The idea of planning in India, 1930-1951
type: CreativeWork
description: Since the days of Ranade, Naoroji and Dutt and other 'moderate nationalist' economic thinkers, a positive state intervention in economic activities was considered as essential for the development of the Indian economy. It was this notion which was eventually to develop into the idea of planning during the two decades prior to Independence. But however nationalist, this idea, far from being the product of any autonomous Indian thinking on the question, was formed not merely in response to British bureaucratic efforts at planning but acquired much of its content from the latter. The official effort for socio-economic planning in India started in 1930 when George Schuster and some other British administrators took the initiative to Form an Economic Advisory Council. Although that effort was to end in failure, the idea of planning became popular amongst a section of the Indian elites. By the late nineteen-thirties it became central to nationalist economic thought. Bureaucratic effort at planning was revived with the advent of the Second World War. The Indian elites, including the leading capitalists, produced their own plans during the war-period. Both the nationalists and the colonialists found a common ground in the idea of planning as a method of industrialising the economy. Althouqh Gandhians and some 'leftists' produced a number of alternative ideas of planning For socio-economic development, 'industrialism' remained the dominant ideology both among the colonial rulers and the majorjty of the Indian elites. However, the reality of agrarian poverty and discontent forced them to consider the question of the development of agriculture as one of primary importance, and both souqht its solution in a technological improvement of agricultural productivity and not in the restructuring of the social and political relations of landed property. After the Transfer of Power, the new Government formed by the Indian National Congress followed in the footsteps of its colonial pred…
abstract: Since the days of Ranade, Naoroji and Dutt and other 'moderate nationalist' economic thinkers, a positive state intervention in economic activities was considered as essential for the development of the Indian economy. It was this notion which was eventually to develop into the idea of planning during the two decades prior to Independence. But however nationalist, this idea, far from being the product of any autonomous Indian thinking on the question, was formed not merely in response to British bureaucratic efforts at planning but acquired much of its content from the latter. The official effort for socio-economic planning in India started in 1930 when George Schuster and some other British administrators took the initiative to Form an Economic Advisory Council. Although that effort was to end in failure, the idea of planning became popular amongst a section of the Indian elites. By the late nineteen-thirties it became central to nationalist economic thought. Bureaucratic effort at planning was revived with the advent of the Second World War. The Indian elites, including the leading capitalists, produced their own plans during the war-period. Both the nationalists and the colonialists found a common ground in the idea of planning as a method of industrialising the economy. Althouqh Gandhians and some 'leftists' produced a number of alternative ideas of planning For socio-economic development, 'industrialism' remained the dominant ideology both among the colonial rulers and the majorjty of the Indian elites. However, the reality of agrarian poverty and discontent forced them to consider the question of the development of agriculture as one of primary importance, and both souqht its solution in a technological improvement of agricultural productivity and not in the restructuring of the social and political relations of landed property. After the Transfer of Power, the new Government formed by the Indian National Congress followed in the footsteps of its colonial pred…
author: Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra
language: en
date published: 1985
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:54:49Z
provider: Australian National University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Australian National University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/109360