Chapter MCQ Test 2 — Indian Economy (1950–1990)
10 Questions • 12 min • Chapter MCQ
12:00
Question 1 of 10
The Second Plan's focus on heavy industry reflected the belief that building basic industries (steel, machines) would:
Lay the foundation for long-term, self-reliant growth
Reduce food output
End all planning
Increase imports forever
Explanation: Heavy industry was seen as the base that would enable the economy to make its own capital goods and grow.
Question 2 of 10
The Green Revolution is praised for food self-sufficiency but criticised because its gains were:
Concentrated in a few regions and among larger farmers
Shared equally everywhere
Zero
Only for industry
Explanation: Punjab, Haryana and western UP and bigger farmers benefited most, widening some regional and class inequalities.
Question 3 of 10
Why did the government build a buffer stock of food grains after the Green Revolution?
For food security and to stabilise prices
To export all the grain
To raise the death rate
To stop farming
Explanation: Surplus grain was stored to ensure supply in bad years and to steady food prices through the PDS.
Question 4 of 10
Import substitution made many Indian industries inefficient mainly because protection removed the pressure of:
Foreign competition
Taxes
Planning
Land reforms
Explanation: Shielded from rivals, firms had little incentive to cut costs or improve quality.
Question 5 of 10
Land-ceiling laws often failed in practice because they were:
Poorly implemented, with many loopholes
Never passed
Too strict to write
Opposed by the landless
Explanation: Weak enforcement and loopholes (e.g. transfers to relatives) limited the redistribution of surplus land.
Question 6 of 10
The public sector was given the lead in heavy industry partly because private firms:
Lacked the huge capital needed for basic industries
Were banned
Refused to make profit
Already owned all industry
Explanation: Massive, long-gestation projects like steel needed state capital that private investors could not raise.
Question 7 of 10
The slow growth of this era (about 3.5% a year) is sometimes nicknamed the:
Hindu rate of growth
Green Revolution
Demographic dividend
Drain of wealth
Explanation: The persistently modest ~3.5% growth came to be called the 'Hindu rate of growth'.
Question 8 of 10
Abolition of intermediaries succeeded more than other land reforms because it:
Directly removed the exploitative zamindar layer
Needed no law
Helped only zamindars
Was about industry
Explanation: Removing intermediaries gave many cultivators direct ownership, a clear and largely achievable goal.
Question 9 of 10
The combination of public-sector leadership, import substitution and licensing is described as an ____ growth strategy.
Inward-looking
Export-led
Free-market
Colonial
Explanation: Focusing on the home market behind protection, rather than world trade, made it an inward-looking strategy.
Question 10 of 10
By 1990, the problems of inefficiency, red tape and slow growth, plus a crisis, set the stage for the:
Economic reforms of 1991
First Five-Year Plan
Green Revolution
End of planning entirely
Explanation: These accumulated weaknesses, with a 1991 balance-of-payments crisis, triggered the LPG reforms of 1991.