Two Decades of Economic Reforms in India: An Evaluation with her Planning Goals

Our rethinking on economic policy had begun in the mid of 1980s. However it was edged within decontrolling and freeing some restriction in the system without making any fundamental changes in the system itself. While the reforms initiated in 1991 were very different mainly because they taken into account the need for a system change, involving liberalisation of state intervention, growing importance of private sector and the integration of the country with the global village. India also has been trying to travel in tune with the changes and reforms that have been in practice in the rest of the world. These new policy measures seek to redefine the role of the state and market so as to improve the productivity and efficiency of the system. The fundamental shift from what we have been practicing in the economic policies our country has invited serious deadlocks and debates. When the international institutions, forum and persona hailed the shift, the national scholars, although, very little in number, at first, questioned the result and the direction of the reforms. The growing loss of faith in the direction and course of the reform is evident from the speech our prime minister, the mastermind of the reform movement in India. This paper is a humble attempt to discuss the rationale of the reform, the major component and appraisal of the economic reforms in our country based on the development goals enlisted in the five year plan viz; (1) A higher rate of growth of GDP, (2) Enlargement of employment potential leading to full employment, (3) Removal of poverty,(4) Promotion of equity in distribution of income and (5) Removal of regional disparity between the rich and the poor states.