The Hindu Business Line : Plan panel meet to emphasise on faster, inclusive growth

New Delhi, Oct. 28 The final document of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12) to be discussed and approved at the full meeting of the Planning Commission here on November 8 to be presided over by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, would emphasise on faster economic growth as “imperative for more inclusive growth” in consonance with the United Progressive Alliance Government’s avowed accent on aam admi.

Inclusiveness

Sources in the Government told Business Line here that even as the National Development Council (NDC) mandated objectives speak of an average GDP growth rate of 9 per cent to be accelerated to 10 per cent by the end of the Plan span, the document would reiterate that the focus and functions of growth would be to ensure its inclusiveness.

This is sought to be achieved through purposeful programmes on education, health, drinking water and sanitation, and bridging the divides that straddle across the regions and among the people.

The sources said against savings rate of 30.7 per cent in the 10th Plan, the 11th Plan savings rate as percentage of GDP would be 32.3 per cent, while investment rate would be from a level of 31.4 per cent (actual) during the 10th Plan to 35.1 per cent in the 11th Plan.

Employment

On priorities for the 11th Plan, the sources said they would cover education, rural development, land resources and Panchayati Raj, health, family welfare and ayush, agriculture and irrigation and water resources, social justice, physical infrastructure, scientific departments and energy.

These sectors together accounted for 55.20 per cent of total Plan outlay during the 10th Plan, which would be substantially stepped up to 75 per cent of total Plan outlay during the 11th Plan period.

On employment, the sources said that since the 11th Plan would have to create 70 million better quality jobs, against 50 million jobs created in the 10th Plan, the stress is on better incomes from labour-intensive occupations through productivity improvement, skill formation, persuading corporate sector to adopt labour-intensive production and a differentiated approach to labour law reforms that would be more acceptable to organised workers.

On agriculture, against the Tenth Plan actual performance of 2.1 per cent per annum, the 11th Plan projects a more ambitious 4.1 per cent growth, while in the services segment, the growth rate projected is 9.9 per cent against 9.3 per cent in the 10th Plan.

Manufacturing Growth

The document is understood to have plumped for a 12 per cent manufacturing growth for the 11th Plan as “imperative” by improving infrastructure, flexibility in some labour laws, encouraging States to create investment-friendly milieu and to encourage foreign direct investment and freedom from Inspector Raj.

It has conceded that power sector remains a major problem area. In order to generate around 80,000 MW of power during the five-year period, increased power generation capacity and improved distribution efficiency would be underscored besides urging States to target aggregate technical and commercial loss reduction of 3 per cent every year in the next five years.