The Forum of Free Enterprise was a non-political organization founded in 1956 by A.D Shroff and was established to educate public opinion in India on free enterprise and a democratic way of life. The Forum published booklets to further its objects. The following booklet titled, “Towards A Self-Reliant Economy: Lessons of the Past” was published on January 11, 1966 and was authored by Murarji J Vaidya. The author talks of accepting that India was at a complex and trying situation at that juncture, and that failures are bound to occur. He emphasizes on the importance of learning from past planning mistakes and from the experiences in other nations while planning for the future. He examines the failures in past plans, especially with the strategy that they espoused. Therefore, in the long term, he suggests that the country needed to change its planning strategy.