At present, the Indian economy is passing through a difficult phase mainly due to external factors and, therefore, there is an immediate need to tide over the current situation and then move to the path of higher growth. The Indian economy will continue to grow at a healthy rate even as the global economies face recession, according to Mr P.Chidambaram, the Country’s Finance Minister. He said this because our economy has strong fundamentals and factors such as high savings rate, growing services sector, a large middle class which continues to create demand and technical and qualified manpower and the youth. It was imperative to contain the fiscal deficit by augmenting resources and controlling expenditure. The minister commented that some measures may cause immediate pain but this was necessary to ensure that the fiscal deficit came down to 3 per cent in the next three years. Steps were also being taken to contain the Current Account Deficit (CAD). According to him there was a need to control gold imports which contributed US $ 64 billion to the CAD. FM lauded the States for containing the fiscal deficit to 2.1 per cent of the GDP and also for generating a revenue surplus of 0.75 per cent. He urged all States to adopt the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme as it provided a technology-enabled platform to transfer benefits in an efficient manner directly to the people. He said that in the initial phase subsidies relating to petroleum, food and fertilizer would not be distributed through this scheme and only those schemes which are amenable will be taken up. The Direct Benefit Transfer will be a game-changer and it will be a transform the way in which subsidies are managed and will be past breaking for governance, said the Minister.
Agriculture and Allied Sectors are critical sectors for inclusive growth. The agriculture growth rate for the 11th Plan has been targeted at 3.3 per cent as compared to 2.2 per cent achieved during the 10th Plan period. We need sufficient agriculture production not only to meet our domestic requirements but also for exports. There is also a need to revive investment in the manufacturing and service sector in order to create higher job opportunities. Higher growth in the economy gives an opportunity to the Government to roll out development programmes for different sections of society especially for neglected and poor sections of society.
Ravisankar K.V.
Editor
