8 Five-Year Plan Outline
Prime Minister's Office, New Delhi.
After a week of intense preparation indrajeet with the bureaucrats and from inputs from the experts in the Indian Academy of Sciences created a thick 100 page outline of the five year plan.
Most of the project reported in this plan were the same plans that were implemented in the previous three five year plans carried out under prime minister Nehru.
In this plan they were just included just to resolve the issues encountered and carry forward.
The most significant plan that was introduced in this new five year plan was the Inter-River Linkage. Connecting the major northern river basins with those from the south so that even in the dry season southern rivers can provide water for drinking and irrigation.
It will be not like now, when there is draught, tens of miles directly becomes a dead land without people. The canals that will be build for linking the river can also be used for internal navigation and fishery.
The project will be divided into 67 different parts according to their regions and the major rivers.
Once Completed this will bring 140 million hectors of land under irrigation, nation will move forward in terms of food security.
Ground water level will be restored will will also help in the water security.
Another significant proposal to build basic infrastructure for movement of goods and capital. If you want to get rich build the road first.
Surplus labor can be used to build roads rather then letting them loitering in the villages when there is no work to do, it is better that government higher them to build the country's infrastructure.
The pay will be less but in this day and age where you are struggling for your next meal if the government can take care of two meals then there will be millions of people who will come running to grab these jobs.
The plan is to establish a 6-lane national highway network connecting major cities in the country , after connecting these cities it is recommended to connect all the district in each state with a 4-lane highway and then the talukas and the villages.
In this infrastructure plan it is recommended that the state would established state owned construction companies model after the Defense Sector so that while doing labor intensive jobs the state can also give support in the research and development and it will also generate huge revenue that can be contributed to national economy.
It was also recommended that the government should encourage the establishment of co-operatives in the light industries like clothing, masala, dairy's, meat, oil, etc. Which will not only help the farmers earn what the deserve but also stop the exploitation carried out by the monopoly forces on vulnerable groups in the society.
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Indrajeet was sitting opposite the prime minister drinking tea, it was his fourth cup, since he handed over the five year plan to the prime minister.
Shashtri ji was going through the outline, pausing from time to time to think about the issues proposed in the five year plan, and they continued to read.
This was going on for the last two hours.
Indrajeet even wanted to get up and move outside the office for some fresh air, but just when he moved, the chair started making sound and the prime minister looked at him.
The look in his eyes was clearly saying, 'where do you think you are going, 59 year old man like me is working hard for this country at this age and you young people can't even sit in a chair for 2 hours.'
Indrajeet gave an embarrassed smile and sat back in the chair.
When indrajeet emptied thirteen tea cup, the prime minister finally completed reading the five year plan outline.
Prime Minister Shastri removed the glasses he was wearing for reading and started messaging his eyes, he put down the glass on the book on his table.
After some time he said to indrajeet,
"Expensive. This is the first word that comes to my mind after reading your plan. Don't even mention the things that will be opposed by most people, the one where everyone will agree will also need huge amounts of resources that the government practically doesn't have.
And the River linkage plan you proposed, it alone will need the entire expenses of this government for the next 20 years."
Indrajeet just looked at the prime minister with a shallow smile on his face.
When the prime minister saw that indrajeet was just smiling without giving any reply, he knew that on this river linking project he was not going to back down.
Prime Minister Shastri sighed knowing that like father like son, if they set their sight on a goal they will not give up, but he was also relieved that indrajeet recovered,
"Convince me." finally prime minister shastri said.
"This countries population currently stand at 480 million people. 400 of which are directly or indirectly are related to the agriculture sector. That means most of these 400 millions people are wither living in a village or a town.
With geography comes the natural resource crunch where rather than sending children to school it's better to let them work on a farm.
So the more the children, more the wealth can be created by hard work or just grabbing from someone who has less power.
Before this it was not an issue as many people fell pray to war, diseases, famine, floods, plague. so the population was always under a threshold where the available land in the subcontinent can feed this many number of people.
But now that we have lost the Indus basin and the Bengal region, and our population has not decreased according to the fertile land we have lost and the advanced medical technology will prolong people's life.
In just a few decades time we will cross a billion, at that time how do you proposed we feed so many people.
When there was famine in Bengal the British still requisitioned the last food people kept to survive, the white man didn't care, but we have to care.
So if we want to make this country secure in terms of food, there are two ways, develop high-yield verities or increase the irrigated land.
Developing high-yield verities is not possible in a short time, so this is the solution the academicians proposed." replied indrajeet.
"Well, it will help if your eyes are filled with tears and slightly red when you talk about the Bengal famine in parliament." replied Prime Minister Shashtri ji.
