dated October 17, 1951: India's First Five-Year Plan

Prime Minister Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, initiating on the 15th a debate in Parliament on a draft of the First Five-Year Plan of national development, indicated it would be finalised in three to four months. The Plan, he said, did not depend on foreign help, but if such help came, the Plan's scope would be enlarged and the country enabled to go further. The Planning Commission was also considering means to deal with the evil of black-marketing.

Mr. Nehru said the Plan had been shaped in consultation with representatives of various groups, political and other. ``We have not looked upon this as a Plan confined to any particular group or party. We have thought of it as a national effort - representing a very large consensus of opinion in the country. Some groups might think that the Plan does not go far enough. But that need not come in the way of all of us working together in implementing the Plan. Ultimately the success of the Plan will lie on how public enthusiasm, work, and cooperation are harnessed to achieve our objectives,'' the Prime Minister observed.

AICC on India's Foreign Policy

Meeting in New Delhi on the 16th, the Congress Working Committee adopted four official resolutions for consideration and ratification by the AICC and by the plenary session. The resolution relating to Foreign Policy approved of the Government of India's approach in seeking friendly relations with all countries by avoiding military or other entanglement with alliances which divided the world into rival groups endangering world peace. The resolution also hoped that the great nations of the world, bearing heavy responsibility, would take steps to ease global tension and peacefully solve the problems. Regretting that tension continued to constrain relations between India and Pakistan injuring the interests of both, the AICC affirmed India's desire for peaceful settlement of all bi-lateral problems. As regards Kashmir, the AICC welcomed the proposal to set up a Constituent Assembly in that State, and hoped Kashmir and its people would make greater progress thereby.

The AICC discussed the election prospects of the Congress party in the afternoon, when representatives of various States reported on work done in various areas, and gave estimates of the scope for success the Congress could count upon in the respective regions.

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