First Five Year Plan (1951-1956)
"The principal social welfare problems relate to women, children, youth, the family, under-privileged groups and social vice. The social health of any community will depend a great deal upon the status, functions and responsibilities of the woman in the family and in the community. Social conditions should give to the woman opportunities for creative self-expression, so that she can make her full contribution towards the economic and social life of the community. Problems relating to health, maternity and child welfare, education, employment, and conditions of work are dealt with elsewhere in this report. Some problems of women have to be dealt through social legislation, but other problems pertaining to health, social education, vocational training, increased participation in social and cultural life, provision of shelter, and assistance to the handicapped or maladjusted call for programmes at the community level. As women have to fulfill heavy domestic and economic responsibilities, adequate attention has to be paid to the need for relaxation and recreation both in the homes as well as in the community. The welfare agencies have catered to some extent to the needs of the widow and the destitute woman, but the quality of the service rendered by them and the nature of their work needs to be surveyed...." (Chapter 36: Social Welfare)
Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961)
"A comprehensive social welfare programme would include, for instance, social legislation, welfare of women and children, family welfare, youth welfare, physical and mental fitness, crime and correctional administration and welfare of the physically and mentally handicapped. It would also include in the special circumstances and background of India, a programme for fulfilling the objective of Prohibition. In this chapter development in the field of social welfare services, including Prohibition, which have taken place during the period of the first five year plan and those projected for the second plan are briefly outlined..." (Chapter 29: Social Welfare Services)
Third Five Year Plan (1961-1966)
"In drawing large numbers of voluntary workers, especially women, into the field of creative social service, the community is itself enriched and strengthened. Inevitably, extension in a field of activity as varied and dispersed as social welfare brings its own problems, and these call for systematic review from time to time of what has been achieved and of the measures needed to improve the quality of welfare services…Considerable emphasis is being placed in the Third Plan on child welfare programmes…In the programme for social defence, priority is given to schemes for the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency, social and moral hygiene and suppression of immoral traffic in women and girls. It is proposed to begin a systematic attack on the problem of beggary. In developing probation and aftercare services, it should be ensured that women and children are specially assisted. To deal with the problem of commercialized prostitution, the Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act was passed in 1956. In pursuance of this Act, the necessary institutions for the custody, training and rehabilitation of the women and girls affected are being established. In the course of the Second Plan, 10 protective homes, 16 rescue homes and 70 reception centres have been established. Additional centres will be set up in the Third Plan. Apart from setting up these centres, it is important to consider how the present programme for social defence could be worked even more effectively and the lines along which the community and the family could participate more fully in the work of rehabilitating women and girls..." (Chapter 35: Welfare Programs: Social Welfare)
Fourth Five Year Plan (1969-1974)
"Absence of statistics and lack of information about the performance of different schemes comes in the way of planning and implementation of welfare programmes. It would be necessary for the Departments of Social Welfare at the Centre and in the States to consider in detail how this weakness can be remedied. Research and survey of major social problems should be sponsored by organisations like the Social Science Research Council and the social welfare programmes evaluated through the existing machinery in the Centre and the States. The machinery for collection of satisfies and for research needs to be improved and statistical cells established in the Central and State departments of Social Welfare and the Central and State Social Welfare Advisory Boards. It would be desirable to organize training and orientation courses for officers at various levels in collaboration with the existing school of social work and draw them more closely into the programmes of development. A comprehensive review of existing social legislation is necessary to assess to what extent the laws have functioned as instruments of directed social change and to identify the problems of their implementation. A detailed analysis of the level of development of welfare services, whether by Government or by voluntary organisations, should be prepared in each State at regular intervals and the gaps identified. The supervision of programmes at the field level should be effective in order to raise the standards of service..." (Chapter 20: Social Welfare Schemes)
Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-1979)
"The National Population Policy lays down a target for birth rate of 25 per thousand and a population growth rate of 1.4 per cent by the end of the Sixth Plan period. The policy envisages a series of fundamental measures including raising of the minimum age for marriage, female education, spread of population values and the small family norm, strengthening of research in reproductive biology and contraception, incentives for individuals, groups and communities and permitting State Legislatures to enact legislation for compulsory sterilization. The targets laid down in the National Population Policy correspond to those laid down in the Draft Fifth Plan for achievement by the end of the Sixth Plan and are expected to be reached. For the period 1986-91, the population growth rate is estimated at 1.1 percent. The population is estimated at 725.4 million by 1988-89 and at 744.8 million by 1991. The rural population is estimated at 545.1 million by 1988-89 and the urban population at 180.3 million…Care has been taken to ensure that important programmes like Integrated Child Care Services, Working Girls Hostels, Scholarships for Handicapped Persons in the Central Sector and women and child welfare Programmes and Programmes of Social Defence in the State sector are provided adequate funds..." (Chapter 2: The Perspective)
