 |
Sunday,
July 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
PM unveils plan for 8 per cent growth
New Delhi, July 13 The strategy involves reduction and retargeting of subsidies, a stronger regulatory mechanism, accelerated completion of railway projects, dismantling imperfections in financial markets, focus on employment oriented growth with a systematic withdrawal of the government from all areas of production, except core strategic sectors. “We shall take steps to remove several growth-hindering hurdles that have been placed in the name of environmental protection, which can be got rid of without harming the environment”, Mr Vajpayee said in his opening remarks at the meeting of his Economic Advisory Council here. Today’s meeting follows the Prime Minister’s discussions with his Trade and Industry Council three days ago. While the agenda involves a diminishing role of the government in non-strategic production activities, at the same time, Mr Vajpayee clarified, the government must “retain and further strengthen its role in policy making, regulation and facilitation. We need to ensure that regulation of market is by competent and independent regulatory agencies”. On the rather politically ticklish question of subsidies, the Prime Minister indicated that a new policy could be in the offing. “Barring those who deserve subsidy, we should develop a culture of making all others pay for what they use.... So that the essential consumption of the poor, including social services, is protected, but the overall fiscal deficit is reduced”, he said, adding that the strategy of poverty alleviation would have to be dovetailed with reduction in subsidies. Mr Vajpayee’s remarks were punctuated with observations, some of them strong, on utility payments, user charges, population growth and the pace of reforms. Citing the instance of the power sector, he said the problem lay primarily in the fact that half of the power that was sold was not billed and much of what was billed was not collected.“No reform can succeed if this sad state of affairs persists. Time has come for everyone to realise that the nation is paying a heavy price in the form of slow and stunted development, for what citizens fail to pay”, he said. More or less, this was true of higher education, public transport and municipal services, he pointed out. The Prime Minister appeared determined to hasten the speed of implementation of critical and remunerative railway projects. “If necessary, we will raise non-budgetary resources for this purpose”, he said. He added that the scope of public-private partnership in education, healthcare and sanitation needed to be deepened and broadened and the responsibility of physical and social infrastructure should not be exclusive to government. Laying greater emphasis on the pace of implementation was among the government’s immediate priorities. While the progress made in telecommunication, information technology and highways was significant, he admitted that “ a lot more needs to be done”. A comprehensive review of the present regulatory mechanism is under way. He said that a high-level official working group under the Industry Secretary would present its recommendations suggesting concrete steps to restructure the entire regulatory process at the central, state and municipal levels. On the critical issue of employment generation and arresting population growth, Mr Vajpayee said the government had taken up the Planning Commission report ‘Targeting 10 million employment opportunities per year’ and would soon prepare an action plan for the purpose. “The challenge of unemployment will become more acute as the youth segment of our demographic spectrum continues to expand in the coming years”, Mr Vajpayee observed. He said that the Indian economy was among the top performers in the world in the recent times. “In particular, the services sector, which accounts for more that half our GDP, has grown 8.5 per cent annually over the past seven years”, he pointed out.  |
||||||||
|
Subsidies to go, MSP to stay: Jaswant New Delhi, July 13 “The MSP will not go. It will not end,” Mr Jaswant Singh told newspersons after the meeting of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.v On the soft interest rate regime, the Finance Minister said it would continue, adding that he did not subscribe to the view that lower interest rates led to reduced levels of savings. “Very good ideas were thrown up in improving the general state of the economy and pushing up the reforms,” he said, adding that a gamut of issues ranging from the Electricity Bill, the Petroleum Regulatory Board, non-performing assets, MSP and increasing rural credit were discussed at the meeting. “Everything will be done step by
step. Things will fructify at the right time,” he said. “When the Prime Minister sets any targets or gives any direction, there could be no question mark on what the Prime Minister says. It is the responsibility of the government to achieve it,” he said. Power Minister Suresh Prabhu, who also attended the meeting said the regulatory mechanism in India was still at an evolutionary stage. Mr Prabhu said: “nowhere in the world have power sector regulations gone on any one model and we are in an evolutionary process.” He said some members wanted the government to come out with an integrated energy policy. Mr Jagdish Shettigar of the BJP’s Economic Cell said it was necessary to sustain the economic recovery trend, adding that for this, the agriculture sector should be given due emphasis. |
|
Advani to maintain govt-BJP link New Delhi, July 13 Mr Advani, who was invited to attend the first meeting of BJP office-bearers, chaired by Mr Naidu at party headquarters here, said under the new president the party would be able to restore the appellation given to it in 1980 as the “party with a difference”. He appreciated Mr Naidu and Mr Arun Jaitley for leaving their ministerial positions saying, “in no other party it would be so. Those in politics aspire to go to the Union Government and they have come back to the party and this is commendable. They have been the two most successful ministers. It is an index of the BJP being a party with a difference.” Asserting that the party-government link should be maintained, Mr Advani said, “I will do so...under Mr Naidu’s leadership the link would be good”. After the meeting, BJP General Secretary and spokesman Arun Jaitley told newspersons that the National Council of the party would meet here on August 3. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
