The Hindu : National : Sub-committees to be set up on agriculture, finance

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Wednesday, Jun 29, 2005

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Sub-committees to be set up on agriculture, finance

Special Correspondent

NDC backs mid-term appraisal policy initiatives

NEW DELHI: The two-day 51st meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) ended here on Tuesday with a broad endorsement of the corrective reform steps and social sector initiatives enunciated in the Mid-term Appraisal (MTA) of the Tenth Plan. It identified the scanty farm growth and poor state finances as the major problem areas hindering economic growth.

Accordingly, at the instance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Council decided to set up two sub-committees, one on agriculture and the other on finance to look into debt relief to States.

Setting the ball rolling for the next five-year plan, the Prime Minister directed the Planning Commission to prepare the "Approach Paper" to the Eleventh Plan and place it before the NDC later this year.

Consensus on 318 initiatives

Briefing newspersons here on the two-day deliberations of the Council, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: "There was a broad consensus on the 318 policy initiatives outlined in the MTA." While 59 of them were the priority items of the Government to be taken up during the remaining two years of the Plan period, the rest were meant for implementation in the medium and long term, he said.

During the discussions, Dr. Ahluwalia said that while some Chief Ministers voiced reservations on "certain specific issues" like subsidy rationalisation, there was "near unanimity" on the MTA's assessment of the economy and its direction in future.

In deference to some of the Chief Ministers' demand for addressing the issue of debt relief, Dr. Singh announced the setting up of a sub-committee to be headed by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to examine all relevant issues, specifically the debt arising from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF).

Likewise, the other sub-committee on agriculture to be headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, will have the brief to work out an agricultural strategy to step up growth in the farm sector and make India a global food supplier. It is to draw up "implementable" action plans in this regard and other related issues.

CMs' suggestions accepted

In his closing remarks, the Prime Minister accepted many suggestions made by Chief Ministers, especially on revival of the agricultural sector. He particularly appreciated the unanimity in views, despite the diverse set of political positions and ideologies. Dr. Singh also emphasised on the need to focus on outcomes while strengthening the mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of the development programmes.

The MTA, Dr. Ahluwalia noted, had three key messages, namely, doubling the growth rate in agriculture, increasing outlays for social sectors such as education and health and building infrastructure through public-private partnership to step up industrial growth.

Dr. Ahluwalia said that some Chief Ministers had reservations on the rationalisation of user charges for services such as water supply and power and on reducing subsidies. In particular, the MTA recommendations on the need for regulatory mechanism on water pricing was not well received. It was clarified to the Chief Ministers that the Commission was not for complete recovery of costs but only that spent on operation and maintenance.

Food subsidy

On food subsidy, some Chief Ministers also expressed reservations, but complete elimination of the subsidy was never sought, Dr. Ahluwalia said: "What we are looking for is that subsidy should be better targeted and only deserving people should benefit from the subsidy regime."

The Chief Ministers, however, agreed on the assessment of the Indian economy as projected in the MTA. They also agreed with the direction outlined in the document for correcting the shortfalls. The stress on infrastructure, agriculture, education and health was highly appreciated by the Chief Ministers, irrespective of their political affiliations.

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