IRON AND STEEL 141 Such low priority assigned to industrialization in general and iron and steel in particular during the first plan can be explained perhaps in terms of Government of India's policy of exclusive reliance on the western capitalist powers during the post-independence years: ^Serious and systematic thinking on planned economy for India started within the framework of the capitalist-controlled international bodies like ECAFE, Colombo Plan etc. and this left its clear imprint in the form of a modest size of the plan as well as a low priority to industrialization"2 Then came the Second Five Year Plan, ^bigger and bolder59 and aimed at industrialization. The second plan—known as Feldman-Mahala-nobis model—was similar to the Soviet first plan, 1928 with its emphasis on industrialization, especially basic industries like steel and heavy machinery. In fact steel was given the pride of place. Direct investment in the integrated steel mills amounted to 11 per cent of aggregate outlay. Both public and private sectors were to participate in the industry's growth, although the share of the public sector was to be predominant. Three new steel mills, each of one million-tonne capacity, were to be commissioned: at Bhilai (Madhya Pradesh) with the help of the Soviet Union; at Rourkela (Orissa) with German aid; and at Durgapur (West Bengal) with British assistance. In the second plan, actual performance failed to match the targets. Production of finished steel was only about 2.4 million tonnes against a target of 3.88 million. Public Sector Expansion Under the Third Five Year Plan, which began in 1961, the three public-sector steel mills were to expand and a fourth was to be established at Bokaro (Bihar) with United States help. In 1963 the US House of Representatives objected to American participation in a public-sector enterprise. Early in 1964, the Soviet Union agreed to finance Bokaro in addition to the proposed expansion of Bhilai. By 1965-end India had a capacity to produce about 6.0 million tonnes steel (ingots) against a target of about 9.9 million tonnes by the end of the Third Five Year Plan. The targets for the expansion of three public-sector steel mills were attained at the end of the three so called ^annual plans'; but Bokaro was delayed enormously and has gone into the production of saleable steel only this year. By the end of 1968-69 India's steel (ingot)-making capacity reached 8.9 million tonnes. The proposal to set up an alloy steel plant in the public sector was in the air right from 1958. Dastur and Company submitted a detailed project report for an alloy steel plant at Durgapur in August 1969. Atlas Steel, a Canadian company, was appointed production advisers and equipment was to be obtained from Jaeson, a Japanese consortium. After enormous delays, the mill with a 100,000 tonnes ingot capacity started production in 1965.