This year marks what would have been the close of the 12th five-year Plan (2012-17), had planning not been abolished. These five years represent a break from the steady acceleration of momentum that had been the story till 2012.

Growth in the decade of the Eighth and Ninth five-year Plan periods (1992-2002) averaged 6.3 per cent. The following decade, which marked the 10th and 11th Plan periods (2002-12), saw growth spurt to 7.8 per cent — despite the fact that four of those 10 years were after the start of the financial crisis. Against this, the 12th Plan will have averaged only ...