Private property
Also called: Ownership pattern · Topic: Scarcity, Choice and Economic Systems · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Indian Economy 1950-1990"
Meaning
Private property means individuals, not the state, own the means of production, such as land, factories and machines. It is a key feature of a capitalist economy. Under strict socialism it is absent in principle, because the state owns productive assets. India's democratic mixed economy kept private property.
Example
Nehru preferred socialism combined with democracy and private property over the Soviet model. A democracy could not seize its citizens' land and factories the way the Soviet state did. So in India, private firms and farmers kept their property, and a large public sector operated alongside them.
Don't confuse with
- Personal belongings: A house to live in or a person's own clothes are personal property. The idea of private property in economic systems is about who owns the productive assets.