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Vajpayee sets tough economic agenda
Monday, 07 October 2002, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Setting a tough and challenging economic agenda for the country, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said Saturday an eight percent growth rate ought to be achieved to tackle the problems of unemployment, illiteracy and poverty.
"We have no choice. The issue before us is not whether we can achieve a significantly higher growth rate, rather it is whether we can afford not to," he said while addressing the Planning Commission here.
Vajpayee said achieving an eight percent growth rate was "not merely desirable, it is inescapable if we are to meet the legitimate and long-unfulfilled aspirations of our people."
He acknowledged that Indian economy had not performed "up to our expectations" in recent years and there was skepticism in some quarters whether it was "at all feasible for us to climb from a rate of growth of 5.5 percent last year to eight percent in the 10th plan" (2002-2007), he said.
"It is when the climb is steep that a good mountaineer musters his hidden strength and determination. Similarly, our nation has to prepare itself for the big challenges ahead," he added.
"We cannot afford to set a lower growth target if we want to move towards our cherished dream of building an India free of poverty, illiteracy and homelessness, free of regional, social and gender disparities," he said.
He emphasized the need for accelerating tax reforms to move quickly towards an "integrated central and state value added taxation system, fiscal prudence, maximum efficiency and productivity from every rupee invested and adoption of public-private partnerships in the widest possible range of activities in both physical and social infrastructure development."
"I am told that the rate of growth of our labor force during the coming years will be such that unless we achieve an over eight percent GDP growth, the rate of unemployment could rise further at the end of the Plan period. We simply cannot imagine such a situation, much less tolerate it," he said.
He noted that the National Development Council, consisting of all state chief ministers, had unanimously endorsed the approach paper to the 10th Plan and the extensive reform measures that would make it "achievable" This, he said, was a measure of the national resolve.
He was confident that the country had the potential, in terms of human, physical and natural resources, to perform substantially better than it has done in the past.
"I was unwilling to believe that it was not possible for us to achieve what other countries in our neighborhood had done, sometimes with much lower endowment than ours."
He said the difficult challenges in attaining a higher growth rate "simply cannot be avoided."
The prime minister sought to allay concerns about the low level foreign direct investment (FDI) India has attracted.
"I would like to allay all apprehension on this score. We have to achieve our development goals by our own efforts and primarily by harnessing our own resources. The draft plan makes it very clear that the bulk of the vastly higher levels of savings and investments needed to achieve the eight percent growth rate would have to come from domestic resources."
At the same time, he said greater flow of FDI was needed to supplement domestic resources "in areas where it would strengthen our economy and enhance our competitiveness."
"But let there be no worry in any quarter that we would follow such an FDI policy as would weaken Indian industry or hurt our national interests. This will never happen," he asserted.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS