The Hindu : National : Panel endorses corrective measures for Tenth Plan

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Wednesday, Apr 06, 2005

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Panel endorses corrective measures for Tenth Plan

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL. 5 . The full meeting of the Planning Commission, chaired by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, today endorsed the various sectoral "corrective measures" contained in the Mid-Term Appraisal (MTA) of the Tenth Plan.

Briefing newspersons here after the three-hour discussion at the late afternoon meeting, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said the Commission had been authorised to take the MTA to the Union Cabinet for its approval, following which the document would be placed before the National Development Council (NDC). On receiving the NDC's nod, the corrective measures would be formulated into policy initiatives for adoption by the states.

The 56-odd recommendations contained in the MTA are aimed at putting the economy back on track in tune with the relevant sectoral targets of the Tenth Plan. These, if accomplished during the two remaining years of the Plan period, would go a long way in meeting the goals to be set for the 11th Plan as achieving the targets would then be a realistic possibility.

A major part of the discussions, Mr. Ahluwalia said, was on agriculture, a sector that had been historically lagging in term of investment despite its huge employment potential. The focus of the MTA on this sector has clearly brought out the fact that the trend growth rate in agriculture has to be increased from the existing 1.5 per cent in recent decades to at least four per cent. For this, it was unanimously agreed at the meeting that a lot of investments and resources would be required for the farm-related sectors such as irrigation and watershed development.

Another major sector that came up for discussion was the development of the country's infrastructure which includes power, roads, ports, airports and aviation. While foreign direct investment (FDI) has been flowing into various sectors, it was noted that the corrective steps prescribed in the MTA would help in attracting higher inflows into sectors such as power, aviation and airports. For roads, it was felt the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) along with its board should be revamped to undertake multi-disciplinary projects.

Mr. Ahluwalia said discussions also revolved round the prevailing high prices of crude oil and it was generally agreed that if the international prices continued to hold steady at the current high levels, the domestic prices would also have to be revised in keeping with the market trends.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, the Prime Minister said while there were "several positive features which are noted there are also signs that the economy is not on track to achieve many of the important targets of the Plan and corrective policies are, therefore, urgently needed. I am looking forward to a focused discussion on the challenges ahead."

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