Economic planning is undertaken in the belief that development can be brought about or accelerated by government intervention. Referring to the countries of South Asia, Myrdal points out that these countries have long remained in a state of relative stagnation, and that "a strong impetus is needed to end such an economic stalemate." India is the biggest of all the less developed countries with more then 540 million people, most of whom live in desperate economic conditions. The magnitude of her problems is large, hence there is a need for large-scale economic planning. For rapid economic growth, however, there is a need for effective planning, which in turn calls for a large-scale mobilization of resources. The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of the agricultural sector in financing the Indian plans since 1951.