New Delhi: The union cabinet on Thursday approved
the mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the Tenth FiveYear Plan
prepared by the Planning Commission.
The
document would now go to the National Development Council
(NDC), the finance minister, P Chidambaram, told press
persons on Thursday. Chidambaram admitted that the MTA
was delayed and that it should have been ready last year.
"Because
of the change of government, we had to take up the MTA
and it has now been completed. The full planning commission
has approved it with some comments. These have also been
incorporated. The cabinet has approved it. And it would
now go to the NDC", he said.
Chidambaram
was not sure about the likely schedule of the NDC meeting
but said, "presumably, it will be called very shortly.
I don''t know the date."
On
whether the cabinet approval implied that there was movement
on the suggestions contained in the MTA as regards the
FDI in retail and allowing foreign airlines to have equity
in domestic airlines, he said that the MTA document was
a mid-term appraisal of the plan prepared by the planning
commission.
"Like
any other appraisal, it would reflect both the strong
points and the weak points. The MTA would go to the NDC
and the NDC would take appropriate decisions."
The
plan document had projected 8 per cent growth for the
tenth plan.
"In
the very first year, we achieved only 4 per cent. So,
obviously we are behind the target of 8 per cent,"
he said while declining to get into an elaborate discussion
on MTA.
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