The Hindu Business Line : Planning Commission approves 11th Plan Approach Paper

The targets
Reduction of poverty ratio by 5 percentage points by 2007 and by 15 percentage point by 2012.
Providing gainful and high quality employment at least to addition to the labour force over the Tenth Plan period.
All children in school by 2003, all children to complete 5 years of schooling by 2007.
Reduction in the decadal rate of population growth between 2001 and 2011 to 16.2 per cent.
Increase in literacy rates to 75 per cent within the Plan period.
All villages to have sustained access to potable drinking water within the Plan period.

SETTING THE PACE: The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, with (from left) the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia; the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram; and the Defence Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, at the full Planning Commission meeting in the Capital on Wednesday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , Oct. 18

The Planning Commission today approved the Approach Paper to the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12) with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, rooting for a growth rate of 10 per cent in the final years of the Plan in order to be in "the front ranks of fast growing developing countries".

Presiding over the full Plan panel meet here, Dr Singh said that by ensuring inclusive growth, the Eleventh Plan would set "our economy on a growth path, which would finally liberate millions of our countrymen from the perennial scourges of poverty, ignorance and disease".

Elaborating his vision of India, Dr Singh said "agriculture must be one of the central elements of the planning efforts in the 11th Plan" and emphasised the need for a mission on vocational education and skill development to ensure greater employment.

On resources in which there were differences between the Plan panel and the Finance Ministry, the Prime Minister said that while he endorses the need for a larger Plan, "this cannot come at the cost of fiscal prudence and stability". Hence he drew attention to socio-economic priorities that must have the first charge on resources: agriculture, irrigation, water resources, health, education, critical investment in rural infrastructure and the essential public investment needs of general infrastructure.

Strategy

Later briefing newspersons on the deliberations, the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said that the revised approach paper proposes two-pronged strategy, of faster and more inclusive growth. It outlines a target of an average of 9 per cent of GDP growth in the Eleventh Plan period accelerating from around 8 per cent at the end of the Tenth Plan to 10 per cent by the end of the Eleventh Plan, he said adding that a number of monitorable targets in various sectors have been set. These include, among others, creation of 70 million new work opportunities, electricity connection to all villages and below poverty line household by 2009 and round-the-clock power by the end of the Plan and telephone connectivity to every village by November 2007 and broadband connectivity to all villages by 2012.

Budgetary support

Mr Ahluwalia said that the Approach Paper estimates that the gross budgetary support for the Plan (Centre and States combined) would have to increase by 2.5 percentage points of GDP above the Tenth Plan period. He said this could be achieved within the constraints of fiscal prudence through higher tax collections and rationalisation of non-Plan expenditure.

Mr Ahluwalia said that after some modifications taking into account of the discussion where individual ministers had made their points today, the Approach Paper would be processed for consideration by the National Development Council probably by December.

The meeting was attended by all the members of the Plan panel, as also the ex-officio members including the Defence Minister, Mr Pranab Mukerjee, the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, the Agriculture Minister Mr Sharad Pawar, the HRD Minister, Mr Arjun Singh, and the Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad.