Comments
The Planning Commission will seek the National Development Council’s nod to lower the average annual growth rate for the 12th Plan period to 8 per cent from 8.2 per cent. This will be the third revision of the growth target for the current Plan.
For this fiscal, the first year of the 12th Plan, the growth rate has been estimated at 5.7-5.9 per cent.
The National Development Council (NDC), under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss and approve the draft for the 12th Plan (2012-17). The council is the apex Centre-State body and the meeting will be attended by various Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers. At a press conference here on Wednesday, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: “Our objective is that we should be going in for a more optimistic scenario. And probably, if we reflect, what we now know (is that) instead of 8.2 per cent, it would be better to pitch it at 8 per cent. I would raise that issue in the NDC.”
He said it was a fact that the growth rate in the current year was less than what people had thought it would be four-five months ago. Also, the Euro Zone crisis looked much more serious than six months ago. The Reserve Bank of India has already lowered the growth projection to 5.8 per cent from 6.5 per cent.
“I would say that even 8 per cent average, if you work it out based on 5.8 per cent for current year or 7 per cent next year (2013-14), will mean 9 per cent for the next few years. That’s quite an ambitious target,” Ahluwalia said. In the 11th Plan, the average annual growth rate was 7.9 per cent.
Earlier, in the Approach Paper, the Commission had projected an annual average growth rate of 9 per cent, which was lowered to 8.2 per cent in September, keeping in view global economic worries and persistent sluggishness in domestic growth. The NDC meeting is likely to hear strong arguments for granting special category status to States such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Odisha. However, the Centre may not oblige.
Special Category
Ahluwalia said, “You cannot look at the demand for special category status to States in isolation. Either we have to reopen the whole question or respond to the demand of one State. Many States have problems. Bihar does not meet the existing criteria according to which one is deemed eligible for special category.”
He said as far as Bihar was concerned, there was a special package. We are continuing it in the 12th Plan, he added.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.