New
Delhi: At the National Development Council' appraisal of the Indian economy,
conducted in the capital yesterday, prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh has scaled
down the economic growth rate during the plan period to 7-8 per cent from
8 per cent projected earlier. Addressing
the inaugural day of the crucial two-day meeting of the NDC convened to approve
the mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Five-year Plan, the Prime Minister stated,
"We cannot achieve the original plan target of eight per cent growth.
The mid-term appraisal shows that performance thus far is well below this
target, averaging 6.5 per cent in the past three years. The UPA government
has set a revised target of 7-8 per cent for the remaining two years of the
Tenth Plan (2002-07)." Singh
pointed at the poor performance of agriculture, which had been growing by
a mere 1.5 per cent over the past three years, as the root cause holding back
the economic growth. Unfortunately, the performance of agriculture appears
to have deteriorated and possibly would not exceed 1.5 per cent growth during
the Tenth Plan," he added. Singh
said the cornerstone of the plan strategy was a reversal of the declining
trend to achieve 4 per cent growth in the agricultural sector. But he lamented
that this had not been achieved over the last three years. The
prime minister under the chief ministers to explore the possibilities of doubling
farm output in the 10 years for which he suggested the constitution of an
NDC sub-committee to undertake concrete action. Regarding
the lag in infrastructure, the PM referred to the vital need to overcome power
shortages that is plaguing practically all states and creation of environment
for attracting both public and private investment in the sector. Last
week, during his visit to Mumbai to deliver the 22nd Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas
Memorial Lecture, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission
had said that agricultural growth in India had halved from 4 per cent since
1996 and that for the benefits of reforms to be accessible to larger sections,
it was imperative to improve agricultural productivity and growth. He
said agriculture, infrastructure and the social sector would form the government's
thrust for development during the Tenth plan Outlining
the positive aspects of the economy, at the NDC meet, Dr Ahluwalia said, "Inflation,
which was a concern in mid-2004, is
now under control, industrial growth had picked up recording 8.1 per cent
growth, savings rate is high and fiscal deficit has been under checked."
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