Economic Planning and Indian Democracy

This thesis was written to determine whether India can make use of economic planning for development without sacrificing the benefits of democratic government.This thesis examines the economic system in India from its First Five-Year plan and India’s Second Five-Year plan.In the second chapter the author examines the quality of Indian administration in order to understand the implications of economic planning in India.The third chapter focuses on the role of political institutions in India’s economy and whether or not those institutions are set up in a way that will assist in the preservation of India’s democratic government.Chapter four focuses on interest groups and the politics that surround them in India with a focus on how they affect both economic planning and democratic government.Chapter five focuses on specific political parties within India and how they play an important role in the outcome of both planning and democracy in India. The author concludes based on these examinations that there is sufficient evidence that Indian leaders are making and will continue to make appreciable progress without undue damage to human dignity. Advisor: Alexander T. Edelmann and Arthur B. Winte