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.

The Prime Minister also directed the Planning Commission to prepare the "Approach Paper" for the Eleventh Plan and place it before the NDC later this year.

Consensus on 318 initiatives

Briefing newspersons, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman 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 terms.

While some Chief Ministers voiced reservations about "certain specific issues" such as 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 debt relief, Dr. Singh announced the setting up of the sub-committee, headed by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, to examine all issues, specifically the debt arising from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF).

The sub-committee on agriculture, headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, would work out a strategy to step up growth in the farm sector and make India a global food supplier. It would draw up "implementable" action plans in this regard and related issues.

CMs' suggestions accepted

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

Key messages

The MTA, Dr. Ahluwalia noted, had three key messages: 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 some Chief Ministers had reservations about rationalisation of user charges for water supply and power and about reducing subsidies. In particular, the MTA recommendation on the need for a regulatory mechanism on water pricing was not well received. It was clarified that the Commission was not for complete recovery of costs but only what was spent on operation and maintenance.

Food subsidy

On food subsidy, some Chief Ministers also expressed reservations, but complete elimination 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 agreed on the assessment of the economy as projected in the MTA. They also agreed on the direction outlined in the document for correcting the shortfalls. Irrespective of their political affiliations, the Chief Ministers appreciated the stress on infrastructure, agriculture, education and health.

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