NDC, Inter State Council meetings on Dec 9

New Delhi, Dec 8: In the backdrop of coming assembly in fourstates, the National Development Council(NDC) meets here tomorrow toput its stamp of approval on the document 'Approach to the EleventhFive Year Plan.'

The document, which will serve as the basis for thedevelopment activities in the next five years in the States and Centre,projects the success story on the economic front and a commitment toaddress the problems of the deprived sections of society.

But observers say the elections to four States-- Uttar Pradesh,Punjab, Uttranchal and Manipur-- early next year have cast a shadow onwhat is sought to be projected at the NDC meeting and the Inter StateCouncil meeting immediately following it on the same day at the samevenue--Vigyan Bhavan.

And like the NDC meeting the agenda on the table of the Inter--State Counil has just one item-- atroctites on Scheduled Castes andTribes. The concerned Central Ministries have been asked to complie anddocument the figures in this regard, includung those pertaining toStates.

Observers says the clubbing the two meetings on a single day usaimed at convincing the electorate that its interests, both at theCentre and States, are best protected by the UPA government. The day-long sessions will witness a large congregation of Chief Ministersattending the two meetings.

The meetings, to be Chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, areaimed at sending a message to the politically sensitive States--perhapsthe last major attempt before they go for elections-- about the soundeconomic model being pursued by the UPA government and its interest inprotecting the welfare of the minorities.

The Approach Paper proposes a two pronged--startegy of fastergrowth, which is more inclusive. It sets a target of an average of 9per cent GDP growth in the next plan period accelerating from around 8per cent at the end of the Tenth Plan to 10 per cent by the end of theEleventh Plan. It emphasises the fact that growth is a means to actievean end, which should be defined in terms of multi-dimensional economicand social objectives to ensure inclusiveness.

The Paper, therefore, fixes a number of monitorable targets for various sectors which should be achieved in the Eleventh Plan.

It also focusses on the need for faster reduction in poverty andgreater attention to employment generation and proposes a startegy fordoubling the growth rate in agriculture, providing expanded access andbetter delivery in health and education and propelling double digitgrowth in manufacturing, with special emphasis on labour intensivesectors.

The last NDC, held in June 2005, was a two-day affair based on thepremise that one day was not sufficient for all the Chief Ministers toexpress their views on the national development strategies that need tobe followed.

This time the time slot allocated to each Chief Minister has beencut to half and the decision to convene the Inter State Counil meetingon the same day was taken by none other than the Prime Ministerhimself.

The maximum time that a Chief Minister will get is ten minutes anda device with a green, yellow and red light will indicate to him thathis time is about to end.

The meetings will be taking place in the background of anassessment by the Centre, that some States have not been respondingwell to some of the flagship programmes of the UPA government, such asthe Rs 50,000 crore 'Bharat Nirman' programme aimed at building ruralinfrastructure.

The Centre is keen to have a time bound schedule in this regardand a review meeting Chaired by the Prime Minister some months backfound that eight States have been lagging behind relating with regardto the implementation of the Bharat Nirman programme.

Informed sources say at one stage a separate meeting with theseStates during the NDC was under the consideration of the government,but the idea was dropped due to the political sensitivity of the issueinvolved.

In the last NDC meeting two Sub-Committees were set up-- one onAgriculture and the other on State Finances-- but they are not part ofthe agenda of the NDC. Some regret that the approach paper has beendrafted without the two reports having been taken into account, bothcentral to the development model.

There is a view in the Commission that the poor record on thepoverty front- as reflected in the NSSO data-- but buoyancy in growthwill reflect poorly on the previous government as the data pertains toperiod up to 2004. But the projection in the Approach paper is thatgrowth has been robust because of the initiatives of the UPAgovernment.

A new feature of the Approach paper is fixing State wise targets for social sector targets to make them accountable.

All in all, the two critical meetings are both a political and aneconomic exercise--where one ends and the other begins is difficult todecipher.

UNI