecting all villages with all-weather roads and upgrading national and state highways to minimum two-lane standard
  • Complete Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor
  • Increase rural tele-density to 70%, currently it is 40.81%
  • Ensuring 50% of rural population has access to 40 lpcd piped drinking water supply and 50% of Gram Panchayat achieve Nirmal Gram Status
  • Increasing Green Cover (as measured by Satellite Imagery) by 1 million hectare every year
  • It has proposed a modified Accelerated Irrigation benefits program and expanded Watershed Management project

1 Comment

  1. Five-Year plans in India and their importance This is the most important topic for competitive exams like SSC, RRB, UPSC, State PSC, and other exams too.

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