Industrial Sector: During The Planning Period
There are three economic sectors in any economy namely; The Primary sector which relates to the agriculture field, The Manufacturing sector which relates to the industrial field and finally The Tertiary sector which relates to services. We have already seen the situation of the agricultural sector during the planning period, now let’s focus on the industrial sector situation.
As we all know, jobs in the industrial sector are considered to be a lot safer and stable as compared to the agricultural sector because the Industrial sector promotes modernization and overall prosperity whereas, we have seen that the agriculture sector was suffering due to its backwardness. It is for this reason that the initial five-year plans placed a lot of emphasis on the industrial sector.
Let’s discuss, the role of our public and private sector in the development of the industrial sector.
- Insufficient funds: At the time of independence, Indian industrialists i.e., the private sector did not have the funds to invest in the industrial projects, which was needed for the development of our economy. So, the public sector played a major role in promoting the industrial sector.
- Growth with social equity: At the time of independence, India was following the socialist system of economy which means the state was controlling the economy. It helped in promoting social justice and fairness, and everyone was treated equally.
- The private sector became a complementary unit: Since the private sector did not have the capital to invest and India was following socialism. Thus, the private sector became a helping hand (complementary unit) for the public sector. All the important industries for the economy like defense were under the full control of the public sector.
To summarize, during the planning period the industrial sector was mainly managed by the public sector and the private sector was not given enough powers.