A majority of Indians lived in villages and development of villages was the need of the hour. Agriculture had to be improved as farmers and peasants depended on the monsoon for their survival.

Barbers, carpenters, weavers and other service groups of the non-farm sector of the rural economy would not get paid for their services if the crops failed, so the government was faced with the task of building dams for irrigation.

In the cities, factory workers lived in crowded slums and had little access to education or health care, the government had to draft schemes to educate the poor and provide adequate health care.