The Five Year Plans and the Role of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in the Development of the Country

Abstract

The Planning Commission was established by the Government of India in 1949, to function as the major instrument of planning and control in the management of the developmental activities of the country. One of the policy instruments employed is the successive Five Year Plans, to fulfill national socio-economic objectives. It is obvious that in the achievement of these objectives, Science and Technology (S&T), and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), play an important role. S&T will in particular encompass major strategies towards agricultural and industrial development within the framework of the overall objectives of the new industrial and trade policies. The Government policy framework will continue to encourage entrepreneurship, development of indigenous technology through investment in Research and Development (R&D) and, bringing in new technology wherever needed. CSIR as the foremost industrial research agency of and for the Government of India has the objective of developing indigenous technologies over a wide spectrum of industrial activity.