PHOTO: ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

FOCUS ON ECONOMY: Prakash Karat, CPI (M) general secretary, with C. K. Dhanuka (right), Chairman, FICCIEastern Regional Council, in Kolkata on Thursday.

KOLKATA: India needs to maintain a high rate of growth but if it is to be sustainable and beneficial to the people there has to be focus on four areas, said Prakash Karat, general secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist), here on Thursday.

The areas that need to be addressed as ``components of inclusive growth'' are agriculture, employment, social justice and regional disparities, he said.

Growth ``through'' equity and the achievement of social justice; not just growth to ``promote'' the two, is what is required, Mr. Karat said at an interactive session organised by the Eastern Regional Council of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Crisis in agriculture

``The rate of growth in agriculture is stagnant. While we have recorded growth in manufacturing and services, agriculture is facing a crisis, the roots of which have not been understood by those ruling in the State Government and the Centre," he observed.

``Private investment in agriculture has increased but cannot substitute for public investment which needs to be stepped up in a big way."

The declining percentage of agriculture in the Gross Domestic Product reflects the sort of development being pursued, he said, referring to the large-scale suicides being committed by farmers in some parts of the country.

A decline in investment in agriculture has resulted in the problem of rural employment and while the (overall) growth rate has increased there has been a corresponding decline in the rate of employment, Mr. Karat said.

On social justice, Mr. Karat expressed concern over female foeticide occurring in some of the most advanced States leading to a sharp drop in the gender ratio. Even the whole debate on reservation has sidetracked the issue of access to higher education, he regretted.

``In the single-minded pursuit of increasing the growth rate these issues were being marginalised,'' Mr. Karat said.

``The aspect that was missing in the Planning Commission's approach paper to the Eleventh Five-Year Plan is the question of regional disparities.

``The bulk of the 150 Special Economic Zones approved by the Centre were concentrated in five States... the regional divide is going to be aggravated with the pattern of growth we have initiated and uneven development will have severe social and political repercussions,'' Mr. Karat warned.

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