Development Experience of India, Pakistan, and China
Development Experience of India, Pakistan, and China have many similarities in their development strategies. All three nations started towards their development path at the same time. While India and Pakistan became independent nations in 1947, the People’s republic of China came in 1949.
The comparative development experience of India and its neighbors
- India announced its first 5-year plan for 1951-56, Pakistan announced its first 5-year plan called the Medium Term Plan in 1956 and China announced its first 5-year plan in 1953.
- India and Pakistan adopted similar strategies such as creating a large public sector and raising public expenditure on social development.
- Till the 1980s, all three countries had similar growth rates and per capita income.
Development strategies of China
- After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China under one-party rule, all the critical sectors of the economy, enterprises, and lands owned and operated by individuals came under government control.
- The Great Leap Forward (GLF) in China started with a campaign in 1958, that aimed at industrializing the country on a massive scale. Under this people were encouraged to set up industries in their backyards.
- In rural areas, the commune system of farming started, where people collectively cultivated lands. In 1958, 26000 communes were covering almost all the farm population.
- When Russia had conflicts with China, it withdraws its professionals to China to help in the industrialization process.
- Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China, launched the cultural revolution, formally the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which was a sociopolitical movement in China from 1966 until 1976. The purpose of this revolution was to send students and professionals to learn and work from the countryside.
- Starting in 1978, several reforms introduced in phases in China. First, in agriculture, then in foreign trade, and finally in investment sectors
- In agriculture, commune lands divided into small plots and allotted to individual households for cultivation.
- In the Industrial sector, private sector firms allowed to produce goods. Also, the government faced enterprises faced open competition. In foreign trade, this kind of reform brought in the necessity of dual pricing. This meant the farmers and industrial units were to buy and sell fixed quantities of raw material and products based on prices fixed by the government. As production increased, the material transacted through the open market also rose in quantity.
- Special Economic Zones (SEZs) set up in China to attract foreign investors
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Read more about The State of Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence.
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