In the history of Indian economic planning, in which year was the First Five Year Plan formally launched in India?

Introduction / Context:

Five Year Plans form an important part of India's post independence economic history. They represent planned efforts by the government to guide development, allocate resources, and prioritise sectors such as agriculture, industry, and infrastructure. The First Five Year Plan is especially significant because it set the basic pattern for planned economic development in India. This question asks you to recall the year in which this First Five Year Plan was launched, which is a standard fact for many competitive examinations in Indian Polity and Economy.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The question refers to the First Five Year Plan of independent India.
• It asks for the year of launch of that plan.
• Options contain years from 1921 to 1951.
• We assume basic knowledge that Five Year Plans began after independence, not during the early colonial decades.

Concept / Approach:

The concept tested is simple factual recall about economic planning in India. The First Five Year Plan covered the period from 1951 to 1956 and focused mainly on agriculture, irrigation, and energy. It was launched after the Constitution came into force in 1950 and after necessary institutional structures, including the Planning Commission, had been created. Because of this, the correct year of launch is 1951, not the earlier decades given as distractors in the options.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:

Another way to verify is to recall that India became independent in 1947 and adopted its Constitution in 1950. It would have been impractical to start a formal Five Year Plan as early as 1921, 1931, or 1941, because these were colonial years when the British government did not follow the Soviet style planning model for India. The establishment of the Planning Commission in 1950 and the socio economic context of the early 1950s both support the fact that 1951 marks the beginning of the First Five Year Plan.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

Option A, 1921, lies in the middle of the colonial era, long before independence and before the idea of Five Year Plans was applied to India. Option B, 1931, is again a colonial period and does not correspond to any official Five Year Plan. Option C, 1941, is during the Second World War, when India was still under British rule and the government was preoccupied with war related issues. None of these years match the well established starting point of the First Five Year Plan, which is 1951.

Common Pitfalls:

Students sometimes confuse the recommendations of pre independence planning thinkers and committees with the formal Five Year Plans. Committees like the National Planning Committee and plans proposed by various leaders existed before independence, but these were not official Five Year Plans of the Government of India. Another confusion arises between the year the plan document was prepared and the year it was implemented. For exam purposes, remember that the First Five Year Plan is considered to have started in 1951.

Final Answer:

The First Five Year Plan in India was formally launched in the year 1951.