The Twelfth Five-Year Plan of India, the last plan formulated under the Planning Commission framework, covered which of the following time periods?

Introduction / Context:
India followed a system of Five-Year Plans for economic development for several decades, coordinated first by the Planning Commission and later by the NITI Aayog framework. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan was the final plan under the traditional Planning Commission system. This question asks you to identify the exact five-year period covered by the Twelfth Plan.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- The options are four different five-year periods: 2007–2012, 2012–2017, 2015–2020 and 2005–2010.
- The question is specific to the Twelfth (12th) Five-Year Plan, not earlier plans.
- It is assumed that the learner is familiar with the approximate timeline of Five-Year Plans in India.
- The Eleventh Plan preceded the Twelfth, and the Twelfth was the last in the traditional sequence.

Concept / Approach:
The Eleventh Five-Year Plan covered the period 2007–2012. Following that, the Twelfth Five-Year Plan began in 2012 and was scheduled to run until 2017. After this period, the traditional Five-Year Plan model was discontinued and replaced by a different planning framework. Therefore, the Twelfth Plan corresponds to the years 2012–2017. The other time spans given either belong to the Eleventh Plan or do not correspond to any classic plan period.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall that the Eleventh Five-Year Plan was for the years 2007–2012. Step 2: The Twelfth Five-Year Plan logically follows and therefore begins in 2012. Step 3: Since each plan covers a five-year period, the Twelfth Plan must extend from 2012 to 2017. Step 4: Option A, 2007–2012, matches the period of the Eleventh Plan, not the Twelfth. Step 5: Option C, 2015–2020, does not match any official Five-Year Plan period under the Planning Commission framework. Step 6: Option D, 2005–2010, also does not align with the Eleventh or Twelfth Plans and instead overlaps with earlier periods. Step 7: Therefore, the Twelfth Five-Year Plan corresponds to 2012–2017.

Verification / Alternative check:
Economic survey documents and standard economic history references for India list out the sequence of plans: Tenth Plan (2002–2007), Eleventh Plan (2007–2012) and Twelfth Plan (2012–2017). They also note that after 2017, the country moved away from the Five-Year Plan model. No authoritative source associates the Twelfth Plan with the periods 2005–2010 or 2015–2020, confirming that 2012–2017 is correct.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A, 2007–2012, is wrong because it corresponds to the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, not the Twelfth.

Option C, 2015–2020, is wrong because there was no formally designated Five-Year Plan for these years under the Planning Commission system; by this time, the planning model had changed.

Option D, 2005–2010, is wrong because it does not match the official span of any of the later plans and overlaps with periods already assigned to earlier plans.

Common Pitfalls:
A common pitfall is to lose track of the numbering of plans and their corresponding years, especially since the Eleventh and Twelfth Plans spanned years close to each other and overlapped with major global economic events. Another error is to assume that Five-Year Plans continued unbroken into the 2020s, leading to incorrect choices like 2015–2020. To avoid such mistakes, students should memorise a brief timeline of the last few plans, particularly the Eleventh and Twelfth, and note that 2012–2017 was the final traditional Five-Year Plan period.

Final Answer:
The Twelfth Five-Year Plan of India covered the period from 2012–2017.