The UPA government is gearing for a fiery National Development Council (NDC) meeting where the government will seek approval for its downgraded economic growth target of 8% for 12th plan (2012-17) and the confusing 12th plan document. Chetan Chauhan reports. Did high growth reach bottom rung?
The UPA government is gearing for a fiery National Development Council (NDC) meeting where the government will seek approval for its downgraded economic growth target of 8% for 12th plan (2012-17) and the confusing 12th plan document.
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NDC is the body of all chief ministers and key Central ministries.
The panel had earlier projected growth of 8.2 % but now, considering changed economic scenario, will pitch for 8%, a target not easy to achieve. "There is lot of uncertainties for 2013," planning commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, adding that the economic scenario is unlikely to improve in near future.
While the growth target has been lowered, the panel has not proportionately reduced the public sector allocation for 12th plan of Rs 43,33,000. The panel, in its document, has spoken of trimming the target in the mid-term appraisal indicating that generating so much money is impossible.
Ahluwalia said that the planning was "all about being optimistic". His colleague Abhijit Sen felt that a correct picture should have been depicted in the plan document. The government generated around 60 % of the 11th plan resource mobilization target.
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The plan document also says that job creation in the manufacturing sector fell by around 5 million between 2004 and 2011 and the response to its Public Private Partnership in social sector was poor. The panel has suggested that companies should be allowed to utilize its corporate social responsibility funds in PPP and allow profit companies in education, a proposal opposed by HRD ministry.
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The plan document also says that job creation in the manufacturing sector fell by around 5 million between 2004 and 2011 and the response to its Public Private Partnership in social sector was poor. The panel has suggested that companies should be allowed to utilize its corporate social responsibility funds in PPP and allow profit companies in education, a proposal opposed by HRD ministry.
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The plan also lacks clarity on discontinuation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CCS) of less than Rs 300 crore and on poverty estimation methodology. The Cabinet is yet to take a view on CCS, on which the finance ministry has a divergent view, and the Rangarajan Committee on way to measure rural poverty would submit its report only by next June. The committee on measuring urban poverty submitted its report on Wednesday.
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The panel would come under criticism for failing to highlight its 11th plan policy failures in the document and the charge of discrimination in providing funds to non-UPA states. The non-UPA states would also raise the issue of rising inequality in income and consumption distribution and abysmally low poverty line of Rs 32 for urban areas and Rs 26 for rural areas.
The panel is also expecting tough questions from the chief ministers on hurriedly implemented direct cash transfer scheme in 43 districts, rigid guidelines for spending Central government funds and special status to Bihar.
Ahluwalia said it would not be possible to grant Bihar special status under present regime as it does not meet the criteria and added that cash transfer will improve overall governance of the schemes.
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.
