MTA set for Cabinet approval today

The mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the Tenth five-year plan, with proposals aimed at high growth targets in all sectors, will go to Cabinet for...

The mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the Tenth five-year plan, with proposals aimed at high growth targets in all sectors, will go to Cabinet for approval on Thursday, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Wednesday.

‘‘The mid-term appraisal would go to the Cabinet clearance tomorrow,’’ Ahluwalia said at a CII conference.

The appraisal will determine how each economic sector will contribute to the 8 per cent-plus growth target, he said.

Montek said average GDP growth over next two years can touch 7.5 per cent, allowing room for higher growth during the Eleventh plan that starts from 2007-08.

But growth faster than 8 per cent would require reorganisation of the standards of health and education, and such growth would be a major achievement for India, where growth in different sectors is widely disparate.

Montek said boosting growth in agriculture alone will not contribute to the targets or to cure rural distress. Along with agriculture, the manufacturing sector would have to grow at 17 to 18 pc, as in China, to really clock double-digit inclusive growth, he said.

It would be tough to push agriculture growth from 2 pc today to 4 pc, since India was not capable of generating a highly-concentrated high growth scenario, he added.