Home Blog Page 427

India’s Five Year Plan at a Glance

0

The Five Year Plans

The development five year plans are drawn by the Planning Commission to establish India’s economy on a socialistic pattern in successive phases of five years Periods-called the Five Year Plans.
 
Major Bodies Behind the Making of Five Year Plans
The organisation was set up to formulate basic economic policies, draft plans and watch its progress and implementation. It consists of:
(I) Planning Commission of India
(ii) National Planning Council
(iii) National Development Council and State Planning Commissions
DETAILS OF THE FIVE YEAR PLANS
FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN (1951-56)
In July 1951, the Planning Commission issued the draft outline of the First Five-Year Plan for the period April 1951 to March 1956. It was presented to the Parliament in December 1952. In the First Plan, agriculture received the main thrust, for sustaining of growth and development of industries which would not be possible without a significant rise in the yield of raw materials and food.
Objectives:
i) To increase food production.
ii) To fully utilise available raw materials.
iii) To check inflationary pressure.
Outlay: The total proposed outlay was Rs. 3,870 crore.
SECOND FIVE YEAR PLAN (1956-61)
The main objective was to launch upon industrialisation and strengthen the industrial base of the economy. It was in this light that the 1948 Industrial Policy Resolution was revised and a new resolution of 1956 was adopted. The Second Plan started with an emphasis on the expansion of the public sector and aimed at the establishment of a socialistic pattern of society.
 
Objectives:
i) A sizeable increase in national income so as to raise the level of living.
ii) The rapid industrialisation of the country with particular emphasis on the development of basic and key industries.
Outlay: The Second Plan proposed a total public sector outlay of Rs. 4,800 crores though actual outlay was only Rs. 4,672 crore.
THIRD FIVE YEAR PLAN (1961-66)
In the third Plan, the emphasis was on long-term development. The Third Plan report stated that during the five-year period concerned, the Indian economy “must not only expand rapidly but, at the same time, become self-reliant and self-generating.”
Objectives:
i) An increase in national income of more than 5 percent annually. The investment pattern laid down must be capable of sustaining this growth rate in the subsequent years.
ii) An increase in the agricultural produce and to achieve self-sufficiency by increasing food grain production.
iii) Greater equality of opportunities, more even distribution of economic power and reducing wealth and income disparities.
FOURTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1969-74)
After the ‘Plan Holiday’, the Fourth Plan was begun in 1969.
Objectives:
i) To achieve stability and progress towards self-reliance.
ii) To achieve an overall rate of growth of 5.7 percent annually.
iii) To raise exports at the rate of 7 per cent annually.
Outlay: The total proposed outlay was Rs. 24,880 crore, which included Rs. 15,900 crores as public sector outlay and Rs. 8,980 crore as private sector outlay.
FIFTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1974-79)
The Plan was formulated against the background of severe inflationary pressure.
Objectives: In addition to removal of poverty and attainment of self-reliance, the Fifth Plan had the following major objectives.
i) 5.5 percent overall rate of growth in Gross Domestic objectives.
ii) Expansion of productive employment and fuller utilisation of existing skills and equipment.
iii) A national programme for minimum needs and extended programmes of social welfare.
Outlay: A total outlay of Rs. 53,410 crore was proposed for the Fifth Plan.
SIXTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1980-85)
The draft of the Sixth Five Year Plan (1978-1983) was presented in 1978. However, the plan was terminated with the change of Government in January 1980. The new Sixth Five Year Plan was implemented in April 1980.
 
Objectives:
i) To eliminate unemployment and underemployment.
ii) To raise the standard of living of the poorest of masses.
iii) To reduce disparities in income and wealth.
Outlay: The proposed outlay for the Sixth Plan totalled Rs.1, 58, 710 crores.
SEVENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1985-90)
The draft of the Seventh Plan was approved on November 9, 1985, by the National Development Council. The plan was part of the long-term plan for the period of 15 years.
 
Objectives:
i) Decentralisation of planning and full public participation in development.
ii) The maximum possible generation of productive employment.
iii) Removal of poverty and reduction in income disparities.
EIGHTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1992-97)
The Eighth Plan proposed a growth rate of 5.6 per cent per annum on an average during the plan period. The Eighth Plan focused on (i) clear prioritisation of sectors/projects for investment in order to facilitate implementation of the policy initiatives taken in the areas of fiscal, trade and industrial sectors and human development.
 
Objectives:
i) Generation of adequate employment achieves near full employment level by the turn of the century.
ii) Containment of population growth through people’s active co-operation and an effective scheme of incentives and disincentives.
iii) Universalisation of elementary education and complete eradication of illiteracy among the people in the age group of 15 to 35 years.
THE NINTH FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1997-2002)
It began on April 1, 1997. The Ninth Plan was the first concrete attempt to translate the programme of economic reforms and the New Economic Policy within the framework of an indicative Plan. The Approach Paper to the Ninth Plan (1997-2002) was approved by the N.D.C. on 16th January 1997.
Objectives:
i.) Priority to agriculture and rural development
ii.) Accelerating growth rate of economy
iii.) Food and nutritional security for all
iv.) Containing growth rate of population
v.) Empowerment of women and socially disadvantaged groups such as SC/ST, backward classes, and minorities.
vi.) Promoting and developing participatory institutions like “Panchayati Raj” institutions, co-operatives and self-help groups.
TENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (2002-07)
On December 21, 2002, the Tenth Five Year Plan was approved by the National Development Council (NDC). The Plan has further developed the NDC mandated objectives, of doubling per capita income in 10 years, and achieving a growth rate of 8% of GDP per annum. An 8% growth rate is considered necessary for achieving the social and economic targets of Tenth Plan Keeping in mind decadal growth performance and the steady acceleration that the country has recorded in growth over the past two decades, it is a realisable target. The plan has a number of new features, such as, for the first time
(a) It recognises the rapid growth of labour force over the next decade
(b) Addresses the issue of poverty and the unacceptably low levels of social indicators
(c) Adopted a “differential development strategy” to equate national targets into balanced regional development as there is vast difference in the potentials and constraints of each state
(d) Recognises that the governance is perhaps one of the most important factors for ensuring realisation of the Plan
(e) Identifies measures to improve efficiency, unleash entrepreneurial energy, and promote rapid and sustainable growth
(f) Proposes major reforms for agricultural sector making ‘agriculture’ the core element of the Plan.
Since economic growth is not the only objective, the Plan aims at harnessing the benefits of growth to improve the quality of life of the people by setting the following key targets:
1. All children to be in school by 2003 and all children to complete five years of schooling by 2007
2. Reduction in poverty ratio from 26% to 21%
3. Growth in gainful employment to, at least, keeps pace with addition to the labour force
4. Decadal population growth to reduce from 21.3% in 1991-2001 to 16.2% by 2001-11
5. Reducing gender gaps in literacy and wage rates by 50%
6. Literacy rate to increase from 65% in 1999-2000 to 75% in 2001
7. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to be reduced from 72 in 1999-2000 to 45 in 2007
8. .Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) to be reduced from 4 per 1000 in 1999-2000 to 2 per 1000 in 2007
9. Providing portable drinking water in all villages
10. Cleaning of major polluted river stretches
11. Increase in forest/tree cover from 19% in 1999-2000 to 25% in 2007
ELEVENTH PLAN (2007-2012)
The United Progressive Alliance government issued a paper in the eleventh plan titled “Towards faster and more inclusive growth.” According to the approach paper, the monitorable targets of five-year plan are:
1. GDP growth rate to be increased to 10% by the end of the plan;
2. Farm sector growth to be increased to 4%;
3. Creation of seven crore job opportunities;
4. Reduce educated unemployed youth to below 5 percent
5. Infant mortality rates to be reduced to 28 per 1000 births;
6. Maternal death rates to be reduced to 1 per 1000 births;
7. Clean drinking water to all by 2009;
8. Improve sex ratio to 935 by 2011-12 and to 950 by 2016-17;
9. Ensure electricity connection to all villages and broadband over power lines (BPL) households by 2009
10. Roads to all villages that have a population of 1000 and above by 2009;
11. Increase forest and tree cover by 5%;
12. Achieve the World Health Organization standard air quality in major cities by 2011-12;
13. Treat all urban waste water by 2011-12 to clean river waters;
14. Increase energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2016-17
Also, Read:

Poverty Types and Indicators

0
Poverty types and indicators
Poverty types can be of different like absolute poverty and relative poverty. There may be many other classifications like urban poverty, rural poverty, primary poverty, secondary poverty and many more. Whatever be the poverty types, the basic reason has always been the lack of adequate income. Here comes the role of unemployment behind poverty.
Lack of employment opportunities and the consequential income disparity bring about mass poverty types in most of the developing and underdeveloped economies of the world.

Absolute Poverty

Poverty types is usually measured as either absolute or relative poverty (the latter being actually an index of income inequality). Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries.
The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US $1.25 (PPP) per day, and moderate poverty as less than $ 2 a day (but note that a person or family with access to subsistence resources, e.g. subsistence farmers, may have low cash income without a correspondingly low standard of living – they are not living on their cash income but using it as a top up). It estimates that in 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption level below 1$ a day and 2.7$ billion lived on less than $2 a day.

Relative Poverty

Relative poverty views poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context, hence relative poverty is a measure of income inequality. Usually, relative poverty is measured as the percentage of the population with income less than some fixed proportion of median income. There are several other income inequality metrics, for example for Gini coefficient or the Theil Index.
Relative poverty measures are used as official poverty rates in several developed countries. As such these poverty statistics  measure inequality rather than material deprivation or hardship. The measurements are usually based on a person’s yearly income and frequently take no account of total wealth. The main poverty line used in the OECD and the European Union is based on ‘economic distance’ a level of income is set at 60% of trhe median household income.
Must Read:  Niti Aayog Task Force on Eliminating Poverty

Multidimensional Poverty Index

The multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was developed in 2010 by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and the United Nations Development Program. The MPI is an index of acute multidimensional poverty. It reflects deprivations in very rudimentary services and core human functioning for people across 104 countries. Although deeply constrained by data limitations, MPI reveals a different pattern of poverty than income poverty, as it illuminates a different set of deprivations.
The MPI has three dimensions – health, education, and standard of living. These are measured using ten indicators. Each dimension and each indicator within a dimension are equally weighted.
 
These 10 indicators are used to calculate the MPI:
Education (each indicator is weighted equally at 1/6)
  • Years of Schooling – Deprived if no household member has completed five years of schooling.
  • Child Enrollment – Deprived if any school-aged child is not attending school in years 1 to 8.

Don’t Miss: Poverty Alleviation Programs in India

Health (each indicator is weighted equally at 1/6)
  • Child Mortality – Deprived if any child has died in the family
  • Nutrition – Deprived if any adult or child for whom there is nutritional information is malnourished.

 

Standard of Living (each indicator is weighted equally at 1/18)
  • Electricity – Deprived if the household has no electricity.
  • Sanitation – Deprived if they do not have an improved toilet or if their toiled is shared (MDG Definition).
  • Drinking Water – Deprived if the household does not have access to clean drinking water or clean water is more than 30 minutes walk from home (MDG Definition).
  • Floor – Deprived if the household has dirt, sand or dung floor.
  • Cooking Fuel – Deprived if they cook with wood, charcoal or dung.
  • Assets – Deprived if the household does not own more than one of radio, TV, telephone, bike or motorbike.

 

A person is considered poor if they are deprived in at least 30% of the weighted indicators. The intensity of poverty denoted the proportion of indicators in which they are deprived.
Also, Read:
India Lags Behind Neighbours In Poverty Reduction

Journal and Ledger Account

0

Example of Journal and Ledger Account Preparation:

Learning Objectives:
  1. How are Journal and Ledger accounts are prepared?
  2. How Ladger Accounts Prepared
Journalise the following transactions and post them to the journal and ledger accounts concerned:
1991
Jan. 1 Purchased goods for cash 2,000
Jan. 3 Sold goods to Karim 500
Jan. 10 Received from Karim 500
Jan. 15  Purchased machinery for cash 1,000
Jan. 20  Cash sales 300
Jan. 25  Sold goods to Rahim & Sons 600
Jan. 28  Received from Rahim & Sons 590
Discount allowed 10
Jan. 30 Paid Rent 50
Jan. 31 Paid Salaries 100

Solution:

Date Particulars L.F. Debit Credit
Jan. 1 Purchases Account 12 2,000
   To Cash Account 13 2,000
(Goods purchased for cash)
Jan. 3 Karim 14 500
   To Sales Account 15 500
(Goods sold on credit)
Jan. 10 Cash Account 13 500
   To Karim Account 14 500
(Cash received)
Jan. 15 Machinery Account 16 1,000
   To Cash Account 13 1,000
(Machinery purchased)
Jan. 20 Cash Account 13 300
   To Sales Account 15 300
(Goods sold for cash)
Jan. 25 Rahim & Sons 17 600
   To Sales Account 15 600
(Goods sold on credit)
Jan. 28 Cash Account 13 590
Discount Allowed 18 10
   To Rahim & Sons 17 600
(Cash received, discount allowed)
Jan. 30 Rent Account 19 50
   To Cash Account 13 50
(Rent paid)
Jan. 31 Salaries Account 20 100
   To Cash Account 13 100
(salaries paid)
Total 5,650 5,650

LEDGER ACCOUNT

Purchases Account

Date Particulars J.F. Amount Date Particulars J.F. Amount
1991.
Jan.1
To Cash a/c 30 2,000

Cash Account

Date Particulars J.F. Amount Date Particulars J.F. Amount
1991.
Jan.10
Jan.20
Jan.28
To Karim
To Sales a/c
To Rahim & Sons
30
30
30
500
300
590
1991.
Jan.1
By Purchases a/c
By Machinery a/c
By Rent a/c
By Salaries a/c
30
30
30
30
2,000
1,000
50
100

Karim Account

Date Particulars J.F. Amount Date Particulars J.F. Amount
1991.
Jan.1
To Sales a/c
30
500
1991.
Jan.10
By Cash a/c
30
500

Sales Account

Date Particulars J.F. Amount Date Particulars J.F. Amount
1991.
Jan.3
By Karim
By Cash a/c
By Rahim & Sons
30
30
30
500
300
600

Machinery Account

Date Particulars J.F. Amount Date Particulars J.F. Amount
1991.
Jan.15
To Cash Account 30
1,000

Rahim & Sons Account

Date Particulars J.F. Amount Date Particulars J.F. Amount
1991.
Jan.25
To Sales a/c
30
600
1991.
Jan.28
By Cash a/c
By Discount a/c
590
10

Discount Account

Date Particulars J.F. Amount Date Particulars J.F. Amount
1991.
Jan.28
To Rahim & Sons
30
10

Rent Account

Date Particulars J.F. Amount Date Particulars J.F. Amount
1991.
Jan.30
To Cash a/c
30
50

Salaries Account

Date Particulars J.F. Amount Date Particulars J.F. Amount
1991.
Jan.31
To Cash a/c
30
2,000

Evolution of Postal Services

2
Postal Services

Rapid evolution in postal services has made it possible to send messages more quickly and easily today. Let’s have a look at its journey from past to present in context Indian Post.

Postal services in the past

In this modern age, that is today, the postman delivers letters to every home. However, in the past, the privilege of sending the message to anyone (post) was enjoyed only by kings and emperors. They used runners, trained particularly for the purpose of delivering post, to carry messages to other rules and their commanders during times of war. Generally, a king or an emperor would have a message inscribed on a clay tile and send a runner to take it to another king or emperor.

However, there are ample historical evidence that suggests that the ancient Egyptians had developed a kind of postal system and so had the ancient Chinese. The early postal systems relied upon post houses which served the carriers of the message. It was Romans who, in the ancient world, created most highly developed and dependable system that could  deliver messages cover 270 kilometers in 24 hours.

Read Also: From e-Post to eIPO (Indian Postal Order)

Pigeons as carriers of messages

Today, when we wish to send our friend a message, we just send a letter. However, it is very interesting, even to imagine, that about 3000 years ago the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon used to exchange messages by using carrier pigeons. Those pigeons were specially trained particularly in finding their way back home when they were released. The Persians and the Egyptians first used carrier pigeons some 3000 years ago.

These carrier pigeons fulfilled many purposes during the war, flying through the sky with airplanes, being fitted with cameras to take the pictures of enemy positions. However, the most important role of pigeons were to serve as messengers.

The most famous of all the carrier pigeons probably was one named Cher Ami (two French words meaning ‘Dear Friend’) who flew 12 important missions to deliver messages. It is speculated that perhaps the most important message Cher Ami carried was the one that saved the lives of over 200 American soldiers, even though he was badly wounded by enemy fire.

The Post riders

Many a times we often give a letter to someone who is going abroad so that he can pass it on to our relative or friend who lives there. This is the same method that was used in earlier times when there were no postal services. This method of using travelers in delivering messages to other places grew, with the time, into a system called Postriders.

So after going through the evidence, we can say that post riders were a horse and rider postal delivery system that existed at various times in many places throughout the course of history. Postriders collected and delivered mail in the course of their route, meeting at scheduled places and scheduled times. At these scheduled places, letters and parcels were exchanged and forwarded to the next destination by the riders. In this way, messages could be passed to a considerable distance.

Read Also: The Universal Postal Union (UPU)

The Pony Express

It was a fast mail service that used to cross the North American continent from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast. Messages were carried on horse back to be rallied across the plains, deserts and mountains of the Western United States. Compared to its earlier postal services or delivery services the Pony Express was very fast.

However, when telegraph wires, in 1861, linked New York to San Francisco, the Pony Expressed went out of business. But the tales of their courage and determination in delivering messages through rain and snow, sleet and ice, over the toughest mountain trails and roughest desert have become legendary.

Mechanization of Postal Services

It was between World War I and II many postal systems introduced in their postal services the conveyor belts to move mail between handling points. One of the most highly mechanized in the context of postal services was the lette- sorting office at Mount Pleasant in London.

Slowly and systematically, machines were introduced in preparing mail, and sorting small letters from the bigger ones. The machines to stamp the date on letters and put them into sacks were also came into existence.

In the modern, mechanized sorting system, that postal services enjoy, the workers (rather operators) sit at a key board while letters are mechanically passed before them. An estimated 50 to 60 letters per minute are processed by the operator. The letters are separated, based on the code entered by the operator into the machine, into different bins, and then removed, bundled and dispatched by the postal workers.

Problems of early postal services systems

As postal services grew, and the mail they handled increased volume-wise, many problems emerged. At the very beginning, the cost of transport was high, and it was near impossible to calculate the exact cost of sending letters to other countries.

Delivery was often quite slow and, therefore, resulted in people getting the services of other means to send their messages. Due to this, many illegal postal services sprung up, causing heavy losses to official postal services.

Slowly but steadily, these problems were controlled and overcome. Uncertainties in the context of the problem who would pay the cost and regularize charges in availing postal services were done away with the introduction of the postage stamp by Henry Bishop. Another achievement for the system of postal services was that now unnecessary delays could be checked because the day and month were also printed on the stamps.

Today we have speed post (whet to say of ‘airmail’) that guarantees delivery in 24 hours to most places. We have journey a long way indeed from the days when it sometimes took weeks or even months for an urgent letter to reach the destination.

Must Read:

Pin code System In India

Rural and Urban Unemployment in India

Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) – 2011

1
Socio Economic Caste Census

The Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011, a study of socio-economic status of rural and urban households that permits ranking based on predefined parameters, was initiated in June 2011 by the Ministry of Rural Development of Government of India. In Socio Economic Caste Census, 2011, for the first time a comprehensive exercise of door to door enumeration across the country has been carried out for both rural and urban India. This census, Socio Economic Caste Census -2011, is also expected to generate information on a large number of social and economic indicators linked to households across the country.

Socio Economic Caste Census -2011, has three constituents that were conducted by three separate authorities but under the overall coordination Department of Rural Development. The Department of Rural Development (DoRD) has conducted Census in Rural Areas. Census in Urban Areas falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA). Administration of the Caste Census is controlled by Ministry of Home Affairs: Registrar General of India (RGI) and Census Commissioner of India.

Socio Economic Caste Census  2011 is a unique paperless Census in which the counting of the data was done by using over 6.4 lakh electronic handheld instruments. Apart from School Teachers and Data Entry Operators as enumerators, Gram Panchayats and Gram Sabhas were involved in this process.

Read Must: CAG Tables Report On Implementation Of MGNREGA

Objectives of SECC-2011

The objectives of the Socio Economic Caste Census  2011 are to empower households to be ranked based on their socio-economic status- by using this data State Governments can prepare a list of families that are living below the poverty line; to cater authentic information that would enable caste wise population counting of the country; and to provide authentic information about the socio-economic condition, and education status of numerous caste and sections of the population.

The MoRD has decided to use the Socio Economic Caste Census data in all of its programmes as these data would have appropriate use in projects such as Housing for All, Education and Skill Trust, MGNREGA, National Ford Security Act, interventions for differently able, etc.

Outcomes of the Socio-Economic Data for Rural India

On July 3, 2015, the provisional socio-economic data for Rural India was released, after the survey had been completed in all the640 districts. It was released because its use in evidence based planning for rural development and poverty decimation needed to be undertaken immediately.

Survey done in rural areas has reflected some disturbing outcomes that manifest the current status of India’s rural section. It indicates that most of the rural population is engaged in unorganized sectors’ jobs. The survey discloses that 49% of the rural population have signs of poverty; around 2,37 crore houses have either Kuchha Wall or roof or one room or less; Less that five percent of rural households pay income tax. Even in rich states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra this number hangs around the five per cent mark; just twenty percent of the rural households  possess a vehicle and only eleven percent have refrigerator, however it is encouraging to know that about 72 per cent possess a phone of some sort; and about 30% of rural households do not have any land and they get a major part of their income from manual labour.

According to SECC-2011, 23.5% of rural households does not have a literate adult above the age of 25. Of the illiterate rural population, about 20% have not even completed their primary education.

In urban areas a large percentage of population suffer the lack of basis amenities of water and electricity. According to Socio Economic Caste Census  about 20 Lakh households have no electricity supply and50 Lakh households do not have the access of drinking water within their premises.

It is disappointing that the socio-economic indicators of various caste groups have not been released.

Read Also: The Parliament : Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

The Criteria Exclusion in Socio Economic Caste Census

SECC has catered for automatic exclusion on the basis of 14 grounds; automatic exclusion on the basis of 5 grounds and grading of deprivation on the basis of seven criteria. The phrase exclusion in socio-economic census indicates those persons who are not going to be considered entitled for major anti-poverty efforts.

Drawback of the Exclusion Criteria

It has been found that if the proposed exclusion criteria is applied, a little under 40% of the rural households would become ineligible for entitlements provided by the Union Government.

Sensing and accepting that a large number of poor people are left, the expert committee on the use of SECC data for rural development recommended to relax the exclusion criteria so that a household would be excluded either if it had any one of the five specified indicators or if it possessed any two of their remaining exclusion indicators.

Read Also: Governor : The State Executive Head