Eight plan was introduced at a time, when the country was going through a severe economic crisis caused by a balance of payment crisis, an increasing debt burden and budget deficits, rising inflation and recession in industry.
Objectives:
Controlling population growth.
Reduction in poverty.
Employment generation to achieve near full employment level by the turn of the century.
Universalization of elementary education and complete removal of illiteracy among the people in the age group of 15-35 years.
Provision of safe drinking water and primary health care facilities including immunization to the entire population.
Growth and diversification of agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency in food and also to generate surplus for export.
Strengthening the infrastructure (transport, irrigation, communication) and institutional building in order to support growth process on a sustainable basis.
Achievements
Modernization of industries.
Gradual opening of the Indian economy to correct the budget definite and foreign debt.
The economic performance of this plan was encouraging and the country achieved rapid economic growth.
During this period only, India became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on January, 1995.
An average annual growth rate of 6.7% was achieved against the target of 5.6%.
Participants