The process of planned economic development in Bhutan started more than a decade ago. With the
decade ending March, 1071, we have implemented two Five Plans. We are now in the midst of our Third
Five Year Plan which was launched in April, 1972.
This is the first time that we have printed our Plan document. With Our membership of the United
Nations there has been an all-round increase of interest in Bhutan and it is, therefore, only appropriate that
interested people should be able to know of our efforts to modernise our country and bring a measure of
prosperity to our people.
We are following a system of Annual Plans which enables us to review the progress of various schemes
and shift the priorities where necessary. In this context, it would not be much relevant to include year-
wise phasing of various programmes and we have, therefore, in this document confined our selves only to
the Plan outlay as a whole.
I take this opportunity to warmly thank the Government of India for their generous assistance not only in