The second Five Year Plan was launched on 1st April, 1956. It was much bigger and bolder plan than the first. It was observed by the planning commission that the second five year plan has to carry forward the process initiated in the First Plan period. It must provide for a larger increase in production, in investment and in employment. The principal task was to ensure an increase in national income by about 25 percent over the five years, to increase employment opportunities at a rate sufficient to absorb the increase in the labour force, consequent on the increase in population and to take a major stride forward in the direction of industrialisation so as to prepare the ground for more rapid advance in the plan period to come.
