Seventh Five Year Plan India (1985-1989)

The Seventh Five Year Plan India was for the duration between 1985 and 1989 under the approval of the National Development Council in India.

The main objectives of the 7th five year plans were to establish growth in the areas of increasing economic productivity, production of food grains, and generating employment opportunities.

As an outcome of the sixth five year plan, there had been steady growth in agriculture, control on rate of Inflation, and favorable balance of payments which had provided a strong base for the seventh five Year plan to build on the need for further economic growth. The 7th Plan had strived towards socialism and energy production at large. The thrust areas of the 7th Five year plan have been enlisted below:
• Social Justice
• Removal of oppression of the week
• Using modern technology
• Agricultural development
• Anti-poverty programs
• Full supply of food, clothing, and shelter
• Increasing productivity of small and large scale farmers
• Making India an Independent Economy
Based on a 15-year period of striving towards steady growth, the 7th Plan was focused on achieving the pre-requisites of self-sustaining growth by the year 2000. The Plan expected a growth in labor force of 39 million people and employment was expected to grow at the rate of 4 percent per year.
Anti-poverty program:
Special emphasis was given to the most vulnerable classes of people in the society viz., women, children, schedule tribes, and schedule castes. The poverty ratio was expected to decline to 26 percent in 1989-90.
Agriculture:
The government undertook to increase productivity of oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, pulses, cereals, fish, egg, meat, and milk.
Welfare:
Improved facilities for education to girls, family welfare, healthcare, reduction in infant mortality were undertaken by the government as part of the 7th five year plan.
Communications:
Emergence of informatics, telematics, and hooking up of telecommunications with computers were important features of the 7th five year plan in terms of development in Communications.
Transport:
More stress was laid on increasing supplementary modes of transport such as inland waterways, product pipelines, civil aviation, coastal shipping. The 7th Plan expected an increase in accessibility to about 60 percent of the villages in India.

Some of the expected outcomes of the Seventh Five Year Plan India are given below:
• Balance of Payments (estimates): Export - Rs. 33 thousand crore, Imports - (-)Rs.54 thousand crore, Trade Balance - (-)Rs.21 thousand crore
• Merchandise exports (estimates): Rs. 60,653 crore
• Merchandise imports (estimates): Rs. 95,437 crore
• Projections for Balance of Payments: Export - Rs.60.7 thousand crore, Imports - (-) 95.4 thousand crore, Trade Balance- (-) Rs.34.7 thousand crore
Seventh Five Year Plan India strove to bring about a self-sustained economy in the country with valuable contributions from voluntary agencies and the general populace.