The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Power, health, education need immediate attention: S.L. Rao

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 21, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Power, health, education need immediate attention: S.L. Rao

Staff Reporter

Former FKCCI presidents felicitated for getting Rajyotsava award

HONOUR: V.R. Sudarshan (right), Chairman, Legislative Council, greeting former FKCCI presidents and Rajyotsava award winners, N. Venkateshaiah (second from left), M.K. Panduranga Shetty and N. Bhoomanand Manay. at a felicitation function in Bangalore on Tuesday. FKCCI President S. Babu is at left. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Bangalore: Improvements in the administrative delivery mechanism can boost the Indian economy and the sectors that need immediate attention are power, health, infrastructure and education, said S.L. Rao, Chairman, Institute for Social and Economic Change, here on Tuesday.

Delivering a talk at a felicitation function for its former presidents organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here, Dr. Rao said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre had been focussing on infrastructure, education for all, employment, health and housing programmes and this was a healthy sign. But all these would not work if the administrative delivery mechanisms were not in place.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth this year has been 7.6 per cent, mainly because of services and industry. Earlier, it was 6 per cent to 7 per cent with agriculture as laggard.

Dr. Rao said industrial production was up by 8.8 per cent this year, up from 8.3 per cent last year, and the trend is likely to continue.

Making a comparison between the governments of the UPA and the National Democratic Alliance, he said the latter had set off the reforms process in full steam and the UPA had made only a marginal difference. "The market is booming, but the UPA cannot take the credit," he said. Similarly, there has been a sustained growth on the export and import fronts, he added.

On agriculture, Dr. Rao said the percentage of GDP had declined to 25 per cent from 32 per cent in 1992-93.

"Decline in agriculture affects the economy adversely," he said. The crop area for foodgrains has "plateaued at around 124 million hectares since 1980, hence increase in foodgrains production must come from increase in productivity."

Investments in agriculture have declined over the years. "The decline in public investment signifies the neglect of agriculture by all governments," he said.

If agriculture had to improve, the governments had to rework strategies, including putting a cap on subsidies, using savings for rural infrastructure, abolishing zonal restrictions on movement of agricultural commodities, liberalising import and export of agricultural commodities.

The Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council, V.R. Sudarshan, felicitated M.K. Panduranga Setty, N. Venkateshaiah and N. Bhoomanand Manay, all former presidents of the FKCCI. They were felicitated for winning the Rajyotsava award.

The FKCCI President, S. Babu, in his welcome address congratulated the former presidents of the FKCCI and said they had played an active role in the industry. He said the country's GDP was steadily on the rise and the picture was one of optimism.

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