Why was it necessary for a developing country like India to follow self-reliance as an objective of economic planning?

Self-reliance as an objective of economic planning is necessary for a developing country because a nation can promote economic growth and modernization by using its own resources or by using resources imported from other nations.The first Seven Five Year Plans gave importance to self-reliance which eans avoiding imports of those goods which could be produced in India itself.This policy was considered a necessity in order to reduce our dependance on foreign countries especially for food. It is understandable that people
who were recently freed from foreign domination should give importance to self-reliance,